Genesis 5 gives the genealogy of Adam, leading down to Noah. The beginning of the chapter does not read as a continuation of chapter 4. It almost reads like a 3rd, very brief, creation account of humanity:
This is the written account of Adam’s family line.
When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created.”
After the intro, the genealogy continues:
When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.
You can read the full chapter here.
Each member in the genealogy has a similar couple of sentences of text. First Adam, then Seth, then Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, and Lamech, the father of Noah.
A couple interesting bits of information to take from the genealogy:
- Enoch apparently did not die, but was taken away by God: “Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.”
- Enoch’s son, Methuselah, is said to be the oldest man to ever live, dying at 969 years of age.
- Lamech lived to 777 years of age. And Lamech’s son was….. Noah!
Taking this chapter literally, I’m left thinking, 969 years old? 777 years old? 365 years old? Really? Come on… why should I believe this is true? But if I stop trying to take it literally, it seems like there must be some symbolism here, with Enoch living 365 years, and Lamech living 777 years (both significant numbers). And the connecting thread with Adam’s genealogy leading to Noah is pretty cool. But do I believe this all really happened just as it is told in Genesis? No…
A theme that keeps repeating in my reading and commenting on Genesis is that reading it literally seems to distract from interesting symbolism, deeper meaning, and historical insight that can be taken from the writings.
Believe!