William-Adolphe Bouguereau, The First Mourning, 1888. Public domain.
Genesis 5 · Group · Featured Study
Adam to Noah
The line of Seth from Genesis 4:25 to 5:32, which Luke 3:36 to 38 traces to Jesus.
Genesis 5 ends eight of its ten lives with the words and then he died, and of Enoch it says that God had taken him away.
And Adam again had relations with his wife, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another seed in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”
- Began
- With Adam, the first name of the register of Genesis 5:1
Genesis 5 ends eight of its ten lives with the words and then he died, and of Enoch it says that God had taken him away.
Summary
Genesis 5 is the register of ten generations from Adam to Noah, and by the ages of the Masoretic text it covers 1656 years to the flood.
- The line runs through Seth, the son given in place of Abel.
- Methuselah lived 969 years, the longest life Scripture records.
- Enoch walked with God 300 years, and God took him away.
- The Samaritan text and the Septuagint give other ages, and other totals to the flood.
The Line the Promise Ran Through
After Cain, Genesis keeps two family registers side by side, Cain's in chapter 4 and Seth's in chapter 5.
And Adam again had relations with his wife, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another seed in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”Eve gives the reason for the name she chose, and Genesis 5 follows the line of this third son.
And to Seth also a son was born, and he called him Enosh. At that time men began to call upon the name of the LORD.Genesis sets the worship of the LORD at the head of Seth's line, before the register of chapter 5 begins.
And to Seth also a son was born, and he called him Enosh. At that time men began to call upon the name of the LORD.Genesis sets the worship of the LORD at the head of Seth's line, before the register of chapter 5 begins.
Genesis 4:17 to 24 traces the line of Cain through Enoch, Irad, Mehujael and Methusael to Lamech. Both lines hold an Enoch and a Lamech, as Keil and Delitzsch note, and the two Lamechs speak very differently.
Then Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, listen to my speech. For I have slain a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”Lamech's song is the last word Genesis gives from the line of Cain.
And he named him Noah, saying, “May this one comfort us in the labor and toil of our hands caused by the ground that the LORD has cursed.”Seth's Lamech names his son Noah in hope of comfort from the toil of the cursed ground.
Seth's line carries the promised seed of Genesis 3:15 down to the flood, and through Shem it reaches the genealogy of Christ in Luke 3:36 to 38.
John Wesley on the naming of NoahGenesis 5:29
John Wesley, in his Explanatory Notes on Genesis 5:29, thought it very probable that prophecies had gone before of Noah as a man who would be wonderfully serviceable to his generation.
The two lines set side by sideGenesis 4:17 to 22; 5:3 to 32
From Adam the two lines run side by side, Cain's to the children of Lamech and Seth's to Noah and his three sons.
Generation 1
Generation 2
Generation 3
Generation 4
Generation 5
Generation 6
Generation 7
Generation 8
Generation 9
Generation 10
Generation 11
Each generation is counted from Adam, in Genesis 4 for Cain's line and Genesis 5 for Seth's.
Genesis 4:23 to 24, Genesis 5:29
Ten Men, Sixteen Centuries
Genesis 5 records each father's age when the named son was born, and then his total years.
Laid on one line of years from Adam, the ten lives overlap, and only Noah lives on past the flood.
500 years
- Adamyear 0 to 930Genesis 5:5
- Sethyear 130 to 1042Genesis 5:8
- Enoshyear 235 to 1140Genesis 5:11
- Kenanyear 325 to 1235Genesis 5:14
- Mahalalelyear 395 to 1290Genesis 5:17
- Jaredyear 460 to 1422Genesis 5:20
- Enochyear 622 to 987Genesis 5:23
- Methuselahyear 687 to 1656Genesis 5:27
- Lamechyear 874 to 1651Genesis 5:31
- Noahyear 1056 to 2006Genesis 9:29
The years of the world are counted from Adam by adding each father's age at his son's birth, as Genesis 5 gives them; the Samaritan text and the Septuagint give other ages.
Each bar runs from birth to death in years counted from Adam; the upright rule marks the flood.
The ages, generation by generationGenesis 5:3 to 32
The table gives the ten generations of Genesis 5 in the Masoretic text, with the years of each man counted from the creation of Adam.
| Patriarch | Age at the son's birth | Total years | Year of the world, birth to death | The name's meaning, or a note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adam | 130 | 930 | 0 to 930 | Made in the likeness of God, Genesis 5:1 |
| Seth | 105 | 912 | 130 to 1042 | Set in Abel's place, Genesis 4:25 |
| Enosh | 90 | 905 | 235 to 1140 | Man in his frailty |
| Kenan | 70 | 910 | 325 to 1235 | Fourth from Adam |
| Mahalalel | 65 | 895 | 395 to 1290 | Praise of God |
| Jared | 162 | 962 | 460 to 1422 | Descent |
| Enoch | 65 | 365 | 622 to 987 | Dedicated; walked with God and was taken |
| Methuselah | 187 | 969 | 687 to 1656 | The oldest recorded; died in the year of the flood |
| Lamech | 182 | 777 | 874 to 1651 | Named his son Noah |
| Noah | 500 | 950 | 1056 to 2006 | Rest and comfort, Genesis 5:29 |
Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah
Noah's years at the flood and at his deathGenesis 5:32; 7:6; 9:29
Noah's age in the table is his age at the birth of his three sons.
Now Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters came upon the earth.Noah's age at the flood fixes the last link of the sum from Adam to the flood.
So Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.Noah's 950 years are the last entry of the register, completed 350 years after the flood.
Where the Lives Overlap
The years of Genesis 5 overlap so far that three lives reach from Adam to the years after the flood.
Adam was still alive for 56 years after the birth of Lamech, Noah's father. He died before Noah was born, when Methuselah was 243 years old.
Methuselah lived until Shem was 98, by the ages of Genesis 5 and Genesis 11:10. So the memory of Eden could pass from Adam to Methuselah and from Methuselah to Shem.
So Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.Methuselah's 969 years end in the year 1656 from Adam, the year Noah turned 600 and the waters came.
This is the account of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad.This verse dates the birth of Noah's son from the flood and so joins the register of Genesis 11 to Genesis 5.
Enoch Walked with God
The seventh from Adam in the line of Seth has an end unlike the other nine.
Enoch walked with God, and then he was no more, because God had taken him away.This verse takes the place of the closing words and then he died in Enoch's case.
Enoch's 365 years are the shortest life on the list, barely a third of Methuselah's. Matthew Henry reads the 300 years as the point, since Enoch walked with God as long as he continued in this world.
Enoch was taken before the judgment and Noah was carried through it, so the line of Seth is framed by these two men.
Enoch in the letter to the HebrewsHebrews 11:5
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.The letter to the Hebrews sets Genesis 5:24 in its roll of those who lived by trust in the LORD.
Enoch's prophecy in the letter of JudeJude 1:14 to 15
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied about them: “Behold, the Lord is coming with myriads of His holy ones to execute judgment on everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of every ungodly act of wickedness and every harsh word spoken against Him by ungodly sinners.”Jude gives Enoch's prophecy of the Lord coming to judge, words that also stand at 1:9 of the book of Enoch, a writing outside the canon.
What the Text Leaves Unsaid
The register gives names and numbers and passes over the rest.
From Adam to the Son of God
Luke runs the line of Genesis 5 backward from Jesus to Adam.
the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.Luke's last ten names before God are the ten of Genesis 5, from Noah back to Adam.
Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech. The sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.The Chronicler opens all his genealogies with Adam's line through Seth to the sons of Noah.
Two Voices on the Register
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown on the long lives, and Matthew Henry on Luke's Cainan
1662 to 1714 · Matthew Henry
Matthew Henry accounts for the Cainan whom Luke 3:36 names between Arphaxad and Shelah, a name the Hebrew of Genesis 11:12 lacks.
“But, as to that, it is sufficient to say that the Seventy Interpreters, who, before our Saviour's time, translated the Old Testament into Greek, for reasons best known to themselves inserted that Cainan; and St. Luke, writing among the Hellenist Jews, was obliged to make use of that translation, and therefore to take it as he found it.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible · on Luke 3:36Puritan
1802 to 1910 · Jamieson, Fausset & Brown
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown leave the cause of the long lives to the will of God and name the chief purpose they served.
“Since we cannot obtain satisfactory evidence on these points, it is wise to resolve the fact into the sovereign will of God. We can, however, trace some of the important uses to which, in the early economy of Providence, it was subservient. It was the chief means of reserving a knowledge of God, of the great truths of religion, as well as the influence of genuine piety.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible · on Genesis 5:5Reformed
How Long from Adam to the Flood?
The ages read as a closed chronology or an open line, the totals of the three texts, the purpose of the account and the meaning of the names
Genesis 5 and Genesis 11:10 to 26 give the father's age at each son's birth, and so they raise the question whether the two chapters fix the age of the earth.
A closed chronologyJames Ussher, The Annals of the World (1658)
On this reading the begetting ages are a timeline, and added generations would break the sum. Keil and Delitzsch add the ages of Genesis 5 to the 600 years of Noah at the flood, and find 1656 years.
James Ussher dated creation to 4004 before Christ on this data, in his Annals of the World, published in Latin in 1650 and in English in 1658. This traditional young earth chronology is a widely held reading among faithful interpreters.
The objection is Green's, that biblical genealogies elsewhere omit names.
A genealogy that may skip generationsWilliam Henry Green, Primeval Chronology (1890)
William Henry Green argued in Primeval Chronology, in Bibliotheca Sacra for April 1890, that the genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11 were not meant for building a chronology. He held that the Hebrew verb for fathering a son holds equally whether the next name is a son or a later descendant, and he pointed to the three kings Matthew 1:8 leaves out.
On this reading Genesis 5 is a line of descent, and no total age of the earth follows from it.
The objection is that Genesis 5 gives each father's age at the birth of the named son, which a list meant only to trace descent would not need.
The versions give three totalsMasoretic, Samaritan and Septuagint
Keil and Delitzsch set the three texts side by side. The Masoretic text gives 1656 years to the flood, the Samaritan Pentateuch 1307 and the Septuagint 2242.
John Gill gives the Septuagint's age for Methuselah at Lamech's birth as 167 and the Samaritan's as 67. He gives Lamech's whole years as 753 in the Greek and 653 in the Samaritan, and he follows the Hebrew.
The divergence lies in the manuscripts, and the arithmetic of each is sound.
Why the account was givenGenesis 5:1
the book was written by moses to the jews in the exodus and its purpose was to teach them about YHWH, not explain every little detail and be a perfect account, or else there would have been much more included
A sentence in the namesChuck Missler, The Gospel in Genesis (1996)
Chuck Missler reads the ten names in order as one sentence in The Gospel in Genesis: A Hidden Message, published by Koinonia House in 1996. He grants that the meanings of the roots are not free of controversy. His sentence is “Man (is) appointed mortal sorrow; (but) the Blessed God shall come down teaching (that) His death shall bring (the) despairing rest.”
John Wesley also reads Methuselah as he dies, there is a sending forth, while Keil and Delitzsch read it as man of the sword or of increase.
The sentence is a devotional reading built on those meanings, and the text of Genesis 5 does not state it.
Books to Read Next
Four older works on the register of Genesis 5, each free to read
Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, volume 1, The Pentateuch
C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch · 1866
James Martin translated it into English for T. and T. Clark of Edinburgh.
Read at the Internet ArchivePrimeval Chronology
William Henry Green · 1890
Green published the article in nineteen pages of Bibliotheca Sacra.
Read at the Internet ArchiveThe Annals of the World
James Ussher · 1658
Ussher dates each birth and death of Genesis 5 from the creation.
Read at the Internet ArchiveExplanatory Notes upon the Old Testament
John Wesley · 1765
Wesley comments on the names of Methuselah and Noah in a few lines each.
Read at the Christian Classics Ethereal LibraryWalking with God in a Dying World
Genesis 5 asks the reader to walk with God as Enoch did, in a world where every other life on the list ends in death.
Luke carries the same line to Jesus, the son of Adam, and Paul sets Christ against the death that came through Adam.
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.Paul answers the refrain of Genesis 5 with the life that comes in Christ.
The reader who trusts Him walks with God now and will be made alive in Him.
Sources
Scripture is the Berean Standard Bible.
- C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, volume 1, The Pentateuch, translated by James Martin (Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1866)
- James Ussher, The Annals of the World (London, 1658)
- William Henry Green, Primeval Chronology, Bibliotheca Sacra 47 (April 1890), pages 285 to 303.
- John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)
- Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible.
- John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748 to 1763)
- Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
- Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
- Chuck Missler, The Gospel in Genesis: A Hidden Message, Koinonia House, February 1, 1996.
- Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis.
Keep Studying
People and groups9
Places1
Doctrines6
Subjects1