MATHUSALA (Hebr. Mēthāšelāh or Mēthāšelāh). — Son of Henoch and father of Lamech; he is the eighth in the series of the antediluvian patriarchs of the line of Seth. At the age of 187 he begot Lamech, who was the father of Noè, and he lived for another 782 years, until, after having begotten numerous offspring, he reached the age of 969 years: the greatest age recorded in the Bible (Gen. 5:21–27), which consequently became proverbial.
He should not be confused, as some modern critics, without any foundation, would have it, with Mathusael, the fourth descendant of the Cainite line, who likewise had a son named Lamech (ibid. 4:18), clearly distinct from the father of Noè. According to the figures of the Masoretic text, M. died in the same year in which the flood came (1656 from the creation of man); but it is arbitrary to infer from this, as some would have it (e.g., H. Holzinger, Genesis, Tübingen 1898, p. 63), that M. perished together with the wicked in the flood.