Genesis 4:18 has Metusha-El as a descendant of Kayin (Cain): Kayin begets Chanoch (Enoch), who begets Iyrad (עִירָד), who begets Mechuya-El (מחויאל), who begets Metusha-El, who begets Lamech.
But this conflicts with Genesis 5:22, which has Kena'an (Canaan) begat Mahalal-El, who then begets Yared, who begets Chanoch (חנוך), who begets Metu-Shalach, who begets Lamech. Metu-Shalach was one hundred and eighty-seven when his son Lamech was born. He lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years.
Can we then, as Graves does, posit a connection here between Metusha-El (מתושאל) and Metu-Shalach (מתושלח). It appears etymologically not to be the case, yet the fathering of Lamech in both lists suggests it indeed is, in the same way that Kayin (קין) and Kena'an (כנען), presumably by phonetic error, are also. The English Methuselah should be pronounced Metusha-El, or perhaps Metu-Shalach.
Metusha-El probably means "man of El", from a rarely used word thought to be of Ethiopic origin: met (מת) = "man" (cf Genesis 34:30, where it is usually translated as "few"; Deuteronomy 2:34, 3:6, Job 11:3, Psalm 26:4 et al). Metu-Shalach probably means "a messenger", in the sense of "angel", from shalach (שלח) = "to send".
Metusha-El probably means "man of El", from a rarely used word thought to be of Ethiopic origin: met (מת) = "man" (cf Genesis 34:30, where it is usually translated as "few"; Deuteronomy 2:34, 3:6, Job 11:3, Psalm 26:4 et al). Metu-Shalach probably means "a messenger", in the sense of "angel", from shalach (שלח) = "to send".
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