And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.
Ver. 27. And all the days of Methuselah.] He lived longest of any, yet wanted thirty-one years of a thousand. Oecolampadius thinks there was a mystery in this, that they all died short of a thousand, which is a type of perfection; a to teach us, says he, that live we never so long here, and grow we never so fast in grace, we cannot possibly be perfect, till we get to heaven. Enoch lived long in a little time; and foreseeing the flood, named his son Methuselah; that is to say, he dies, and the dart (or flood) comes. And so it happened; for no sooner was his head laid, but in came the flood. “The righteous are taken away from the evil to come.” Isa 57:1 And their death is a sad presage of an imminent calamity. Hippo could not be taken while Augustine lived, nor Heidelberg while Paraeus. Semen sanctum statumen terrae b Isa 6:13 The holy seed upholdeth the state. Absque stationibus non staret mundus c “The innocent shall deliver the island, and it is delivered by the pureness of thy hands,” Job 22:30 whereas, “one sinner destroyeth much good.” Ecc 9:18 Ambrose is said to have been “the walls of Italy.” d Stilico the earl said, that his death did threaten destruction to that country.
“ Hic patria est, murique urbis stant pectore in uno .” e
a Nemo patriarcharum mille annos complevit, quia numerus iste typum habeat perfectionis. Hic nulla perfectio pietatu. - Oecolampad.
b Junius.
c Tertul.
d Paulin. Nolan., in Vita Ambros .
e De Fablo Cunctatore, Sil.