Misc. 119: Sauntering Down the Sunset Boulevard

 

What a character, this Methuselah. He becomes the father of Lamech  only at the age of 187!! Mind you, the first man Adam had fathered no fewer than three sons by the time he was 130. Our man in comparison, seems a bit slow on the uptake in this business of procreation.

Nothing is mentioned about his wife. Perchance she was 170 or thereabouts – forget biological events like menopause: at numbers like that, most people are remembered on their hundredth death anniversary these days .

The only guy who seems to have gone even slower in begetting children seems to be his grandson Noah. The Bible says in Genesis 5:32  ^“After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth”. Whatever was he doing before that? After Noah was born when he turned  182, Lamech –  Noah’s father – went on to produce other sons and daughters in a span of  595 years following Noah’s birth ; with such proliferation of human beings at irregular intervals, the generation gaps must have hopelessly narrowed and quite possibly turned negative!!

Let us give some space to this guy Methuselah. While the first fathers generally tended to play long innings going into the seven, eight and nine hundreds with remarkable ease, our man outdid them all. He lost his wicket only at 969. Whew!

The problem with such long stay at the wicket is that, you don’t know when a guy is young, middle-aged or getting on in years. They just carry on and on. I am sure there were people who thought that Methuselah will never get out. But out he went after the longest innings played by any human. I don’t know if he anticipated it or even knew it, but in his life there was an evening. Maybe it set at about 800 or so. Who knows!

The only two old timers I can think of who didn’t live to see evenings in their lives were Abel whose life was brutally cut short by his brother, and Enoch who simply disappeared when he reached the age of 365. The Bible says in Genesis 5:

²¹ When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. ²² After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. ²³ Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. ²⁴ Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

 

Wow! Don’t waste your time looking for his tombstone. He was kind of sublimated, rather like prophet Elijah several generations later. Though these guys were so close to Creation itself and personal talk with God was not unknown in those days, they were not all known to have been particularly righteous – barring Enoch and Noah (I almost forgot Abel!). About Noah it is said in Genesis 6:9 “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God”

There isn’t much information about the goodness or otherwise of say Methuselah and Lamech. But I guess they were pretty decent fellows! How do we know?

I don’t know if you’ve thought of this: when the whole world – all humans, animals and birds – perished in the Deluge that came about during Noah’s time, these men – in spite of their extra long lives –  were spared watery graves. The floods came in Noah’s 600th year we read. It turns out father Lamech breathed his last 5 years previously, and grand-pa Methuselah just that year.

God does His math perfectly. Go check it out!

969, 187, 182,595, 600 may all appear to be random numbers. But God was working through all that seems random to us. Isn’t that the case today as well? “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”  Romans 8:28.

Get that, “all things”. Even those that may seem random.

I thought a bit and the only other seemingly random event that came to my mind was this: “But a certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate”.1 Kings 29:34

Seemingly random, but smack on target. The evil king Ahab dies.

But we are digressing.

Let’s go back a little bit. It was not as though God was merely counting the number of years that these grandees lived; for example, He didn’t just wait for Methuselah to reach the ripe old age of 969, suddenly realize that the earth was going to be submerged under the Deluge that year and cut him down. You can bet that He was keeping watch over his life every day of his long life, though we do not read an account of it.

Much credit to Lauryn Hill and Tanya Blount for this lovely evocative song:

When Jesus is my portion
A constant friend is He
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches over me                       
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches me

 

Yes God is concerned as much about your life as He is about your death. Not only is His math perfect but His guidance is also something to write home about.

⁸ I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Ps. 32

The rising sun eventually sets and just before that there is inevitably a period of eventide and dusk. Likening this to stages of human life, the Bible says (among others):

Ruth 4:15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age.

Isaiah 46:4 And I will still be carrying you when you are old. Your hair will turn gray, and I will still carry you.

We have been dealing with some rather high scores in longitude; this comes down drastically after the Deluge. And by the time of David, it was pretty much like what it is today. For among his psalms are included what Moses writes, and he very clearly says (in the somewhat grand KJV): “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away”. Ps.90:10

In case you have trouble with “scores”, three score and ten simply means 70. I daresay (many of) you have reached it. I myself did earlier this month. Oops!

I really do not know the statistics, but I am willing to venture that most people die between the ages of 70 and 80, than in any other decade! And since a guy like me has at least thrice has had his head between the jaws of death, I don’t suppose I am a particularly strong person. The prognosis ain’t good!

How about you?

We read in Matthew 16:

¹⁹ Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

²⁰ But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

²¹ For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala  – the Big Bull – had about $ 5 billion in assets. He died a few days ago at the age of 62. Like I said, while we can reasonably anticipate our departure in the evening of our lives, at other times, sadly it could be sudden and catch you off-guard. Yes, as we know death is a certainly – for the rich and the poor, for the strong and the weak…. for everybody.

In the parable of the rich young fool in Luke 12, there is a pointed question:

²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

This is not to cast aspersions on the late tycoon’s priorities. I did not know him.

We have to thank Isaac Watts for reminding us that:

Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
bears all its sons away;
we fly forgotten, as a dream
dies at the op’ning day.

Though the Tamil proverb சாகும்போது சங்கரா சங்கரா is generally used somewhat humorously to indicate our thoughts turning Godward only at the door of death, it is good that at least at that time we have the right attitude…if we are given that grace time.

But wouldn’t it be rather better if we heed the Preacher when he says:

Some of you may have heard Jim Reaves version of Alan Jackson’s song:

“Some glad morning when this life is over
I’ll fly away”

Flying away is all very well but where your soul finds its rest in vital. Encouragingly , our man continues:

“To a home on God’s celestial shore
I’ll fly away”

I do not know how many people can confidently sing these lyrics about going home to God.

Or are we still lamenting:

“The harvest is past, The summer is ended, And we are not saved!” Jer. 8:20

And there are many who live a care-free life with no thought of God reflecting Isaiah 56:12

“Come,” each one cries, “let me get wine! Let us drink our fill of beer! And tomorrow will be like today, or even far better.”

This is about epicureanism to the exclusion of God.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.2 Pet.3:9

Even if you know nothing of the Bible, I daresay somewhere, sometime from somebody you have heard the verse:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

If you’ve done that you should have no difficulty in echoing Henry Francis Lyte’s immortal song:

“Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee
In life, in death, o Lord, abide with me
Abide with me, abide with me”

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