Genesis Chapter Five

Read Genesis 5:1-5 – The Life of Adam

v.1 “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;”

Our first verse states that the purpose of the chapter is to give the linage of the seed promise made to Eve in Genesis 3:15 from Adam to Noah. We find them in reverse order in Luke 3:36-38; with a little different spelling for some of the names but the same men are listed, none the less. On both occasions the genealogy is used to verify that Jesus Christ was indeed the seed promised that would bruise Satan’s head.

v.2 “Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.”

God created mankind just as we were told in Genesis 1:27 and that fact is confirmed again. God also named Adam, a name that means earth or red earth signifying the source material for his body.

v.3 “And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:”

Neither Cain or Abel or any of the other children of Adam and Eve are mentioned here why? The name Seth means appointed. So again we are confirming the linage through which the seed promise is to be fulfilled, this was the purpose for which Seth was appointed. Also, as time will prove, all of the other descendants of Adam and Eve will perish in the flood except for Noah’s wife, their three sons and their wives.

v.4 “And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:”

Adam lived another 800 years after the birth of Seth and had many more sons and daughters. How many we are not told. Only Seth is important in the revelation by God.

v.5 “And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.”

Just as God promised:

Genesis 3:19 “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

Even though he lived almost 1000 years, 930 actually, eventually Adam made the same journey that all of us will make if Jesus doesn’t return during our lifetime.

Read Genesis 5:6-11 – Seth and Enos

v.6 “And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos:”

What was different about Seth and Enos that we read about in our earlier study?

Genesis 4:26 “And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.”

Seth and his descendants worshipped or called on the name of the Lord. They were God’s people, perhaps and surely by the time of Noah, the only representatives of mankind that did honor God.

v.7-8 “And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters: ⁸And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.”

We do not know what gave mankind the length of life that we read about in these verses. Some commentators have speculated that some natural causes might be involved. Even though man was barred from the Garden of Eden the entire earth was a garden and a paradise compared to much of what we see today. Perhaps part of man’s longevity was due to the purity of God’s creation.

v.9 “And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan:”

After living 90 years Cainan is born to Enos. This is not the same Canaan that we read about later, that Canaan was the son of Ham.

v.10-11 “And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters: ¹¹And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died.”

“…ALL THE DAYS OF ENOS…” Their lives were reckoned in days which indicates the shortness of the lives of men even when they lived to ages numbered in hundreds of years. We are told through a prayer of Moses:

Psalms 90:12 “SO TEACH us TO NUMBER OUR DAYS, THAT WE MAY APPLY our HEARTS UNTO WISDOM.”

We must also realize that our days are numbered so that we will seek the wisdom of God and focus our entire being on our destination at the end of those days.

Read Genesis 5:12-20 – Cainan, Mahalaleel, and Jared

v.12-14 “And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel: And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters: ¹⁴And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died.”

Each of these men, except for Enoch which we will study in the next section, lived for a certain span of time “AND HE DIED.” The Holy Spirit through the writer of Hebrews reminds us:

Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”

v.15-17 “And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared: ¹⁶And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters: ¹⁷And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died.”

Obviously during the span of time that the earth is being populated for the first time the age did not ravish the human body as it does today. Can we even comprehend the meaning of living 700, 800 or 900 years? Illness, age, and the frailty of our bodies catch up with us in one tenth of the time as God gave men in this day.

v.18-20 “And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch: ¹⁹And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: ²⁰And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.”

Enoch, a priest as all of the patriarchs were, was also a prophet of God.

Jude 1:14-15 “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

We might also note here that all of these patriarchs, with the exception of Noah were all born before Adam died. If we but apply some simple arithmetic, Adam was 130 when Seth was born, 685 when Methuselah was born, 872 when Lamech was born and died when Lamech, the father of Noah, was 58.

Read Genesis 5:21-27 – Enoch and Methuselah

v.21-22 “And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: ²²And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:”

We are told that Enoch walked with God, later in Genesis 6:9 we will be told that Noah “…WALKED WITH GOD.” In Genesis 17:1 God told Abram to “…WALK BEFORE ME…” His son, Isaac, followed his footsteps.

What does it mean to walk with God? The Psalmist describes it this way:

Psalms 16:8 “I HAVE SET THE LORD ALWAYS BEFORE ME: BECAUSE he is AT MY RIGHT HAND, I SHALL NOT BE MOVED.”

Psalms 73:23 “NEVERTHELESS I am CONTINUALLY WITH THEE: THOU HAS HOLDEN me BY MY RIGHT HAND.”

Just as you and I were taken by the hand and led by our parents as a little child, we allow God our Father to take us by the hand spiritually and lead us through our life. But in order to walk with God we must be reconciled to God, be in harmony with him:

Amos 3:3 ” Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”

We must be reconciled and in harmony with him in all aspects of a godly, righteous and sober life. To walk with God is to set God always before us, and to act as those that are always under his eye. It is to live a life in communion with God both his law and his providence. It is to make God’s word our rule and his glory our purpose in all of our actions. It is to make it our constant concern and work so that in every thing we please God, and do nothing to offend him. It is to conform to his will, to agree with his precepts and to be workers together with him. It is to be as Paul told the Ephesian brethren:

“Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; ²And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.” Ephesians 5:1-2

This is the example that Enoch sets before the multiplied millions that read this very short account of his life. And as Enoch was rewarded by God, our walk will be rewarded as well, just not in the exact same manner.

v.23-24 “And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: ²⁴And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”

There are two men that the Holy Spirit of God has recorded who never died, the first was Enoch, the second was Elijah:

II Kings 2:11 “And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.”

We are told by the scripture how Elijah was taken from earth but how did God take Enoch? What does it mean that “HE WAS NOT” for “GOD TOOK HIM?”

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.”

The Greek verb used in the original text of Hebrews 11:5 is metatithemi and simply means “to transfer to another place”, it is very closely related to the words that mean to “carry, change, remove or turn.” God took Enoch, means simply that God took him from earth directly to his heavenly reward. He did not suffer death.

v.25-27 “And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech: ²⁶And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters: ²⁷And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.”

The oldest man that ever lived but as all men faced death except the two that we just studied, Methuselah died as well. Jewish tradition claims that he died seven days before the flood began, we cannot be that precise with the dates in Genesis 5. God tells us in Genesis 7:11 that the flood came on the 17^th day of the second month, of the six hundredth year of Noah’s life. We can with these numbers determine that Methuselah died the same year that the flood occurred.

Read Genesis 5:28-32 – Lamech and Noah

v. 28-29 “And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: ²⁹And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.”

Thus the linage that would produce the seed promised in Genesis 3:15 is preserved in Noah, the son of Lamech. The name means “rest”, his father in naming him declared that Noah was to be a comfort to him in the labor that God required of man to produce his substance from the earth. It is not uncommon for fathers to wish for their sons to be a more than ordinary blessing to their generation. Some would speculate that this is because the world has continued to become exceedingly sinful by this time. So sinful that God is soon to destroy and rebuild it.

v.30-31 “And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters: ³¹And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.”

When you use the ages given in scripture and do the simple arithmetic you will find that Lamech died five years before the flood and five years before Methuselah died. Thus he was not alive to see God preserve his son and his family and destroy the rest of the world.

v.32 “And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”

And so we are introduced to the three sons of Noah for the first time. Japheth is the oldest (Genesis 10:21) but Shem is listed first, why? Because it is through Shem that the seed promise is preserved, it is to Shem that Noah’s birth right is given, just as it was through Abel whom Cain killed and Jacob who was the youngest of Isaac’s twins. Shem was also that one who followed God as Genesis 9:26 will tell us.