Methuselah was a biblical patriarch and a figure in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He is claimed to have lived the longest life, dying at 969 years of age. According to the Book of Genesis, Methuselah was the son of Enoch, the father of Lamech, and the grandfather of Noah. Elsewhere in the Bible, Methuselah is mentioned in genealogies in 1 Chronicles and the Gospel of Luke.
Stained glass window of Methuselah from the southwest transept of Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, England
A depiction of Methuselah at the Church of San Juan Bautista in Carbonero el Mayor, Segovia Province, Spain
Bartolomé Bermejo, Christ Leading the Patriarchs to Paradise, c. 1480. In this depiction of the Harrowing of Hell, Methuselah is portrayed as leading the procession of the righteous behind Jesus, along with Solomon, the Queen of Sheba, and Adam and Eve.
The tree Methuselah
The patriarchs of the Bible, when narrowly defined, are Abraham, his son Isaac, and Isaac's son Jacob, also named Israel, the ancestor of the Israelites. These three figures are referred to collectively as "the patriarchs", and the period in which they lived is known as the patriarchal age.
Abraham, Sarah and Hagar, imagined here in a Bible illustration from 1897.
Isaac blessing his son, as painted by Giotto di Bondone
Jacob Wrestling with the Angel by Eugène Delacroix
Cave of the Patriarchs, Hebron
