Gen. 5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
Gen. 5:2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
In chapter 5 God again reminds us that man was created in the likeness (resemblance) of God. It is also emphasized that we were created male and female. God called them Adam (the Hebrew root means a human being or the species of mankind).
Following begins a record of the family history of Adam’s descendants. Comments will follow the listing.
Gen. 5:3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:
Gen. 5:4 And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:
Gen. 5:5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.
Gen. 5:6 And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos:
Gen. 5:7 And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters:
Gen. 5:8 And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.
Gen. 5:9 And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan:
Gen. 5:10 And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters:
Gen. 5:11 And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died.
Gen. 5:12 And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel:
Gen. 5:13 And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters:
Gen. 5:14 And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died.
Gen. 5:15 And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared:
Gen. 5:16 And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters:
Gen. 5:17 And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died.
Gen. 5:18 And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch:
Gen. 5:19 And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
Gen. 5:20 And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.
Gen. 5:21 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:
Gen. 5:22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
Gen. 5:23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:
Gen. 5:24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
Gen. 5:25 And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech:
Gen. 5:26 And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters:
Gen. 5:27 And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.
Gen. 5:28 And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:
Gen. 5:29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.
Gen. 5:30 And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:
Gen. 5:31 And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.
Gen. 5:32 And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
The thing that stands out first in the genealogy is the age to which the men lived and were fathering children.
Enoch had the shortest life span on this earth (365 years) and Methusaleh the longest (969 years). Only Jared and Methusaleh lived longer than Noah, who lived to the age of 950 (cf 9:29).
Enoch is the only one described as having “walked with God.” Then we are told that “he was no more, because God took him away”--Just a statement; no other explanation is given. No description of how the people responded when he was taken. Evidently, it was an accepted fact that God took him. Enoch is an obvious type of the rapture of the church. Enoch was “taken” 69 years before Noah was born.
Greg Laurie spoke at a service regarding Enoch’s walk with God. He pointed out that the scripture only specifies that two men walked with God—Enoch and Noah (Genesis 6:9). He made a connection to a verse in Amos that speaks volumes.
Amos 3:3 “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”
He also pointed out that the writer of Hebrews tells us that Enoch had a testimony (a witness, his life gave evidence) that he pleased God. The obvious question—Does my testimony do the same? The only significant thing I found about Enoch that he didn’t bring up was that Enoch was a prophet according to Jude; he prophesied that the Lord would come to earth with His saints in judgment of the ungodly.
Jude 14-15 “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
Adam and Seth both lived until the time of Lamech, Noah’s father.
Methuselah died the year of the great flood.
Another interesting fact is that Noah’s descendants were born after he was 500 years old. In comparing the wording of the preceding genealogical info, one could deduce that Shem, Ham & Japheth were triplets. Genesis 10:21 indicates that Japheth was the elder brother to Shem. Genesis 11:10 states that Shem was 100 when his first child was born two years after the flood; this would mean that Noah was 502 when Shem was born.
Noah was contemporary with all the patriarchs except Adam, Seth, and Enoch.
All the patriarchs listed were dead before the flood.
At some point I made note of a teaching about the gospel through the meanings of the names of the patriarchs. I searched the internet to try to find the source. One site mentioned Chuck Missler as her source, and he would have been a likely source for my note.
Adam Man – mankind
Seth appointed
Enosh mortal
Cainan sorrow
Mahalalel the Blessed God
Jared shall come down – descends
Enoch teaching or dedicating (commencement)
Methuselah his death shall bring
Lamech the despairing
Noah rest or comfort
“Man (is) appointed mortal sorrow; (but) the Blessed God shall come down, teaching (or) dedicating; His death shall bring the despairing rest.”
Gen. 6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
Gen. 6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
Gen. 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
Gen. 6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
The beginning of this chapter raises a lot of questions. The “sons of God” are not defined, yet it seems to imply they are not regular men since the women are defined as the “daughters of men.” Nephilim (from the Hebrew for giants) appears to be the term for the children produced by the marriages of the “sons of God” and “daughters of men.” These children became many of the heroes of their day. As “men,” they probably form the basis for Greek and Roman mythology.
My daughter Meredith brought home some insight from her Genesis class:
Sons of God = fallen angels (cf Jude 6-7”angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation….giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh”
Unger’s commentary describes how the offspring of the union between angel and human (the nephilim, “fallen ones”) was what necessitated the flood.
Many commentators believe the “sons of God” is a reference to men; some specify that they descended from Seth. Why would the union of regular men and women (be they godly or not) produce such mighty men of renown—giants? Why would obedience to God’s command to men and women to multiply and fill the earth bring about a decision by God to limit man’s existence on planet earth? It makes much more sense that these “sons of God” are fallen angels meant to pollute the line of the Messiah as seems to be indicated in verse 9 below.
The Greek Septuagint translates “sons of God” as angels. I think you can find further support for the “sons of God” being angels in the first chapter of Job.
Job 1:6 “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.”
It would seem that there is a time of discussion in heaven between God and His angels as they interact with man. The writer of Hebrews tells us that they were created as “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.” (Hebrews 1:14) Satan evidently continues to present himself before the LORD to “accuse the brethren,” as stated by John in Revelation 12:10 and as the story of Job so vividly pictures. Not until the New Testament is the phrase “sons of God” applied to men in reference to those who believe on Jesus for their salvation.
I think it was Chuck Missler that I heard give a reasonable explanation regarding the term “sons of God” referencing direct creations of God. It wasn’t until New Testament times that men could become a “new creation” in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
God decided to limit a man’s days to 120 years. This 120-year figure seems to be the time that would elapse before the flood. We can’t tell from the scripture how long these fallen angels were reproducing with women before God made His decision to establish this 120-year timeframe. We are told that it was “when men began to multiply…and daughters were born unto them.” It had to be long enough for God to decide to intervene before there was no unpolluted line of descent for the Messiah.
Gen. 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
“imagination” – a form, conception (i.e., purpose)
Sin had become so widespread that God described man as a creature whose “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil” all the time.
It seems that we are rushing toward just such a time as the culture worldwide seems to be embracing the ways of Satan and rejecting God and His word.
Gen. 6:6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
Gen. 6:7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
God is grieved; His heart feels pain. He decides to wipe out/eliminate not only man, but also all the other living creatures on the earth and in the air.
Again, I think we have to remember that this is being written years after the fact. God is giving man a perspective to understand His actions. God knew what was going to happen before He ever began creation. Still, He wants us to understand that our response to Him is important. He so desires fellowship with us that He is sorrowful when we choose not to cultivate our relationship with Him. Our choice to love and obey Him is precious to Him.
Gen. 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Gen. 6:9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
Then God turns His focus to Noah, and He describes Noah as just and perfect (without blemish, without spot). I think the word perfect is talking about his heritage (in his generations) as having not been tainted by the sons of God. It is also stated that he “walked with God,” as did Enoch, his great-grandfather (Genesis 5:22-24). Walking indicates action and forward progress. His relationship with God was growing and maturing. Walking “with God” indicates being in fellowship with and going in the same direction as. Walking with “God” indicates that one recognizes God as LORD, the authority figure in his life.
Gen. 6:10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Shem – name, renown
Ham – hot, heat, brown
Japheth – enlarged, fair, persuading
From these three men and their wives would come the whole human race.
(Note: See the Doorway Papers, by Arthur Custance for some truly interesting reading on these brothers and their descendants.)
Gen. 6:11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
Gen. 6:12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
Gen. 6:13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
In v7 God had decided to destroy most of His creation, but now in v13 He decides to destroy the earth as well. This implies to me that the flood had a major destructive impact on the earth itself—other than just the destruction of most of its creatures.
It is important to note that God did not act in a fit of anger. He patiently waited until man had filled the earth with violence (injustice, unrighteousness, cruelty, wrongdoing); it had become totally corrupt. This was a far cry from the condition in which it was created. When God looked around, Noah was the only man who found favor in His eyes.
Gen. 6:14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
Gen. 6:15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
Gen. 6:16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.
God gives Noah specific instructions for the construction of the ark. He always gives us specific instructions and guidance in doing His will as revealed in His word.
David Guzik expressed the dimensions in terms more easily understood.
The ark would be as long as a 30-story building is high (450 feet), it would be 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high)…. The average size of a land animal is smaller than a sheep. The ark could carry 136,560 sheep in half of its capacity, leaving plenty of room for people, food, water, and whatever other provisions were needed.
Gen. 6:17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
Gen. 6:18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
Gen. 6:19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
Gen. 6:20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
Gen. 6:21 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
Gen. 6:22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
Note: Noah isn’t surprised to be conversing with God. He does everything that God commands him to do. When God establishes His covenant, it’s as good as done. God is very specific about keeping a male and female of every kind. Even in the animal kingdom God’s design is for male and female.
This is also a beautiful illustration of how important each of us as an individual is to the Father. It reminds me of the story in the New Testament of the lost sheep and how the shepherd searches so diligently until he finds that sheep and then is so full of rejoicing over finding it. God ensured that the one man on the face of the earth who loved Him was protected from the destruction to come. I often have to remind myself that I am important to God and that He is aware of everything concerning me---one in billions. He even knows the number of hairs on my head.
Matthew 10:30 “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”
Evidently, while Noah was building, he was preaching God’s truth. 2Peter 2:5 tells us “he was a preacher of righteousness.”