And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.
Concerning Methuselah observe, 1. The signification of his name, which some think was prophetical, his father Enoch being a prophet. Methuselah signifies, he dies, or there is a dart, or, a sending forth, namely, of the deluge, which came the very year that Methuselah died. If indeed his name was so intended and so explained, it was fair warning to a careless world, a long time before the judgment came.
Commenting on Genesis 5:25-27
The days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years - This is the longest life mentioned in Scripture, and probably the longest ever lived; but we have not authority to say positively that it was the longest. Before the flood, and before artificial refinements were much known and cultivated, the life of man was greatly protracted, and yet of him who lived within...
Seth bore the image of God as Adam did, yet corrupted by sin transmitted through his father. The recurring refrain "and he died" announces death as an unchangeable law from Adam onward; yet each man fathered children before he fell, so life persisted amid death, and the race endured to bring forth the Seed who would conquer death itself.
AI summary
Commenting on Genesis 5:3-32