Progress is being made through the Book of Genesis. Slow progress but progress nonetheless. Despite having only read up to and including chapter four I feel like I have come a long way in the story. There have already been the first curses from God, deceit, birth, jealousy and murder. This is quite possibly the most human of stories I have ever read and, honestly, a troubling reflection of the present day.
Anyway, enough ramblings, let’s get back to it.
ADAM’S DESCENDANTS TO NOAH
I am not spending too long writing about chapter five as it is mostly a list of people descending from Adam to Noah. Although that does have significance within itself. In chapter four the book covered a few descendants from Cain’s line, now we focus on the line of Seth.
The biggest takeaway from chapter five is the longevity of the people. When God cursed Adam in chapter three, bestowing him with mortality, it appears He still allowed him and his descendants a long lifespan: ‘Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.’ [Genesis 5:5] It is also noteworthy that Adam had ‘other sons and daughters’ [Genesis 5:4] though it doesn’t state how many or with whom he had them – I can presume Eve but she isn’t mentioned again in this chapter. So far, the Bible isn’t big on naming or mentioning women very often.
In Genesis 5:21 it deviates slightly from the usual routine of the previously named person fathering a son and then dying after x number of years. Instead, it says: ‘Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years’. I don’t know if ‘walked with God’ means literally or spiritually – most likely the latter. Enoch only lived for 365 years – considerably fewer than his other descendants – although it doesn’t explicitly say he died: ‘Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.’ [Genesis 5:23 – 5:24] I had to look up ‘and he was not’ online to understand what this means. It is ambiguous but Hebrews 11:5 refers to the event: it seems God prevented Enoch from passing from this life in the normal way. Due to the Bible being specific with how it says things the purpose of this chapter is to understand how Adam’s descendants reached Noah, not to understand what happened to Enoch. Although, truthfully, Enoch’s journey sounds far more interesting!
Several names get repeated from Cain’s family line into Seth’s family line. I don’t think these are the same people, I suppose it isn’t uncommon for similar names to be used inside and across family generations. One of these names is Lamech, who fathered Noah. When Noah was born, Lamech said, ‘Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.’ [Genesis 5:29] This is a throwback reference to Genesis 3:17 when God cursed Adam. I loosely know the story of Noah and that is shifting my interpretation of the quote above. If I were ignorant of the story of the flood I would think it means that Noah will make life easier for people, but actually, I think it is referencing an ultimate relief of pain and toil – death. Could we therefore extrapolate that the fate of all early humans and animals in the flood was determined by Lamech’s prophesising words?
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I am reading the English Standard Version (ESV).
Published by Crossway in Illinois, USA.
This edition printed 2016.
Visually Interesting 
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