Methuselah, according to the Bible, lived just short of a thousand years. Suppose his life had spanned this last millennium instead of beginning before Noah's day. He'd certainly have seen changes during those early Biblical times, but he'd have seen far more dizzying ones this last thousand years.
During the first third, for instance, Christianity was adopted as the new religion in Iceland, the Shogun of Japan issued that famous prohibition against drinking tea, the Tower of London was built, windmills were being constructed in Europe, and goose quills were the preferred technology for writing.
In the 1500s a Methuselah could be excused for having — if they had them then — a midlife crisis. After all, discovery that the earth wasn't the center of the universe would surely shake the very foundations of anyone's belief system. What can you trust if you can't believe your eyes, telling you the sun, moon, stars, go around the earth?
