Mahalalel

Etymology

The meaning of the name could be translated as "the shining one of El." The King James Version spells his name Mahalaleel in the Old Testament and Maleleel in the New Testament.

Biblical narrative

Mahalalel was born when his father Kenan (Adam's great-grandson through Seth) was 70 years old. He was one of many children of Kenan. (Genesis 5:12-13; 1 Chronicles 1:2; Jubilees 4:14 Luke 3:37).

When he was aged 54-60, Mahalalel married Dinah, the daughter of his paternal uncle Barakiel. At the age of 65, he fathered Jared (when the Watchers "descended on the earth" as per Jubilees 4:15). He fathered many other children after that point (Genesis 5:15-16).

At the age of 227, he became a grandfather to Jared's son Enoch (Genesis 5:18), who was born through Baraka, the daughter of Mahalalel's brother Râsûjâl (Jubilees 4:16).

Sometime before he turned 292, Mahalalel explained to Enoch the first of the two dream visions the latter had, as recounted through the perspective of Enoch:

Roughly 300 years after this incident, Enoch was "taken up" by God (Genesis 5:23-24). At this point, Mahalalel was 592 years old.

When Mahalalel was 840, his 910-year-old father Kenan died (Genesis 5:14).

After Kenan's death, Mahalalel lived 55 more years and died at 895 (Genesis 5:17), placing him eighth in the records for the unusually long lifespans for the antediluvian patriarchs. At the time of Mahalalel's death, Noah was 234 as per the Masoretic chronology.

Genealogy

In Islam

Mahalalel is mentioned in the various collections of tales of the prophets, which mentions him in an identical manner. Islamic scholar Tabari tells that his story was also found in Persian literature and likens him with the Pishdadian king Hushang.

Allusions

Latter Day Saint usage

In the original 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, Mahalaleel was used as a code name for Algernon Sidney Gilbert.

Literature

Thomas Hardy, in his novel, The Return of the Native (1878), references Mahalaleel as one who betokened an advanced lifetime: "The number of their years may have adequately summed up Jared, Mahalaleel, and the rest of the antediluvians, but the age of a modern man is to be measured by the intensity of his history."

The pet cat that comes to the manor in the storm in Joyce Carol Oates's novel Bellefleur (1980) is named Mahalaleel.

Films

Mahalalel is named as part of the Generations of Adam by the narrator of the film Genesis: The Creation and the Flood (1994).

In the film Noah (2014), Lamech (played by Marton Csokas) remembers Mahalalel and other ancestors before conferring the Sethite birthright to the young Noah (Dakota Goyo).

References

References

1. "Definition of Hebrew Names: Mahalaleel". [[Ancient Hebrew Research Center]].
2. Genesis 5:12
3. Luke 3:37
4. "THE DREAM-VISIONS (LXXXIII-XC.) LXXXIII. LXXXIV. First Dream-Vision on the Deluge. CHAPTER LXXXIII.".
5. Hardy, Thomas. (1995). "The Return of the Native". Wordsworth Editions.