Genesis 5:1-32
Q.1. Why did the firstborn, Cain, not appear in Adam’s genealogy? What qualified Seth to be in Adam’s family line? What place do women have in the genealogy? How many children did Adam and Eve have? – (Gen.5:1-5 c.f. Rom.5:12; 1 Tim.2:12-13; Jude 1:10-11)
Adam was made in the likeness of God. Cain, by his choice, did not belong there (Gen.5:1 c.f. Gen.4:6-7,16). Jude gave us information about the people who reject God – these men revile the things they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain (Jude 1:10-11). From the records of the descendants of Cain, we learn that there was extensive development in enterprise, technology, and the arts (Gen.4:17-24). However, the only evidence of development among Seth’s line is spiritual (Gen.4:26; 5:21-29). It was recorded – when Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth (Gen.5:3). Seth was like his father, who was made in God’s likeness. God made Eve as a helper to Adam, but – it was Adam who was first created and then Eve (1 Tim.2:13 c.f. Gen.2:18, 20; 1 Cor.11:3). For this reason, Adam is held responsible for our sin, even though Eve was the first to sin. Thus, God’s Word says it was – through one man that sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned (Rom.5:12 c.f. Gen.3:6).
Q.2. How many generations lived until Noah? How could people live so long? How many children did the patriarchs have? How many generations overlapped? (Gen.5:6-32 c.f. Gen.1:6-7)
Ten generations are recorded from Adam to Noah – a period of one thousand, six hundred and fifty-six years from the Creation to the Flood. Almost every man lived beyond nine hundred years. The atmospheric conditions on earth were not the same before the Flood as they were after the Flood. The explanation probably dates back to day two of Creation, when God stored masses of water in the skies to protect the earth from the destructive rays of the sun (Gen.1:6-7). From Adam onwards, we read – he had other sons and daughters … so the population would have exploded, although we are not told how many children each had (Gen.5:4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 26, 30). Adam and Eve lived to see and influence the succeeding generations, and would have explained to them the reason for, and the significance of the blood sacrifices. Adam lived until Lamech, the father of Noah, was fifty-six years old. Noah was born only fourteen years after the death of Seth. It is likely that each patriarch took responsibility for preserving and passing on the truth. (c.f. Gen.3:15, 21; 4:4). There was an almost direct connection between Adam and Noah, to preserve an accurate history.
Q.3. What made Enoch special? What impact did he have on his extended family? How was his departure different? Is there a lesson in his life? (Gen.5:21-24 c.f. 1 Thes.4:16-17; Heb.11:5; Jude 1:14)
During Seth and his son, Enosh’s time – men began to call upon the name of the Lord (Gen.4:26). This revealed something of the horror that Cain’s murder of Abel caused. In the whole genealogy, it was Enoch who stood out for his passion for God, as he –walked with God (Gen.5:22 c.f. Gen.3:8). Because all the patriarchs and their families were so interconnected, Enoch’s life made a huge impact. The impact of Enoch reached up to Heaven, as he – walked with God; and he was not, for God took him (Gen.5:24). Enoch was a mighty prophet in a wicked world that God was about to destroy – 14 It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, 15 to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” (Jude 1:14-15 c.f. Gen.6:5-7). Why was Enoch kept from seeing death? There is good reason to see this as an Old Testament picture of the Rapture of the saints, when believers will be snatched away without dying – By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before being taken up he was pleasing to God (Heb.11:5 c.f. 1 Thes.4:16-17).
Q.4. Who has lived the longest on earth? What made Lamech hope for rest through Noah? Who were Noah’s sons? – (Gen.5:28-32)
Methuselah was the longest living person recorded in the Bible. He lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years. Enoch prophesied about a coming judgment of the ungodly. This was underscored by Methuselah’s name, meaning – ‘When he dies, it shall be sent’. Methuselah died in the year of the Flood, as Enoch had prophesied. Prophecy is also attributed to Lamech, because when he gave Noah his name, he said … “This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed.” (Gen.5:29). We know that only eight people out of millions were saved from drowning in the world-wide Flood. It seems Lamech was aware of the evil that was spreading throughout the whole earth, that would carry many of his own children away (Gen.5:30). The fact that some of Seth’s line carried the same names as Cain’s line (i.e. Enoch & Lamech), indicates that it was not only God Who grieved about the wicked state of the world. Its evil influence was also infecting Seth’s godly line (Gen.6:5-7 c.f. Gen.4:17-18; 5:21,28). All Noah’s sons’ names were given, not just the one inheriting their father’s blessing – Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Gen.5:32). The reason was that – from these the whole earth was populated (Gen.9:19).