Chapter 5

1 The genealogy, age, and death of the patriarchs from Adam unto Noah. 24 The godliness and translation of Enoch.

1. This is the book. A period of about 1,500 years is covered in the list of generations presented in this chapter. Only the names of the principal patriarchs, their age at the birth of their first-born sons, and their total age are given. In somewhat monotonous outline we see them being born, growing up to manhood, marrying wives, begetting children, and then dying, without leaving to posterity more than their names to remember. Only two, Enoch and Noah, surpass the others in excellence and piety. Enoch was the first sinner, saved by grace, to be honored with translation; Noah was the only family head to survive the Flood.

This chapter contains a family register like others incorporated at different places into the OT narrative. The expression, “the book of the generations of” someone, is a technical term for a genealogical list (see Matt. 1:1). The word “book,” sepher, is used in the OT to refer to a complete scroll (Jer. 36:2, 8) or for a single leaf of a scroll (Deut. 24:1).

2. Called their name Adam. The dignity of their being created in God’s likeness, their distinction in sex, and their divine benediction are described briefly. The only new information is the name given them by God—“man,” Хadam. From this text it is clear that the name Adam was originally generic, inclusive of both the man and the woman, and equivalent to our word mankind.

3. In his own likeness. Though Seth was not Adam’s first-born son, he was the one through whom the godly line was to be perpetuated. Adam’s career after the Fall is summarized in three short verses that serve as a pattern for subsequent biographies.

5. All the days that Adam lived. The remarkable longevity of the antediluvian race has been the target of much criticism. Some have declared that the figures are the product of a mythical age or the result of faulty transmission of the text. Others have suggested that they do not represent individuals but dynasties, or that they were not years but shorter periods, perhaps months. All such considerations must be rejected as doing violence to a literal interpretation of the text and to its inspired origin. We must accept these figures as historical and accurate. The longevity of the antediluvian race may be attributed to the following causes: (1) the original vitality with which mankind was endowed at creation, (2) superior piety and intelligence, (3) the residual effect of the fruit of the tree of life, (4) the superior quality of available food, and (5) divine grace in postponing the execution of the penalty of sin. Adam lived to see eight successive generations reach maturity. Inasmuch as his life spanned more than half the time to the Flood, it is apparent that many could hear from his own lips the story of creation, of Eden, of the Fall, and of the plan of redemption as it had been revealed to him.

And he died. With these somber words ends Adam’s short biography. The monotonous repetition of this statement at the close of each biography—except that of Enoch—affirms the dominion of death (Rom. 5:12). It reveals that the sentence of death was not a vain threat. Death is a persistent reminder of the nature and results of disobedience.

Biographies of the succeeding patriarchs follow the pattern of Adam’s life story and do not call for individual explanation (see on ch. 4:17, 18 for an explanation of some of the names).

22. Enoch walked with God. Enoch’s most exceptional life called for very special attention. Twice it is stated that “he walked with God.” This expression is used also of Noah (ch. 6:9), and is found, in similar words, in other passages (see Gen. 17:1; Deut. 13:4; Ps. 116:9; Micah 6:8; Eph. 5:1, 2). It portrays a life of singularly elevated piety, not merely the constant realization of the divine presence or even a continued effort at holy obedience, but maintenance of the most intimate relations with God. Enoch’s life was most evidently in complete and beautiful harmony with the divine will.

After he begat Methuselah. The statement that “he walked with God” after Methuselah’s birth does not imply that he had been a godless person before and only now experienced conversion. He belonged to the faithful race and doubtless had served God loyally during the first 65 years of his life. But with the arrival of a son to grace his home he understood through experience the depth of a father’s love and the confidence of a helpless baby. As never before he was drawn to God, his own heavenly Father, and eventually qualified for translation. His walk with God consisted not only in the contemplation of God but also in active ministry on behalf of his fellow men. He looked forward to the second Advent of Christ, earnestly and solemnly warning the sinners around him of the terrible doom that awaited the ungodly (Jude 14, 15).

Three hundred years. Enoch’s constant faithfulness manifested over a period of 300 years speaks encouragement to those Christians who seem to find it difficult to “walk with God” for even one day.

And begat sons and daughters. According to the Inspired Record, Enoch begat sons and daughters during this life of exceptional piety. Here is undeniable evidence that the state of matrimony is in accord with the most strict life of holiness.

24. He was not; for God took him. The most significant event of the antediluvian era, an event that filled the faithful with hope and joy, the translation of Enoch, is related by Moses in these few simple words. Enoch was translated “that he should not see death” (Heb. 11:5). This meaning is implicit in the word laqach, “he [God] took away,” a word that is never used to denote death. Modern Christian usage of the expression as a euphemism for death is without Scriptural authority. The word is used, however, in connection with Elijah’s translation (2 Kings 2:3, 5, 9, 10). The LXX renders it “for God translated him,” an expression taken over literally in Heb. 11:5. So far as we know, Enoch was the only antediluvian believer not to see death. As a paragon of virtue, Enoch, “the seventh from Adam,” stands in sharp contrast to the seventh generation of the Cainite line, Lamech, who added the crime of murder to the vice of polygamy (Jude 14; cf. Gen. 4:16–19).

Enoch’s departure was witnessed by some of both the righteous and the wicked (see PP 88). The translation of Enoch was designed by God, not only to reward the piety of a godly man, but to demonstrate the certainty of God’s promised deliverance from sin and death. The memory of this remarkable event has survived in Jewish tradition (Ecclesiasticus 44:16), in the Christian record (Heb. 11:5; Jude 14), and even in heathen fables. The Apocryphal Book of Enoch describes the patriarch as exhorting his son and all his contemporaries, and warning them of coming judgment. The Jewish Book of Jubilee says that he was carried into Paradise, where he wrote down the judgment of all men. Arabic legends have made him the inventor of writing and arithmetic. His departure must have made a tremendous impression upon his contemporaries, if we are to judge by the extent to which the story of Enoch has come down to later generations. Enoch’s exemplary life with its glorious climax testifies in our day of the possibility of living in a wicked world without being “of it.”

25. Methuselah. Enoch’s short earthly life of only 365 years was followed by that of his son Methuselah, who lived for 969 years, to within the year of the Flood. The meaning of his name is uncertain. Commentators have explained it variously as “man of military weapons,” “man of sending forth,” or “man of growth.” The meaning of the name of his son Lamech is even more obscure.

29. Noah. In the hope that his first-born might be the promised seed, the redeemer for whose coming the faithful longingly waited, Lamech called him Noah, “rest,” saying, “this same one shall comfort us.” The name “Noah,” nuach, “to rest,” and the word “to comfort,” nacham, both point back to a common root meaning “to sigh,” “to breathe,” “to rest,” and “to lie down.” Lamech was a godly man who followed in the footsteps of his exemplary grandfather Enoch and his pious, long-lived father Methuselah.

Our work. Lamech apparently felt the burden of tilling the ground that God had cursed and looked forward in faith to the time when the existing misery and corruption would cease and redemption from the curse would come. His hope that this might be realized in his son was not fulfilled, at least in the way he expected. Nevertheless, Noah was destined to proclaim a bold warning against evil and to play an important role by becoming the progenitor of all who have lived since his time.

32. Noah was five hundred years old. In Hebrew this expression reads literally, “Noah was a son of 500 years,” meaning that he was in his 500th year. Now “son of a year” means, strictly speaking, within the first year of life (Ex. 12:5). This fact, an important point in Hebrew chronological language, becomes even more clear from a comparison of the 6th and 11th verses of ch. 7. Although both verses speak of the beginning of the Flood, one of them declares Noah to be 600 years old, and the other says that the event occurred in Noah’s 600th year. Consequently the former verse, “Noah was a son of 600 years,” means that he was “in his 600th year,” and not in his 601st year as we would naturally conclude.

Not one of the preceding patriarchs waited so many years before the birth of his offspring as did Noah; half a millennium passed before his own home was blessed by the arrival of a son (see p. 183). This genealogy breaks off with Noah, mentioning only the birth of his sons. The mention of all three sons foreshadows their importance in repopulating the earth after the Flood.

Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Another principle of Hebrew genealogy must be explained in this connection. From the sequence of the names of Noah’s sons given here and elsewhere the impression may be gained that Shem was the oldest and Japheth the youngest of Noah’s three sons. That this is incorrect can be seen from a comparison of this text with certain others. Noah’s sons were not triplets (see chs. 9:24; 10:21). According to ch. 9:24 Ham was the youngest of the brothers. Chapter 10:21, furthermore, refers either to Shem or to Japheth as “the elder” of the two, although the ambiguous Hebrew grammatical construction does not make it clear which of the two was older. From ch. 11:10 we learn that Shem was 100 years old two years after the Flood, when his father would be about 602 years of age; the age of Noah at Shem’s birth must then have been 502 years—not 500 as might be inferred from ch. 5:32. But one of the three, the eldest, was born in Noah’s 500th year (ch. 5:32). These texts lead to the conclusion that actually Japheth was the eldest son of Noah, being born when his father was 500 years old, and that Shem and Ham followed in that order. The KJV translation of ch. 10:21 is therefore the correct one, rather than that of the RSV, according to which Shem would have been the eldest son. The last part of ch. 5:32 would therefore be stated more accurately, “And Noah began to beget Japheth, Shem, and Ham.”

Shem is mentioned as the first of the three sons because of his importance as the progenitor of the postdiluvian patriarchal line from which the chosen people of God, together with the promised seed, should spring. Ham is mentioned next as the forefather of races with whom the OT readers of Moses’ time, and later, had much more contact than with the descendants of Japheth, who inhabited more remote regions. The same principle is repeated in Abraham’s case, where he, the youngest of Terah’s sons, is mentioned first (ch. 11:27) on account of his greater importance to those for whom the record was written.

By reducing the ages of Jared, Methuselah, and Lamech at the birth of their first-born sons, the Samaritan Pentateuch leaves only 1,307 years between creation and the Flood, instead of 1.656 years as in the Hebrew text and English translations based upon it.

But the LXX, in contrast, presents a much longer period before the Flood. It does this by assigning to some of the patriarchs, at the oldest son’s birth, an age 100 years higher than does the Hebrew text. Therefore it arrives at a total of 2,242 or 2,262 years (the various MSS show a discrepancy between 167 and 187 for Methuselah’s age at the birth of Lamech).

Josephus, whose figures are practically identical with those of the LXX, presumably derived them from that version, which was current in his day. Josephus gives Methuselah’s age as 187.

If the Septuagint figure 187 for Lamech is to be taken as a correction of an earlier 167, it can be easily accounted for (see p. 180).

Many readers are not aware of those differences in the ancient lists, because the KJV and practically all other Protestant translations into English are based on the Hebrew text.

the chronology of genesis 5

Hebrew

Samaritan

LXX

Josephus

Age at son’s birth

Age at death

Age at son’s birth

Age at death

Age at son’s birth

Age at death

Age at son’s birth

Age at death

Adam

130

930

130

930

230

930

230

930

Seth

105

912

105

912

205

912

205

912

Enos

90

905

90

905

190

905

190

905

Cainan

70

910

70

910

170

910

170

910

Mahalaleel

65

895

65

895

165

895

165

895

Jared

162

962

62

847

162

962

162

962

Enoch

65

365

65

365

165

365

165

365

Methuselah

187

969

67

720

167*

969

187

969

Lamech

182

777

53

653

188

753

182

777

Noah

500

950

500

950

500

950

500

950

Noah’s age at Flood

600

600

600

600

It is interesting to note that, just as the list in Gen. 5 records ten long-lived generations before the Flood, similarly the ancient Mesopotamian traditions also point to precisely ten generations before the Flood and to the longevity of the race during that era. The Babylonian list opens with the remark that “sovereignty descended from heaven,” and gives Alulim, meaning “man,” as the progenitor of the human race (cf. Heb. Хadam, “man”). There are no other similarities between the two lists, however, either in the names or in

Ellen G. White comments

1-32CH 19; PP 80-89; 3T 139

1, 3 PP 80

3-8SR 57

5 PP 82

5, 8 3T 138

18-24SR 57

21, 22 GW 51; PP 84

21-248T 305, 329, 331

22 CT 487; Ev 78, 681; ML 8, 14, 98, 255; MM 124, 276; PP 92; SC 103; 2T 121; 3T 543; 4T 616; 5T 113, 535, 596

24 Ed 127; EW 40; GC 299; GW 254; MB 54; ML 341; PK 486; PP 87; SC 103; SR 59; TM 338, 388; 6T 392; 7T 155