By Adedara Oduguwa PhD
This time 23:20 pm on Monday August 10, 2020, I chew over my dad’s death in February and that of many prominent Nigerians that transited from January to August this year.
A loud voice inside me asked ‘Dara, how old was Methuselah when he died according to the holy Bible?’
I couldn’t answer the question without my best friend Google. So I asked him ‘ Goggle, how old was Methuselah when he died?’
‘969 years old.’_ My friend Google responded.
The voice asked again ‘ how old was Jesus when he died?’
This time I didn’t have to ask Google, I answered ‘ 33 years, when he was crucified and later resurrected on the third day.’
Then came the third question from the voice ‘ how many times was Mr. Methuselah mentioned in the old and New Testament of the Bible?’
‘ 7 times in the Bible: Genesis 5:21-22, 25-27; 1 Chronicles 1:3; Luke 3:37.’_ thanks to my friend Google on this again.
The voice further asked ‘how many times was Jesus mentioned in the Bible?’
‘1,281 times’
Followed by;David ‘971 times’Moses ‘803 times’And Jacob ‘363 times’
These revelations pricked my heart. How can a man that lived for 969 years be remembered and mentioned only 7times in a book of 1200 pages,31173 verses,807370 words ?
And another who lived for only approximately 33 years be so remembered and mentioned over a 1000 times in the same space and immortalised over 2000 years after his transition?
The answer came to these questions thus ‘Dara how many houses did Jesus built for himself?’
‘I can’t remember if any was recorded in the Bible. But I remembered he built his disciplines and saved the world.’_My answer.
Now, it is no longer a shoot down that, life is but of vanity! None of the millionaires and billionaires that died in Nigeria or abroad this year have any power to control anyone again,sleep in any of the beautiful mansions they once cherished, contribute to national matters or share bed with their extremely beautiful wives.
In fact, immediately they die, we stop calling their names. We even called my own dad, ‘the deceased’ few hours after his transition. As we are putting his lifeless body to rest, in my mind, I asked ‘ why can’t we bury this man in our family hall? At least, he could enjoy part of fruit of his labour, or why can’t any of his beautiful wives (if not all) be so generous to volunteer to sleep with him now? No, they are now afraid of the body they once cherished. The only thing that is left for the dead was his ‘deeds alive’.
Oh no, the life of vanity!
No man is great alive! Age is not achievement. If it’s, Methuselah would be mentioned over a million times in the Bible. Wealth is nothing, if it was, no one would remember Jesus today.
But what you do with your time here is all that matters. Are you living right?
ebiographer 