Gen 5:1
This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God: This chapter is one reason I believe that Moses compiled together documents to build the book of Genesis. In Gen 3:15, we have the prophecy of the seed war, and God wants to prove the truth of the prophecy when it's fulfilled by keeping a history of the line of Adam, all the way to the Christ (Jesus). Keep in mind, when you see genealogies in the Bible, they point to Jesus, and the only records needed are those that follow Jesus's line back to Adam. The Bible does not have a complete record, and it's intentional.
Again, we have the Bible telling us that God created man. We did not evolve. We did not come from soup. We are not monkeys. We didn't get put on this planet by aliens. There was a date when God Himself created us.
Gen 5:2
He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created: God created both man and woman, and then blessed them. For anyone wondering, here's your proof that there is no real difference in status between man and woman. God created both and blessed both. God also says that we're to become one flesh (Gen 2:24). We're supposed to be a great team.
Gen 5:3
And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth: Notice that Cain and Abel here are skipped. Seth is mentioned because we are to follow his line down to Jesus.
The language here of Adam begetting a son "in his own likeness" is the same language used in Gen_5:1 to describe God creating man. We were created in the image of God, the same way that human babies are images of man. We can speculate then that when we see God, we will be able to recognize Him as God because He will look like us.
Gen 5:4
After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters: Adam lived a total of 930 years. Nobody knows how many children he and Eve had, but it's likely they had a lot of children. Their family was probably huge, but we have no way to know how big.
Gen 5:5
So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died: Back in the early days of humanity, people lived very long lives. There's a couple of popular theories for this. 1. There was a water blanket over the Earth that blocked harmful radiation from the sun. This blanket was part of what flooded the Earth, and we see the length of time humans live drastically shortened after the flood due to the loss of this protective covering. 2. Inbreeding caused genetic mutations and shortened the lifespan of humanity. Again, nobody really knows.
Gen 5:6
Seth lived one hundred and five years, and begot Enosh: Gen 4:26 This is the Enosh who during his time, the people started calling on the name of Jehovah.
Gen 5:7
After he begot Enosh, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters: 105 + 807 = 912. Again, most of the genealogy is left out because we only need to follow certain members of the family line to Jesus.
Gen 5:8
So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died: 912 years is a long time, and gives a lot of time for their family to be built up. But after 912 years, he died. We all will die. There's no escaping it... unless we are part of the generation that's alive when Jesus comes to rapture His church!
Gen 5:9
Enosh lived ninety years, and begot Cainan: The name Cainan means possesion, or possessor.
Gen 5:10
After he begot Cainan, Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years, and had sons and daughters: There's nothing that I could find worth taking note of here, other than keeping in mind that not all of the offspring of Cainan was recorded, but only the record of his first born.
Gen 5:11
So all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years; and he died: 905 years seems like a long time, but in comparison to eternity, it's nothing. I can't wait till we get our glorified bodies. I wonder if these patriarchs deteriorated like we do now and had to live hundreds of years in misery. Just that thought alone makes me grateful that we don't live that long.
Gen 5:12
Cainan lived seventy years, and begot Mahalalel: Mahalalel's name means praise of God. We can see that we're following the godly line, in opposition to the line of Cain, who abandoned God and followed a worldly path.
Gen 5:13
After he begot Mahalalel, Cainan lived eight hundred and forty years, and had sons and daughters: Again, nothing really of note here.
Gen 5:14
So all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died: Nothing to note
Gen 5:15
Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and begot Jared: Nothing to note
Gen 5:16
After he begot Jared, Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years, and had sons and daughters: The name Jared means descent. It's possible that this name is representative of the times. Before Jared, they were righteous, and his generation starts the decline. Possible, but only speculation.
Gen 5:17
So all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; and he died: Nothing special to note.
Gen 5:18
Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Enoch: This is the Enoch that Jude quotes (Jud 1:6). Enoch wrote one book that was found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. In it, he details how a group of angels chose to disobey God, leave Heaven and take wives of human women. These are the angels that fathered the nephilim.
Gen 5:19
After he begot Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters: Nothing to note.
Gen 5:20
So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died: Nothing to note.
Gen 5:21
Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah: We'll see later that Methuselah is the oldest man in recorded history. He lived 969 years. Methuselah's name means man of the dart.
Gen 5:22
After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters: There's an interesting contrast with how the life of Enoch is related versus how all of the other people in the genealogy are related. Enoch walked with God, while all the other people listed simply lived. Enoch must have been a very special person for God's word to record him like this.
The question is right here before us: What does it mean to walk with God, and how can we, as Enoch, walk with God? The answer is simple, but the implementation is challenging. We need to put God first in everything. We need to rely on God instead of ourselves. In all things, we need to ask God first. God should be on the forefront of our minds at all times.
Honestly, I think about these things and wonder how in the world Enoch could live like that. I try to, but there's no way for me to always keep God first in my mind. This world is distressing. I get distracted by all the craziness, and God gets a back seat. I don't mean for this to happen, it just does. I get intimidated and act in ways I shouldn't because I don't want to be an outcast. I become gluttonous when I'm in a party atmosphere, addicted to pleasures, overindulge in entertainment, focus on relaxation, get angry easily, etc, etc... We get a clue in Heb 11:5-6. Enoch lived a life of faith. My guess is that Enoch was just like the rest of us, but he had such a strong faith in God that he pleased God. Or maybe Enoch wasn't like us and didn't stress about things because his faith was so strong. Maybe he was like a Stonewall Jackson. I am not sure, but I do know that, "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Rom 10:17)." The more we become familiar with God's word, the more faith we will develop.
Gen 5:23
So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years: Nothing to note here.
Gen 5:24
And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him: This is an amazing testimony. Enoch walked with God and God took him. Enoch did not die, he was raptured. This is like the picture we see of the coming great tribulation and the rapture of the church before it. The flood was coming, and Enoch was taken out of the way before it. Noah was Enoch's grandson. Enoch is a picture of the church, and Noah is a picture of Israel.
Gen 5:25
Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech: And we're back to just living and not walking with God. This is the same Lamech that we see in Gen_4:18-24. It's generally believed that Lamech is the father of polygamy.
Gen 5:26
After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years, and had sons and daughters: Nothing to note.
Gen 5:27
So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died: Methuselah is the oldest recorded person to have lived.
Gen 5:28
Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and had a son: Notice the slight deviation in the pattern of delivery. Normally, the name of the child is listed, but this verse is a setup for more information.
Gen 5:29
And he called his name Noah, saying, "This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD has cursed.": The name Noah means rest, consolation, or peace. Lamech believed that Noah was the prophecied seed (Gen 3:15) that would crush the head of the serpent and restore things. So even though Lamech didn't walk with God, he knew of what happened in the garden and of the prophecies concerning the Messiah. It also seems that Lamech isn't concerned about the reasons for the curse, but only that when the messiah would come, he wouldn't be required to toil so hard for food. I put this in the same category of when people get busted for doing wrong, they're not sorry for what they did, only sorry for getting caught.
Gen 5:30
After he begot Noah, Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years, and had sons and daughters: Nothing to note.
Gen 5:31
So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years; and he died: Nothing to note.
Gen 5:32
And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth: Shem, Ham, and Japheth are mentioned here because they're the people who repoplulate the earth after the flood.
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