Genesis 5: A compressed history of the Godly line
Good evening to all of you. This post is going to take a look at the 5th chapter of Genesis. I have to warn you that it is full of genealogy (birth) and death. However, I think I can provide an overview of this chapter that can take us through the scenes.
First, the end of Chapter 4 lists the families descended from Cain. You may recall that I previously mentioned that there were two lines of humanity. The wicked line were those who traced their ancestry back to Cain. The Godly line, of the line through which the promised "seed" of the woman would be born, is the line of Seth.
Genesis 5 is an accounting of the offspring sired by Seth. This paints a picture of a world filled with wheat (those who knew and obeyed God) and tares (those who did not know God and lived as rebels).
Genesis 5 begins by restating how man was created by God (Elohim) before launching into the family histories as mankind began to populate the world. This is not a complete listing of names. It is only those who were Godly descendants of Adam because this line of people would ultimately be part of the lineage of Christ.
Genesis 5:1-2 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
One thing is particularly striking: the long lives that most people were blessed with. However, we also hear the steady drumbeat of this phrase: "And he died." It is used 7 times in this chapter as a reminder of the gravity of Adam's sin and the death that will come upon all people.
John Calvin commented about this passage as well. "This clause, which records the death of each patriarch, is by no means superfluous. For it warns us that death was not in vain denounced against men; and that we are now exposed to the curse to which man was doomed, unless we obtain deliverance elsewhere. In the meantime, we must reflect upon our lamentable condition; namely, that the image of God being destroyed, or, at least, obliterated in us, we scarcely retain the faint shadow of a life, from which we are hastening to death. And it is useful, in a picture of so many ages, to behold, at one glance, the continual course and tenor of divine vengeance; because otherwise, we imagine that God is in some way forgetful; and to nothing are we more prone than to dream of immortality on earth, unless death is frequently brought before our eyes."
Yet, there is hope included in Genesis 5 in the person of a man named Enoch. It is helpful to recall that both Seth and Enoch, and Cainan, and Mahalaleel, and Jared, were still alive at the time of Enoch. .
Genesis 5: 21-24 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
Enoch was a man who was the father of Methuselah, who lived to be 969 years of age. Enoch was also the great-grandfather to Noah. The Bible tells us that Enoch walked with God. He enjoyed a beautiful and apparently rare close communion with God. He lived for 365 years and then "God took him."
The New Testament book of Hebrews helps us understand what this means.
Hebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
Enoch was a man who sought to live life the way that God told him to love. His testimony about what kind of man he was is simply "he pleased God." The word "translated" means that God carried Enoch away, lifted him from off the earth without tasting death. Only one other man in scripture enjoyed this, and that was the fiery prophet named Elijah.
At the time Enoch was taken by God, Enoch was born when Adam was 622, and was translated when he himself was 365.
Age of the world, 987 years.Adam had been dead 57 years when Enoch was translated.
First, the end of Chapter 4 lists the families descended from Cain. You may recall that I previously mentioned that there were two lines of humanity. The wicked line were those who traced their ancestry back to Cain. The Godly line, of the line through which the promised "seed" of the woman would be born, is the line of Seth.
Genesis 5 is an accounting of the offspring sired by Seth. This paints a picture of a world filled with wheat (those who knew and obeyed God) and tares (those who did not know God and lived as rebels).
Genesis 5 begins by restating how man was created by God (Elohim) before launching into the family histories as mankind began to populate the world. This is not a complete listing of names. It is only those who were Godly descendants of Adam because this line of people would ultimately be part of the lineage of Christ.
Genesis 5:1-2 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
One thing is particularly striking: the long lives that most people were blessed with. However, we also hear the steady drumbeat of this phrase: "And he died." It is used 7 times in this chapter as a reminder of the gravity of Adam's sin and the death that will come upon all people.
John Calvin commented about this passage as well. "This clause, which records the death of each patriarch, is by no means superfluous. For it warns us that death was not in vain denounced against men; and that we are now exposed to the curse to which man was doomed, unless we obtain deliverance elsewhere. In the meantime, we must reflect upon our lamentable condition; namely, that the image of God being destroyed, or, at least, obliterated in us, we scarcely retain the faint shadow of a life, from which we are hastening to death. And it is useful, in a picture of so many ages, to behold, at one glance, the continual course and tenor of divine vengeance; because otherwise, we imagine that God is in some way forgetful; and to nothing are we more prone than to dream of immortality on earth, unless death is frequently brought before our eyes."
Yet, there is hope included in Genesis 5 in the person of a man named Enoch. It is helpful to recall that both Seth and Enoch, and Cainan, and Mahalaleel, and Jared, were still alive at the time of Enoch. .
Genesis 5: 21-24 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
Enoch was a man who was the father of Methuselah, who lived to be 969 years of age. Enoch was also the great-grandfather to Noah. The Bible tells us that Enoch walked with God. He enjoyed a beautiful and apparently rare close communion with God. He lived for 365 years and then "God took him."
The New Testament book of Hebrews helps us understand what this means.
Hebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
Enoch was a man who sought to live life the way that God told him to love. His testimony about what kind of man he was is simply "he pleased God." The word "translated" means that God carried Enoch away, lifted him from off the earth without tasting death. Only one other man in scripture enjoyed this, and that was the fiery prophet named Elijah.
At the time Enoch was taken by God, Enoch was born when Adam was 622, and was translated when he himself was 365.
Age of the world, 987 years.Adam had been dead 57 years when Enoch was translated.
As this chapter concludes. it is intriguing to note that Methuselah and Lamech were alive for a decent portion of Noah's life. Based upon what we read regarding Noah in Genesis 6, it seems that his dad and grandfather impressed upon Noah the importance of living a God honoring life.
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