Person · 395–1290 AM · 3366 BCE — 2471 BCE
Mahalalel מהללאל
the fifth generation from Adam
Mahalalel was born to Kenan in his seventieth year and lived eight hundred and ninety-five years—fewer than any other in this inventory except Chanoch, whose span ended otherwise.
His name is made of two words: mehalel, one who praises, and El, God. It is the first name of a man in the Torah that openly contains the Name; before him names spoke of earth, of acquisition, of the human lot.
As with the others in the fifth chapter, nothing beyond the numbers is said of his life. He was born while Adam still lived and died long before the Flood.
On the timeline
325 · 3436 BCEThe Births of Kenan, Mahalalel and Yered1140 · 2621 BCEThe Deaths of Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel and Yered
Related
Sources
Tanakh
- Bereshit 5:12–17 — the years of birth and life in the inventory of chapter five
- I Chronicles 1:1–4 — the same line from Adam to the sons of Noah, repeated in the Writings a thousand years after the Torah
Basis: stated in the Tanakh.