Smoodock's Blog

It would be a mistake to believe that chapter five of the Book of Genesis merely serves as a means to take us from Adam to Noah. While it does do that, there are a few important matters that escape the eye, if all one does is do a casual read of the chapter. Keep in mind that all of the word of God is important for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness (2Timothy 3:16). While traveling from point a to point b, we need to take in the scenery that gets us there. Where do we get the idea that chapter five follows the righteous line? While ultimately the line does take us to Christ, it is anything but righteous. Actually, the righteous point of view is supported by most Christian scholarship, and it is an interpretation of Genesis 4:26, where in Enos’ generation “men began to call upon the name of the Lord.” Jewish scholars interpret this verse to mean men began to profanely call upon the name of the Lord, vis-à-vis through idolatry. I tend to take this, the latter, position.

Chapter five in the Book of Genesis begins with, “This is the book of the generations of Adam…” (Genesis 5:1), which recalls the first book mentioned in Genesis 2:4, “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth…!” As I mentioned earlier, Moses had records that were handed down to his generation beginning with the era before the Genesis Flood.[1] It is reiterated here that God created mankind in the likeness of God, male and female, blessed them and called their name Adam in the day they were created. In other words, the image of God is not merely male and female (God is neither), for, if that were the case, animals would also have been created in the image of God (Genesis 5:1-2). God took the woman from out of the midst of the man (Genesis 2:21-23) and this, together with rulership of the earth and other similar attributes, is the image of God (cp. John 16:27; 17:8; 1Timothy 6:16).

Clearly, when we consider the long lives of the patriarchs (Genesis 5:5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 27, 31), questions must arise. Did they really live that long, or do they reflect certain ages before the Flood, vis-à-vis ages named after certain patriarchs? Are there generations missing, as there are in Jesus’ genealogy (Matthew 1)? Whatever our conclusion might be, it’s conjecture. However, as for me, I believe the patriarchs were long lived, and there are no missing generations. That said, there seems to be something peculiar about Enoch, who, though long lived in comparison to our own aged, is certainly a young man with respect to the other patriarchs. What can be said of this?

Enoch lived 365 years before he died, and he did die, contrary to what is concluded by many Christian scholars.[2] It is not mere coincidence that Enoch’s generation is the same as that of Lamech of Cain’s lineage (Genesis 4:19-24). There Lamech is said to have slain a young man, because the young man wounded Lamech (his conscience) and caused him pain. If Enoch, in Seth’s lineage, was a preacher of righteousness, as seems to be the case, it is understandable that Lamech’s conscience would have been pricked by listening to him. What probably occurred was that Enoch prophesied of the coming judgment upon Lamech and the rest of mankind (cp. Jude 1:14-15), which in Enoch’s day would have been the coming of the Lord who executed judgment in the Genesis Flood. So, in that context, it is reasonable to assume that the young man, whom Lamech slew, was Enoch of Genesis 5:21-24. Notice the chart below of the ages of the patriarchs, living prior to the Flood:

 

In What Year Did the Patriarchs Die?

Patriarch	Age at Firstborn	Age at death	Year of Creation to Birth	Death Year from Creation
Adam	130 (Seth, not firstborn)	930		930
Seth	105	912	130	1042
Enos/Enosh	90	905	235	1140
Cainan	70	910	325	1235
Mahalaleel	65	895	395	1290
Jared	162	962	460	1422
Enoch	65	365	622	1027
Methuselah	187	969	687	1656
Lamech	182	777	874	1651
Noah	500 (Shem, Ham, Japheth)		1056	Flood = 1656

 

The fact that Enoch is singled out to say that **he** walked with God (Genesis 5:22), implies that the other patriarchs up to Enoch’s day did not. This is further emphasized in the “prophecy” of Lamech, Enoch’s grandson, “This same (Noah) shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed” (Genesis 5:29). Many scholars see in this a sign of his righteousness, but consider what he claimed. First of all, the prophecy is a false prophecy (cp. Genesis 3:17-19). Don’t thorns and thistles continue to grow? Don’t we eat our food through the sweat of our labor even today? Assuming we all agree, Lamech is a false prophet! Actually, he blames the Lord for his troubles, as did Adam before him (Genesis 3:12). How is Lamech righteous?

Moreover, the fact that Methuselah, Enoch’s son, died in the year of the Flood, tells us he wasn’t righteous, as Christian scholars presume. Let’s face it; Methuselah died in the year of the Flood, because he wasn’t on the ark. Why is that? Lamech, Methuselah’s son and Noah’s father, died about five years prior to the Flood in the midst of a wicked world who did “…every imagination of the thoughts of his (evil) heart… continually (Genesis 6:5). However, Noah, and only Noah, found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and this is the context in which we should understand Methuselah’s Lamech’s deaths. Noah had been living 600 years prior to the Flood (Genesis 5:32; cp. 7:6). Yet, only he lived in the grace of God.        

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[1] See my study on Genesis 2:4, When Man Became a Living Soul.

[2] See my earlier study, “Enoch’s Walk With God!”