Methuselah (A Lesson In Assumptions)

Methuselah (A Lesson In Assumptions)
By Mark Spencer

When I was just a little boy,
Attending Sunday school,
The story of Methuselah
Outshined the golden rule.

He was just like Rip Van Winkle,
A kind old gentleman,
Who lived more than nine hundred years;
The oldest living man.

And so I closed my story book,
Assumptions grew from there.
I wrote an ending in my mind,
And sealed it with a prayer.

But looking closer at the facts,
Something else emerges.
And here is where the fairytale
And the truth diverges.

His age was one eighty seven,
At his son Lamech's birth.
One hundred eighty two years more,
And Noah graced the earth.

He was three hundred sixty nine,
When Noah joined the game.
And in Noah's six hundredth year
The deluge waters came.

Scripture says Enoch and Noah,
Walked with God all their lives.
So God spared Noah's family,
His sons, even their wives.

But what about Methuselah,
Was my assumption right?
Did he not also walk with God,
Into salvation's light?

When the Lord said unto Noah,
In reference to mankind,
That their hearts were always evil;
Like each thought in their minds,

Was Methuselah excluded,
From God's picture of men?
Did God call him a righteous man,
Whose heart was free of sin?

My assumptions were proven wrong,
The evidence was clear,
Methuselah's death and the Flood
Occurred in the same year.

No scripture said he walked with God,
Or was a righteous man.
No word about a peaceful death,
Or any divine plan.

We just assumed the best for him,
For he had Adam's blood.
We hoped that God had spared the man
From dying in the Flood.

The one who disregards the facts,
Clings to their presumptions.
For their beliefs are built upon
Incorrect assumptions.