Mahalalel, Mahalaleel, or Mihlaiel Hebrew מהללאל was a patriarch

Patriarch

Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy. This is a Greek word, a compound of πατριά , "lineage, descent", esp...

 named in the Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...

.

Family

Mahalalel was a son of Kenan

Kenan

Kenan , , or Cainan, was a Biblical patriarch first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible Book of Genesis as living before the Great Flood.- Family :...

, son of Enos

Enos (biblical figure)

Enos or Enosh , in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible, is the first son of Seth who figures in the Generations of Adam, and consequently referred to within the genealogies of Chronicles, and of Genealogy of Jesus according to .-In the Hebrew Bible:According to Genesis, Seth was 105 years old...

, son of Seth

Seth

Seth , in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, is the third listed son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, who are the only other of their children mentioned by name...

, son of Adam in the Old Testament of the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

. He was also the father of Jared

Jared (ancestor of Noah)

Jared, or Jered, in Judeo-Christian religious belief was a fifth-generation descendant of Adam and Eve.- Tradition :...

 and the grandfather of Enoch II

Enoch (ancestor of Noah)

Enoch is a figure in the Generations of Adam. Enoch is described as Adam's greatx4 grandson , the son of Jared, the father of Methuselah, and the great-grandfather of Noah...

.

Although Mahalalel's wife is not named in the Bible, her name in the Book of Jubilees is Dinah; she was Mahalalel's cousin and mother of Jared.

He appears in the Book of Genesis 5:12-17, and according to the book, he lived 895 years, placing him eighth in the records for the unusually long lifespans for the antediluvian

Antediluvian

The antediluvian period meaning "before the deluge" is the period referred to in the Bible between the Creation of the Earth and the Deluge . The narrative takes up chapters 1-6 of Genesis...

 patriarchs.

Later references to Mahalalel include 1 Chronicles 1:1, Jubilees 4:14–15 and Gospel of Luke

Gospel of Luke

The Gospel According to Luke , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Luke or simply Luke, is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels. This synoptic gospel is an account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. It details his story from the events of his birth to his Ascension.The...

 3:37. Enoch’s first dream vision in 1 Enoch 83 recounts the dream that Enoch had in the house of Mahalalel his grandfather, and which Mahalalel explains to him.

Allusions

The pet cat that comes to the manor in the storm in Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates is an American author. Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published over fifty novels, as well as many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction...

's novel Bellefleur

Bellefleur

Bellefleur is a magic realist novel by Joyce Carol Oates about the generations of an upstate New York family. It is the first book in Oates' "Gothic Saga"....

is named Mahalaleel.