Oprimist or Pessimist? (Genesis 5-6)

So which are you? An optimist or a pessimist? Here is an easy way to find out.

If you know your Bible trivia, you know who the oldest man ever was: Methuselah. Genesis 5:27 tells us that Methuselah lived 969 years and then he died. Now, let's do some math.

Methuselah was 187 years old when he gave birth to Lamech (5:25). (I thought I was old becoming a father at 37).

Lamech was 182 years old when Noah was born (5:28-29). That means Methuselah was 369 (187+182=369) when Noah was born.

Genesis 7:7 will tell us that Noah was 600 years old when the flood hit the earth. So how old was Methuselah when the flood came? 369-900=969. So, Methuselah died in the year of the flood.

Are you an optimist or a pessimist? I guess the optimist says that Methuselah died in the year of the flood because God wanted to spare an old man judgment. In other words, Methuselah died the year of the flood but before the flood actually came. The pessimist says that Methuselah died in the flood. After being given nearly a millennium to repent, he still had not made his peace with God.

My guess is that Methuselah died in the flood so I suppose I am a pessimist. (But Tammy could have told you that). I think Genesis 6 teaches us that we can live for centuries but it is not much of a life if we don't get right with God.