Genesis 5

Ge 5:1-32.

GENEALOGY OF THE

PATRIARCHS.

1. book of the generations--(See

Ge 11:4).

Adam--used here either as the name of the first man, or of the

human race generally.

5. all the days . . . Adam lived--The most striking

feature in this catalogue is the longevity of Adam and his immediate

descendants. Ten are enumerated

(Ge 5:5-32)

in direct succession whose lives far exceed the ordinary limits with

which we are familiar--the shortest being three hundred sixty-five,

[Ge 5:23]

and the longest nine hundred sixty-nine years

[Ge 5:27].

It is useless to inquire whether and what secondary causes may have

contributed to this protracted longevity--vigorous constitutions, the

nature of their diet, the temperature and salubrity of the climate; or,

finally--as this list comprises only the true worshippers of

God--whether their great age might be owing to the better government of

their passions and the quiet, even tenor of their lives. 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. So that, as their knowledge was obtained by

tradition, they would be in a condition to preserve it in the greatest

purity.

21. Enoch . . . begat Methuselah--This name signifies,

"He dieth, and the sending forth," so that Enoch gave it as prophetical

of the flood. It is computed that Methuselah died in the year of that

catastrophe.

24. And Enoch walked with God--a common phrase in Eastern

countries denoting constant and familiar intercourse.

was not; for God took him--In

Heb 11:5,

we are informed that he was translated to heaven--a mighty miracle,

designed to effect what ordinary means of instruction had failed to

accomplish, gave a palpable proof to an age of almost universal

unbelief that the doctrines which he had taught

(Jude 14, 15)

were true and that his devotedness to the cause of God and

righteousness in the midst of opposition was highly pleasing to the

mind of God.

26. Lamech--a different person from the one mentioned in the

preceding chapter

[Ge 4:18].

Like his namesake, however, he also spoke in numbers on occasion of the

birth of Noah--that is, "rest" or "comfort"

[Ge 5:29,

Margin].

"The allusion is, undoubtedly, to the penal consequences of the fall in

earthly toils and sufferings, and to the hope of a Deliverer, excited

divine communication we infer from the importance attached to it and

the confidence of its expression" [PETER SMITH].

32. Noah was five hundred years old: and . . .

begat--That he and the other patriarchs were advanced in life

before children were born to them is a difficulty accounted for

probably from the circumstance that Moses does not here record their

first-born sons, but only the succession from Adam through Seth to

Abraham.