Genesis 5 commentary

Adam was made in the image of God; but when fallen he begat a son in his own image, sinful and defiled, frail, wretched, and mortal, like himself. Not only a man like himself, consisting of body and soul, but a sinner like himself. This was the reverse of that Divine likeness in which Adam was made; having lost it, he could not convey it to his seed. Adam lived, in all, 930 years; and then died, according to the sentence passed upon him, “To dust thou shalt return.” Though he did not die in the day he ate forbidden fruit, yet in that very day he became mortal. Then he began to die; his whole life after was but a reprieve, a forfeited, condemned life; it was a wasting, dying life. Man's life is but dying by degrees.

Concerning each of these, except Enoch, it is said, “and he died.” It is well to observe the deaths of others. They all lived very long; not one of them died till he had seen almost eight hundred years, and some of them lived much longer; a great while for an immortal soul to be prisoned in a house of clay. The present life surely was not to them such a burden as it commonly is now, else they would have been weary of it. Nor was the future life so clearly revealed then, as it now under the gospel, else they would have been urgent to remove to it. All the patriarchs that lived before the flood, except Noah, were born before Adam died. From him they might receive a full account of the creation, the fall, the promise, and the Divine precepts about religious worship and a religious life. Thus God kept up in his church the knowledge of his will.

Enoch was the seventh from Adam. Godliness is walking with God: which shows reconciliation to God, for two cannot walk together except they be agreed, Am 3:3. It includes all the parts of a godly, righteous, and sober life. To walk with God, is to set God always before us, to act as always under his eye. It is constantly to care, in all things to please God, and in nothing to offend him. It is to be followers of him as dear children. The Holy Spirit, instead of saying, Enoch lived, says, Enoch walked with God. This was his constant care and work; while others lived to themselves and the world, he lived to God. It was the joy of his life. Enoch was removed to a better world. As he did not live like the rest of mankind, so he did not leave the world by death as they did. He was not found, because God had translated him, Heb 11:5. He had lived but 365 years, which, as men's ages were then, was but the midst of a man's days. God often takes those soonest whom he loves best; the time they lose on earth, is gained in heaven, to their unspeakable advantage. See how Enoch's removal is expressed: he was not, for God took him. He was not any longer in this world; he was changed, as the saints shall be, who are alive at Christ's second coming. Those who begin to walk with God when young, may expect to walk with him long, comfortably, and usefully. The true christian's steady walk in holiness, through many a year, till God takes him, will best recommend that religion which many oppose and many abuse. And walking with God well agrees with the cares, comforts, and duties of life.

Methuselah signifies, ‘he dies, there is a dart,’ ‘a sending forth,’ namely, of the deluge, which came the year that Methuselah died. He lived 969 years, the longest that any man ever lived on earth; but the longest liver must die at last. Noah signifies rest; his parents gave him that name, with a prospect of his being a great blessing to his generation. Observe his father's complaint of the calamitous state of human life, by the entrance of sin, and the curse of sin. Our whole life is spent in labour, and our time filled up with continual toil. God having cursed the ground, it is as much as some can do, with the utmost care and pains, to get a hard livelihood out comfort us.” It signifies not only that desire and expectation which parents generally have about their children, that they will be comforts to them and helpers, though they often prove otherwise; but it signifies also a prospect of something more. Is Christ ours? Is heaven ours? We need better comforters under our toil and sorrow, than the dearest relations and the most promising offspring; may we seek and find comforts in Christ.

1. This is the book of the generations of Adam . In this chapter Moses briefly recites the length of time which had intervened between the creation of the world and the deluge; and also slightly touches on some portion of the history of that period. And although we do not comprehend the design of the Spirit, in leaving unrecorded great and memorable events, it is, nevertheless, our business to reflect on many things which are passed over in silence. I entirely disapprove of those speculations which every one frames for himself from light conjectures; nor will I furnish readers with the occasion of indulging themselves in this respect; yet it may, in some degree, be gathered from a naked and apparently dry narration, what was the state of those times, as we shall see in the proper places. The book, according to the Hebrew phrase, is taken for a catalogue. The generations signify a continuous succession of a race, or a continuous progeny. Further, the design with which this catalogue was made, was, to inform us, that in the great, or rather, we might say, prodigious multitude of men, there was always a number, though small, who worshipped God; and that this number was wonderfully preserved by celestial guardianship, lest the name of God should be entirely obliterated, and the seed of the Church should fail.

In the day that God created . He does not restrict these “generations” to the day of the creation, but only points out their commencement; and, at the same time, he distinguishes between our first parents and the rest of mankind, because God had brought them into life by a singular method, whereas others had sprung from a previous stock, and had been born of parents. “Il discerne les premiers hommes d’avec les autres, aus quels Dieu a prolonge la vie eu une facon singuliere: combien qu’ils ne fussent de si haute ne si noble race.” — French Trans. It will be perceived that this translation differs materially in sense from that given above; but, after the fullest consideration, the Editor adheres to his own, as a more literal rendering of the original Latin, and as being more in accordance with the reasoning of the Author. — Ed. Moreover, Moses again repeats what he had before stated that Adam was formed according to the image of God, because the excellency and dignity of this favor could not be sufficiently celebrated. It was already a great thing, that the principal place among the creatures was given to man; but it is a nobility far more exalted, that he should bear resemblance to his Creator, as a son does to his father. It was not indeed possible for God to act more liberally towards man, than by impressing his own glory upon him, thus making him, as it were, a living image of the Divine wisdom and justice. This also is of force in repelling the calumnies of the wicked who would gladly transfer the blame of their wickedness to their Maker, had it not been expressly declared, that man was formed by nature a different being from that which he has now become, through the fault of his own defection from God.

2. Male and female created he them . This clause commends the sacred bond of marriage, and the inseparable union of the husband and the wife. For when Moses has mentioned only one, he immediately afterwards includes both under one name. And he assigns a common name indiscriminately to both, in order that posterity might learn more sacredly to cherish this connection between each other, when they saw that their first parents were denominated as one person. The trifling inference of Jewish writers, that married persons only are called Adam, (or man,) is refuted by the history of the creation; nor truly did the Spirit, in this place, mean anything else, than that after the appointment of marriage, the husband and the wife were like one man. Moreover, he records the blessing pronounced upon them, that we may observe in it the wonderful kindness of God in continuing to grant it; yet let us know that by the depravity and wickedness of men it was, in some degree, interrupted.

3. And begat a son in his own likeness . We have lately said that Moses traces the offspring of Adam only through the line of Seth, to propose for our consideration the succession of the Church. In saying that Seth begat a son after his own image, he refers in part to the first origin of our nature: at the same time its corruption and pollution is to be noticed, which having been contracted by Adam through the fall, has flowed down to all his posterity. If he had remained upright, he would have transmitted to all his children what he had received: but now we read that Seth, as well as the rest, was defiled; because Adams who had fallen from his original state, could beget none but such as were like himself. If any one should object that Seth with his family had been elected by the special grace of God: the answer is easy and obvious; namely, that a supernatural remedy does not prevent carnal generation from participating in the corruption of sin. Therefore, according to the flesh, Seth was born a sinner; but afterwards he was renewed by the grace of the Spirit. This sad instance of the holy patriarch furnishes us with ample occasion to deplore our own wretchedness.

4. And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth . In the number of years here recorded we must especially consider the long period which the patriarchs lived together. For through six successive ages, when the family of Seth had grown into a great people, the voice of Adam might daily resound, in order to renew the memory of the creation, the fall, and the punishment of man; to testify of the hope of salvation which remained after chastisement, and to recite the judgments of God, by which all might be instructed. After his death his sons might indeed deliver, as from hand to hand, what they had learned, to their descendants; but far more efficacious would be the instruction from the mouth of him, who had been himself the eyewitness of all these things. Yet so wonderful, and even monstrous, was the general obstinacy, that not even the sounder part of the human race could be retained in the obedience and the fear of God.

5. And he died . This clause, which records the death of each patriarch, is by no means superfluous. For it warns us that death was not in vain denounced against men; and that we are now exposed to the curse to which man was doomed, unless we obtain deliverance elsewhere. In the meantime, we must reflect upon our lamentable condition; namely, that the image of God being destroyed, or, at least, obliterated in us, we scarcely retain the faint shadow of a life, from which we are hastening to death. And it is useful, in a picture of so many ages, to behold, at one glance, the continual course and tenor of divine vengeance; because otherwise, we imagine that God is in some way forgetful; and to nothing are we more prone than to dream of immortality on earth, unless death is frequently brought before our eyes.

22. And Enoch walked with God . Undoubtedly Enoch is honored with peculiar praise among the men of his own age, when it is said that he walked with God. Yet both Seth and Enoch, and Cainan, and Mahalaleel, and Jared, were then living, whose piety was celebrated in the former part of the chapter. “Superiori capite.” Doubtless a mistake. — Ed. As that age could not be ruder or barbarous, which had so many most excellent teachers; we hence infer, that the probity of this holy man, whom the Holy Spirit exempted from the common order, was rare and almost singular. Meanwhile, a method is here pointed out of guarding against being carried away by the perverse manners of those with whom we are conversant. For public custom is as a violent tempest; both because we easily suffer ourselves to be led hither and thither by the multitude, and because every one thinks what is commonly received must be right and lawful; just as swine contract an itching from each other; nor is there any contagion worse, and more loathsome than that of evil examples. Hence we ought the more diligently to notice the brief description of a holy life, contained in the words, “Enoch walked with God.” Let those, then, who please, glory in living according to the custom of others; yet the Spirit of God has established a rule of living well and rightly, by which we depart from the examples of men who do not form their life and manners according to the law of God. For he who, pouring contempt upon the word of God, yields himself up to the imitation of the world, must be regarded as living to the devil. Moreover, (as I have just now hinted,) all the rest of the patriarchs are not deprived of the praise of righteousness; but a remarkable example is set before us in the person of one man, who stood firmly in the season of most dreadful dissipation; in order that, if we wish to live rightly and orderly, we may learn to regard God more than men. For the language which Moses uses is of the same force as if he had said, that Enoch, lest he should be drawn aside by the corruptions of men, had respect to God alone; so that with a pure conscience, as under his eyes, he might cultivate uprightness.

24. And he was not , for God took him . He must be shamelessly contentious, who will not acknowledge that something extraordinary is here pointed out. All are, indeed, taken out of the world by death; but Moses plainly declares that Enoch was taken out of the world by an unusual mode, and was received by the Lord in a miraculous manner. For לקה( lakah ) among the Hebrews signifies ‘to take to one’s self,’ as well as simply to take. But, without insisting on the word, it suffices to hold fast the thing itself; namely, that Enoch, in the middle period of life, suddenly, and in an unexampled method, vanished from the sight of men, because the Lord took him away, as we read was also done with respect to Elijah. Since, in the translation of Enoch, an example of immortality was exhibited; there is no doubt that God designed to elevate the minds of his saints with certain faith before their death; and to mitigate, by this consolation, the dread which they might entertain of death, seeing they would know that a better life was elsewhere laid up for them. It is, however, remarkable that Adam himself was deprived of this support of faith and of comfort. For since that terrible judgment of God, ‘Thou shalt die the death,’ was constantly sounding in his ears, he very greatly needed some solace, in order that he might in death have something else to reflect upon than curse and destruction. But it was not till about one hundred and fifty years after his death, Adam died at the age of 930. Enoch was born when Adam was 622, and was translated when he himself was 365. Age of the world, 987.

So that Adam had been dead 57 years when Enoch was translated. Whence it would appear that either the word “centum,” a hundred, had slipped by mistake from Calvin’s pen; or which is more probably, that, though the two Latin editions before the Editor, have the mistake, the more early ones were free from it. For the French version and the Old English one are correct. — Ed. that the translation of Enoch took place, which was to be as a visible representation of a blessed resurrection; by which, if Adam had been enlightened, he might have girded himself with equanimity for his own departure. Yet, since the Lord, in inflicting punishment, had moderated its rigour, and since Adam himself had heard from his own mouth, what was sufficient to afford him no slight alleviation; contented with this kind of remedy, it became his duty patiently to bear, both the continual cross in this world, and also the bitter and sorrowful termination of his life. But whereas others were not taught in the same manner by a manifest oracle to hope for victory over the serpent, there was, in the translation of Enoch, an instruction for all the godly, that they should not keep their hope confined within the boundaries of this mortal life. For Moses shows that this translation was a proof of the Divine love towards Enoch, by connecting it immediately with his pious and upright life. Nevertheless, to be deprived of life is not in itself desirable. It follows, therefore, that he was taken to a better abode; and that even when he was a sojourner in the world, he was received into a heavenly country; as the Apostle, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, (Hebrews 11:5,) plainly teaches. Moreover, if it be inquired, why Enoch was translated, and what is his present condition; I answer, that his transition was by a peculiar privilege, such as that of other men would have been, if they had remained in their first state. “S’ils fussent demeurez en leur premier estat.” These words, in the French translation, have no corresponding passage in the original, but are so obvious an explanation of Calvin’s language, that they are here translated. — Ed. For although it was necessary for him to put off what was corruptible; yet was he exempt from that violent separation, from which nature shrinks. In short, his translation was a placid and joyful departure out of the world. Yet he was not received into celestial glory, but only freed from the miseries of the present life, until Christ should come, the first-fruits of those who shall rise again. And since he was one of the members of the Church, it was necessary that he should wait until they all shall go forth together, to meet Christ, that the whole body may be united to its Head. Should any one bring as an objection the saying of the Apostle,

‘It is appointed unto all men once to die,’ (Hebrews 9:27,)

the solution is easy, namely, that death is not always the separation of the soul from the body; but they are said to die, who put off their corruptible nature: and such will be the death of those who will be found surviving at the last day.

29. And he called his name Noah , saying , This same shall comfort us concerning our work . In the Hebrew languages the etymology of the verb נחם ( nacham ) does not correspond with the noun נוח ( noach ,) unless we call the letter ם ( mem ) superfluous; as sometimes, in composition, certain letters are redundant. נוח Noach signifies to give rest , but נחם nacham to comfort . The name Noah is derived from the former verb. Wherefore, there is either the transmutation of one letter into another, or only a bare allusion , when Lamech says, “This same shall comfort us concerning our work.” See Schindler’s Lexicon, sub voce נחם, No. III and also, sub voce נוח, as a proper name, where he derives the latter word from the former, “litera ם abjecta, aut, quod consolatio sit quies, recreatio.” — Ed But as to the point in hand, there is no doubt that he promises to himself an alleviation, or solace, of his labors. But it is asked, whence he had conceived such hope from a son whose disposition he could not yet have discerned. The Jews do not judge erroneously in declaring Lamech’s expression to be a prophecy; but they are too gross in restricting to agriculture what is applicable to all those miseries of human life which proceed from the curse of God, and are the fruits of sin. I come, indeed, to this conclusion; that the holy fathers anxiously sighed, when, being surrounded with so many evils they were continually reminded of the first origin of all evils, and regarded themselves as under the displeasure of God. Therefore in the expression, the toil of our hands, there is the figure synecdochee ; because under one kind of toil he comprises the whole miserable state into which mankind had fallen. For they undoubtedly remembered what Moses has related above, concerning the labourious, sad, and anxious life to which Adam had been doomed: and since the wickedness of man was daily increasing, no mitigation of the penalty could be hoped for, unless the Lord should bring unexpected succor. It is probable that they were very earnestly looking for the mercy of God; for their faith was strong, and necessity urged them ardently to desire help. But that the name was not rashly given to Noah, we may infer hence, that Moses expressly notes it as a thing worthy to be remembered. Certainly some meaning was couched under the names of other patriarchs; yet he passes by the reason why they were so called, and only insists upon this name of Noah. Therefore the contentious reader is not to be allowed hence to pronounce a judgment, that there was something peculiar in Noah, which did not suit others before him. I have, then, no doubt that Lamech hoped for something rare and unwonted from his son; and that, too, by the inspiration of the Spirit. Some suppose him to have been deceived, inasmuch as he believed that Noah was the Christ; but they adduce no rational conjecture in support of the opinion. It is more probable, that, seeing something great was promised concerning his son, he did not refrain from mixing his own imagination with the oracle; as holy men are also sometimes wont to exceed the measure of revelation, and thus it comes to pass, that they neither touch heaven nor earth.

32. And Noah was five hundred years old . Concerning the fathers whom Moses has hitherto enumerated, it is not easy to conjecture whether each of them was the first born of his family or not; for he only wished to follow the continued succession of the Church. But God, to prevent men from being elated by a vain confidence in the flesh, frequently chooses for himself those who are posterior in the order of nature. I am, therefore, uncertain whether Moses has recorded the catalogue of those whom God preferred to others; or of those who, by right of primogeniture, held the chief rank among their brethren; I am also uncertain how many sons each had. With respect to Noah, it plainly appears that he had no more than three sons; and this Moses purposely declares the more frequently, that we may know that the whole of his family was preserved. But they, in my opinion, err, who think that in this place the chastity of Noah is proclaimed, because he led a single life through nearly five centuries. For it is not said that he was unmarried till that time; nor even in what year of his life he had begun to be a father. But, in simply mentioning the time in which he was warned of the future deluge, Moses also adds, that at the same time, or thereabouts, he was the father of three sons; not that he already had them, but because they were born not long afterwards. That he had, indeed, survived his five hundredth year before Shem was born, will be evident from the eleventh chapter (Genesis 11:1); concerning the other two nothing is known with certainty, except that Japheth was the younger. This inference, that Japheth was the younger son, Calvin seems to have drawn from a translation of Genesis 10:21, different from our own. In our version Shem is there called “the brother of Japheth the elder.” But commentators are generally agreed that the English version is right. It not only gives the more natural sense of the original, but is confirmed by collateral testimony. For it is clear that Noah began to have children in his five hundredth year. Shem was one hundred years old two years after the flood, and therefore was born when his father was five hundred and two years old. Some one, then, of Noah’s sons must have been born before this. Now we are told that Ham was the younger son, (Genesis 9:24). Therefore Japheth must have been his first-born. — See Patrick’s and Bush’s Commentaries, and Wells’ Geography of the Old Testament. — Ed. It is wonderful that from the time when he had received the dreadful message respecting the destruction of the human race, he was not prevented, by the greatness of his grief, from intercourse with his wife; but it was necessary that some remains should survive, because this family was destined for the restoration of the second world. Although we do not read at what time his sons took wives, I yet think it was done long before the deluge; but they were unfruitful by the providence of God, who had determined to preserve only eight souls.

CHAPTER 6.

Genesis 6:1-22

1. And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

1. Et fuit, quum coepis sent homines multiplicari in superficie terrae, filiaeque natae essent eis:

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.

2. Tunc viderunt filii Dei filias hominum quod pulchrae essent: et acceperunt sibi uxores ex omnibus quas elegerant.

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.

3. Et dixit Jehovan, Non desceptabit Spiritus meus cum homine in saeculum, eo quod sit etiam ipse caro: et erunt dies ejus centum et viginti anni.

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.

4. Gigantes fuerunt in terra in diebus illis: et etiam postquam ingressi sunt filii Dei ad filias hominum, genuerunt eis: isti sunt potentes, qui a saeculo fuerunt viri nominis.

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.

5. Et vidit Jehova quod multa esset malitia hominum in terra et quod omne figmentum cogitationum cordit eorum tantumodo esset malum omni die:

6. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

6. Tunc poenituit Jehovam quod fecisset hominem in terra et doluit in corde suo.

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.

7. Et dixit Jehova, Delebo hominem quem creavi, a superficie terrae, ab homine usque ad jumentum, usque ad reptile, et usque ad volatile coeli: quia poenitet me quod fecerim ea.

8. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

8. Et Noah invenit gratiam in oculis Jehovae.

9. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

9. Istae sunt generationes Noah. Noah vir justus, perfectus fuit in generationibus suis: cum Deo ambulavit Noah.

10. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

10. Genuit vero Noah tres filios, Sem, Cham, et Jepheth.

11. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

11. Et corrupta erat: nam corruperat omnis caro viam suam super terram.

12. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

12. Et vidit Deus terran, et ecce, corrupta erat: nam corruperat omnis caro viam suam super terram.

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.

13. Dixit itaque Deus ad Noah, Finis universae carnis venit coram me: quia repleta est terrs iniquitate a facie eorum: et ecce, ego disperdam eos cum terra.

14. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

14. Fac tibi arcam e lignis gopher, mansiunculas facies in arca, et bituminabis eam intrinsecus et extrinsecus bitumine.

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.

15. Et haec mensura qua facies cam: Trecentorum cubitorum erit longitudo arcae, quinquaginta cubitorum latitudo ejus: et triginta cubitorum altitudo ejus.

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.

16. Fenestram facies arcae, et in cubito consummabis eam superne: ostium vero arcae in latere ejus pones: inferiora et secunda, et tertia facies in ea.

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.

17. Et ego ecce ego adduco diluvium aquarum super terram, ut disperdam omnem carnem in qua est spiritus vitae sub coelo: omne quod est in terra morietur.

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.

18. Et statuam pactum meum tecum, et ingredieris arcam tu, et filii tui, et uxor tua, et uxores filiorum tuorum tecum.

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.

19. Et ex omni vivente, ex omni carne, bina ex omnibus introduces in arcam, ut viva serventur tecum, masculus et foemina erunt.

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.

20. Ex volatili secundum speciem suam, et ex animali secundum speciem suam, ex omni reptili terrae secundum speciem suam, bina ex omnibus ingredientur ad to, ut viva conserventur.

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.

21. Et tu cape tibi ex omni esca quae comeditur, et congregabis tibi, eritque tibi et illis ad vescendum.

22. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

22. Et fecit Noah juxta omnia quae praeceperat ei Deus, sic fecit.

CHAPTER 5

Ge 5:1-32. Genealogy of the Patriarchs.

1. book of the generations--(See Ge 11:4).

Adam--used here either as the name of the first man, or of the human race generally.

5. all the days ... Adam lived--The most striking feature in this catalogue is the longevity of Adam and his immediate descendants. Ten are enumerated (Ge 5:5-32) in direct succession whose lives far exceed the ordinary limits with which we are familiar--the shortest being three hundred sixty-five, [Ge 5:23] and the longest nine hundred sixty-nine years [Ge 5:27]. It is useless to inquire whether and what secondary causes may have contributed to this protracted longevity--vigorous constitutions, the nature of their diet, the temperature and salubrity of the climate; or, finally--as this list comprises only the true worshippers of God--whether their great age might be owing to the better government of their passions and the quiet, even tenor of their lives. Since we cannot obtain satisfactory evidence on these points, it is wise to resolve the fact into the sovereign will of God. We can, however, trace some of the important uses to which, in the early economy of Providence, it was subservient. It was the chief means of reserving a knowledge of God, of the great truths of religion, as well as the influence of genuine piety. So that, as their knowledge was obtained by tradition, they would be in a condition to preserve it in the greatest purity.

21. Enoch ... begat Methuselah--This name signifies, "He dieth, and the sending forth," so that Enoch gave it as prophetical of the flood. It is computed that Methuselah died in the year of that catastrophe.

24. And Enoch walked with God--a common phrase in Eastern countries denoting constant and familiar intercourse.

was not; for God took him--In He 11:5, we are informed that he was translated to heaven--a mighty miracle, designed to effect what ordinary means of instruction had failed to accomplish, gave a palpable proof to an age of almost universal unbelief that the doctrines which he had taught (Jude 14, 15) were true and that his devotedness to the cause of God and righteousness in the midst of opposition was highly pleasing to the mind of God.

26. Lamech--a different person from the one mentioned in the preceding chapter [Ge 4:18]. Like his namesake, however, he also spoke in numbers on occasion of the birth of Noah--that is, "rest" or "comfort" [Ge 5:29, Margin]. "The allusion is, undoubtedly, to the penal consequences of the fall in earthly toils and sufferings, and to the hope of a Deliverer, excited by the promise made to Eve. That this expectation was founded on a divine communication we infer from the importance attached to it and the confidence of its expression" [Peter Smith].

32. Noah was five hundred years old: and ... begat--That he and the other patriarchs were advanced in life before children were born to them is a difficulty accounted for probably from the circumstance that Moses does not here record their first-born sons, but only the succession from Adam through Seth to Abraham.

The book of the generations - ספר sepher, in Hebrew, which we generally translate book, signifies a register, an account, any kind of writing, even a letter, such as the bill of divorce. Here It means the account or register of the generations of Adam or his descendants to the five hundredth year of the life of Noah.

In the likeness of God made he him - This account is again introduced to keep man in remembrance of the heights of glory whence he bad fallen; and to prove to him that the miseries and death consequent on his present state were produced by his transgression, and did not flow from his original state. For, as he was created in the image of God, he was created free from natural and moral evil. As the deaths of the patriarchs are now to be mentioned, it was necessary to introduce them by this observation, in order to justify the ways of God to man.

And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, etc. - The Scripture chronology especially in the ages of some of the antediluvian and postdiluvian patriarchs, has exceedingly puzzled chronologists, critics, and divines. The printed Hebrew text, the Samaritan, the Septuagint, and Josephus, are all different, and have their respective vouchers and defenders. The following tables of the genealogies of the patriarchs before and after the flood, according to the Hebrew, Samaritan, and Septuagint, will at once exhibit the discordances. For much satisfactory information on this subject I must refer to A New Analysis of Chronology, by the Rev. William Hales, D.D., 3 vols. 4th., London, 1809.

And begat a son in his own likeness, after his image - Words nearly the same with those Gen 1:26 : Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. What this image and likeness of God were, we have already seen, and we may rest assured that the same image and likeness are not meant here. The body of Adam was created provisionally immortal, i.e. while he continued obedient he could not die; but his obedience was voluntary, and his state a probationary one. The soul of Adam was created in the moral image of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. He had now sinned, and consequently had lost his moral resemblance to his Maker; he had also become mortal through his breach of the law. His image and likeness were therefore widely different at this time from what they were before; and his begetting children in this image and likeness plainly implies that they were imperfect like himself, mortal like himself, sinful and corrupt like himself. For it is impossible that he, being impure, fallen from the Divine image, could beget a pure and holy offspring, unless we could suppose it possible that a bitter fountain could send forth sweet waters, or that a cause could produce effects totally dissimilar from itself. What is said here of Seth might have been said of all the other children of Adam, as they were all begotten after his fall; but the sacred writer has thought proper to mark it only in this instance.

And Enoch walked with God - three hundred years - There are several things worthy of our most particular notice in this account:

1. The name of this patriarch; Enoch, from חנך chanack, which signifies to instruct, to initiate, to dedicate. From his subsequent conduct we are authorized to believe he was early instructed in the things of God, initiated into the worship of his Maker, and dedicated to his service. By these means, under the influence of the Divine Spirit, which will ever attend pious parental instructions, his mind got that sacred bias which led him to act a part so distinguished through the course of a long life.

2. His religious conduct. He walked with God; יתהלך yithhallech, he set himself to walk, he was fixedly purposed and determined to live to God. Those who are acquainted with the original will at once see that it has this force. A verb in the conjugation called hithpael signifies a reciprocal act, that which a man does upon himself: here we may consider Enoch receiving a pious education, and the Divine influence through it; in consequence of which he determines to be a worker with God, and therefore takes up the resolution to walk with his Maker, that he might not receive the grace of God in vain.

3. The circumstances in which he was placed. He was a patriarch; the king, the priest, and the prophet of a numerous family, to whom he was to administer justice, among whom he was to perform all the rites and ceremonies of religion, and teach, both by precept and example, the way of truth and righteousness. Add to this, he was a married man, he had a numerous family of his own, independently of the collateral branches over which he was obliged, as patriarch, to preside; he walked three hundred years with God, and begat sons and daughters; therefore marriage is no hindrance even to the perfection of piety; much less inconsistent with it, as some have injudiciously taught.

4. The astonishing height of piety to which he had arrived; being cleansed from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, and having perfected holiness in the fear of God, we find not only his soul but his body purified, so that, without being obliged to visit the empire of death, he was capable of immediate translation to the paradise of God. There are few cases of this kind on record; but probably there might be more, many more, were the followers of God more faithful to the grace they receive.

5. Enoch attained this state of religious and spiritual excellence in a time when, comparatively speaking, there were few helps, and no written revelation. Here then we cannot but see and admire how mighty the grace of God is, and what wonders it works in the behalf of those who are faithful, who set themselves to walk with God. It is not the want of grace nor of the means of grace that is the cause of the decay of this primitive piety, but the want of faithfulness in those who have the light, and yet will not walk as children of the light.

6. If the grace of God could work such a mighty change in those primitive times, when life and immortality were not brought to light by the Gospel, what may we not expect in these times, in which the Son of God tabernacles among men, in which God gives the Holy Spirit to them who ask him, in which all things are possible to him who believes? No man can prove that Enoch had greater spiritual advantages than any of the other patriarchs, though it seems pretty evident that he made a better use of those that were common to all than any of the rest did; and it would be absurd to say that he had greater spiritual helps and advantages than Christians can now expect, for he lived under a dispensation much less perfect than that of the Law, and yet the law itself was only the shadow of the glorious substance of Gospel blessings and Gospel privileges.

7. It is said that Enoch not only walked with God, setting him always before his eyes, beginning, continuing, and ending every work to his glory, but also that he pleased God, and had the testimony that he did please God, Heb 11:5. Hence we learn that it was then possible to live so as not to offend God, consequently so as not to commit sin against him; and to have the continual evidence or testimony that all that a man did and purposed was pleasing in the sight of Him who searches the heart, and by whom devices are weighed: and if it was possible then, it is surely, through the same grace, possible now; for God, and Christ, and faith, are still the same.

The days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years - This is the longest life mentioned in Scripture, and probably the longest ever lived; but we have not authority to say positively that it was the longest. Before the flood, and before artificial refinements were much known and cultivated, the life of man was greatly protracted, and yet of him who lived within thirty-one years of a thousand it is said he died; and the longest life is but as a moment when it is past. Though life is uncertain, precarious, and full of natural evils, yet it is a blessing in all its periods if devoted to the glory of God and the interest of the soul; for while it lasts we may more and more acquaint ourselves with God and be at peace, and thereby good shall come unto us; Job 22:21.

This same shall comfort us - This is an allusion, as some think, to the name a Noah, which they derive from נחם nacham, to comfort; but it is much more likely that it comes from נח nach or נוח nuach, to rest, to settle, etc. And what is more comfortable than rest after toil and labor? These words seem to have been spoken prophetically concerning Noah, who built the ark for the preservation of the human race, and who seems to have been a typical person; for when he offered his sacrifice after the drying up of the waters, it is said that God smelled a savor of Rest, and said he would not curse the ground any more for man's sake, Gen 8:21; and from that time the earth seems to have had upon an average the same degree of fertility; and the life of man, in a few generations after, was settled in the mean at threescore years and ten. See Gen 9:3.

Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth - From Gen 10:21; 1Chr 1:5, etc., we learn that Japheth was the eldest son of Noah, but Shem is mentioned first, because it was from him, in a direct line, that the Messiah came. Ham was certainly the youngest of Noah's sons, and from what we read, Gen 9:22, the worst of them; and how he comes to be mentioned out of his natural order is not easy to be accounted for. When the Scriptures design to mark precedency, though the subject be a younger son or brother, he is always mentioned first; so Jacob is named before Esau, his elder brother, and Ephraim before Manasses. See Gen 28:5; Gen 48:20.

Among many important things presented to our view in this chapter, several of which have been already noticed, we may observe that, of all the antediluvian patriarchs, Enoch, who was probably the best man, was the shortest time upon earth; his years were exactly as the days in a solar revolution, viz., three hundred and sixty-five; and like the sun he fulfilled a glorious course, shining more and more unto the perfect day, and was taken, when in his meridian splendor, to shine like the sun in the kingdom of his Father for ever.

From computation it appears, 1. That Adam lived to see Lamech, the ninth generation, in the fifty-sixth year of whose life he died; and as he was the first who lived, and the first that sinned, so he was the first who tasted death in a natural way. Abel's was not a natural but a violent death. 2. That Enoch was taken away next after Adam, seven patriarchs remaining witness of his translation. 3. That all the nine first patriarchs were taken away before the flood came, which happened in the six hundredth year of Noah's life. 4. That Methuselah lived till the very year in which the flood came, of which his name is supposed to have been prophetical מתו methu, "he dieth," and שלח shalach, "he sendeth out;" as if God had designed to teach men that as soon as Methuselah died the flood should be sent forth to drown an ungodly world. If this were then so understood, even the name of this patriarch contained in it a gracious warning.

The first words of the chapter are the title of argument of the whole chapter; it is the book of the generations of Adam - It is the list or catalogue of the posterity of Adam, not of all, but only of the holy seed, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came; the names, ages, and deaths of those that were the successors of the first Adam in the custody of the promise, and the ancestors of the second Adam. Where we have a brief rehearsal of what was before at large related concerning the creation of man. This is what we have need frequently to hear of, and carefully to acquaint ourselves with. Observe here. 1. That God created man. Man is not his own maker, therefore he must not be his own master; but the author of his being must be the director of his motions, and the center of them. 2. That there was a day in which God created man, he was not from eternity, but of yesterday; he was not the first - born, but the junior of the creation. 3. That God made him in his own likeness, righteous and holy, and therefore undoubtedly happy; man's nature resembled the divine nature more than that of any of the creatures of this lower world. 4. That God created them male and female, Ge 5:2, for their mutual comfort, as well as for the preservation and increase of their kind. Adam and Eve were both made immediately by the hand of God, both made in God's likeness; and therefore between the sexes there is not that great difference and inequality which some imagine. 5. That God blessed them. It is usual for parents to bless their children, so God the common Father blessed his; but earthly parents can only beg a blessing, it is God's prerogative to command it. It refers chiefly to the blessing of increase, not excluding other blessings.

Where we have a brief rehearsal of what was before at large related concerning the creation of man. This is what we have need frequently to hear of, and carefully to acquaint ourselves with. Observe here. 1. That God created man. Man is not his own maker, therefore he must not be his own master; but the author of his being must be the director of his motions, and the center of them. 2. That there was a day in which God created man, he was not from eternity, but of yesterday; he was not the first - born, but the junior of the creation. 3. That God made him in his own likeness, righteous and holy, and therefore undoubtedly happy; man's nature resembled the divine nature more than that of any of the creatures of this lower world. 4. That God created them male and female, Ge 5:2, for their mutual comfort, as well as for the preservation and increase of their kind. Adam and Eve were both made immediately by the hand of God, both made in God's likeness; and therefore between the sexes there is not that great difference and inequality which some imagine. 5. That God blessed them. It is usual for parents to bless their children, so God the common Father blessed his; but earthly parents can only beg a blessing, it is God's prerogative to command it. It refers chiefly to the blessing of increase, not excluding other blessings. He called their name Adam - He gave this name both to the man and the woman. Being at first one by nature, and afterwards one by marriage; it was fit they should both have the same name, in token of their union.

Seth was born in the 130th year of Adam's life, and probably the murder of Abel was not long before. Many other sons and daughters were born to Adam besides Cain and Abel before this; but no notice is taken of them, because an honourable mention must be made of his name only, in whose loins Christ and the church were. But that which is most observable here concerning Seth, is, that Adam begat him in his own likeness after his image - Adam was made in the image of God; but when he was fallen and corrupted, he begat a son in his own image, sinful and defiled, frail and mortal, and miserable like himself; not only a man like himself, consisting of body and soul; but a sinner like himself, guilty and obnoxious, degenerate and corrupt. He was conceived and born in sin, Psa 51:5. This was Adam's own likeness, the reverse of that Divine likeness in which Adam was made; but having lost it himself he could not convey it to his seed.

In the day Adam ate forbidden fruit, he became mortal, he began to die; his whole life after was but a forfeited condemned life, nay it was a wasting dying life; he was not only like a criminal sentenced, but as one already crucified, that dies slowly and by degrees.

And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah - To walk with God, is to set God always before us, and to act as those that are always under his eye. It is to live a life of communion with God, both in ordinances and providences; it is to make God's word our rule, and his glory our end, in all our actions; it is to make it our constant care and endeavour in every thing to please God, and in nothing to offend him; it is to comply with his will, to concur with his designs, and to be workers together with him. He walked with God after he begat Methuselah, which intimates, that he did not begin to be eminent for piety 'till about that time.

He was not, for God took him - That is, as it is explained, Heb 11:5, he was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him. But why did God take him so soon? Surely because the world, which was now grown corrupt, was not worthy of him. Because his work was done, and done the sooner for his minding it so closely. He was not, for God took him - He was not any longer in this world: it was not the period of his being, but of his being here. He was not found; so the apostle explains it from the seventy; not found by his friends, who sought him, as the sons of the prophets sought Elijah, 2Kings 2:17. God took him body and soul to himself in the heavenly paradise, by the ministry of angels, as afterwards he took Elijah. He was changed, as those saints shall be that will be found alive at Christ's second coming.

Methuselah signifies, He dies, there is a sending forth, viz. of the deluge, which came the very year that Methuselah died. If his name was so intended, it was a fair warning to a careless world long before the judgment came. However, this is observable, that the longest liver that ever was, carried death in his name, that he might be minded of its coming surely, tho' it came slowly. He lived nine hundred sixty and nine years, the longest we read of that ever any man lived on earth, and yet he died: the longest liver must die at last. Neither youth nor age will discharge from that war, for that is the end of all men: none can challenge life by long prescription, nor make that a plea against the arrests of death. 'Tis commonly supposed, that Methuselah died a little before the flood; the Jewish writers say, seven days before, referring to Ge 7:10, and that he was taken away from the evil to come.

This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed - Very probably there were some prophecies that went before of him, as a person that should be wonderfully serviceable to his generation.

And Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth - These Noah begat (the eldest of these) when he was six hundred years old. It should seem that Japheth was the eldest, Gen 10:21, but Shem is put first, because on him the covenant was entailed, as appears by Gen 9:26, where God is called the Lord God of Shem. To him 'tis probable the birthright was given, and from him 'tis certain both Christ the head, and the church the body, were to descend; therefore he is called Shem, which signifies a name, because in his posterity the name of God should always remain, 'till He should come out of his loins, whose name is above every name; so that in putting Shem first, Christ was in effect put first, who in all things must have the pre - eminence. For the glory of God's justice, and for warning to a wicked world, before the history of the ruin of the old world we have a full account of its degeneracy, its apostacy from God, and rebellion against him. The destroying of it was an act not of absolute sovereignty, but of necessary justice for the maintaining of the honour of God's government.

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 .

(i. e.) The List or Catalogue, as this word is taken Nehem. 7. 5. Matth. 1. 1. as it is also put for any short writing, as for a bill of Divorce, as Deut. 24. 1, 2.

(i. e.) His posterity begotten by him; the word being passively used. But he doth not here give a compleat list of all Adams Children, but only of his godly Seed, which preserved true Religion and the Worship of God from Adam to the Flood, and from whose Loins Christ came, Luke 3.

This is here repeated to note the different way of the production of Adam, and of his posterity, his was by creation from God, theirs by Generation from their Parents.

See Gen. 26. 27.

Marginal references: 1 Chron. 1. 1.

2. Male and Female created he them , and blessed them , and called their Name Adam , in the day when they were created.

See Gen. 1. 26. Math. 19. 4. Mark 10. 6.

With power to propagate their kind and with other blessings. See Gen. 1. 28.

Which name is given both to every man, as Gen. 9. 6. Psal. 49. 20. and to the first man, as Gen. 2. 23. and to the whole kind▪ both the Man and the Woman, who are called by one name, to shew their intimate Union and Communion in all things.

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.

After he was created, in which time he begat other Sons and Daughters, as appears from what was said before.

Either 1. In regard of the natural frame of his Body and Soul. But this was so evident of it self, that the mention of it had been frivolous. Nor is there any reason why that should be said of Seth, rather th[illegible: 1+ letters]n of Cain, or Abel. Or 2. In regard of his corruption. q. d. a weak, sinful, mortal man like himself: For Adams image is here plainly opposed to the likeness of God wherein Adam is said to be created, ver. 1. And this is fitly said of Seth, to signifie, that although he was a worthy and good man, and Adam excepted, the most eminent person of the whole Church of God, yet he, no less than wicked Cain, was begotten and born in sin, and that all the difference which was between him, and consequently between other good men, and the wicked progeny of Cain, was not from the nature which they received from Adam, but from the grace infused into them by God.

4. And the days of Adam, after he had begotten Seth, were eight hundred years: And he begat Sons and Daughters .

Whose names and numbers are here passed over in silence, as not belonging to the Genealogy of Christ, nor to the following History.

Marginal references: 1 Chron. 1, [illegible: 1+ letters]. &c.

5. And all the days that Adam lived; were nine hundred and thirty years , and he died.

The long lives of men in ancient times here noted are also mentioned by Heathen Authors: And it was wisely so ordered by God both for the more plentiful encrease of mankind in the first age of the world; and for the more effectual propagation of true Religion, and other useful knowledge to the World. And many natural reasons might be given why their lives were then longer than afterwards.

21. And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah .

Whose name is thought by some learned men to contain a prophesie of the flood which was to come a thousand years after, for it signifies, He dies, and the dart or Arrow of Gods vengeance comes. Or, He dies, and the sending forth of the Waters comes.

Marginal references: Gr. Mathusala▪

22. And Enoch walked with God , after he begat Methuselah, three hundred years, and begat Sons and Daughters .

(i. e.) He lived as one whose eye was continually upon God, whose care and constant course and business it was to please God, and to imitate him, and to maintain acquaintance and communion with him, as one devoted to Gods service, and wholly governed by his will, he walked not with the Men of that wicked age, or as they walked, but being a Prophet and Preacher, as may be gathered from Iude v. 14, 15. with great zeal and courage he protested and preached against their evil practises, and boldly owned God and his ways in the midst of them. Compare Gen. 6. 6. Ier. 12. 3. Mic. 6. 8.

Hence it is undeniably evident that the state and use of Matrimony doth very well agree with the severest course of Holiness, and with the office of a Prophet or Preacher.

Marginal references: Chap. 24. 40. Psal. 16. 8. & 116. 9.

24. And Enoch walked with God: And he was not , for God took him .

(i. e.) He appeared not any longer upon Earth or amongst mortal Men. The same phrase is in Gen. 42. 36. Ier. 31. 15.

Out of this sinful and miserable World unto himself and to his heavenly Habitation. See Luke 23. 43. And he took either his Soul, of which alone this phrase is used, Ezek. 24. 16. or rather both Soul and Body, as he took Elias, 2 King. 2. 11. because he so took him that he did not see death, Heb. 11. 5.

Marginal references: Heb. 11. [illegible: 1+ letters].

27. And all the days of Methuselah, were nine hundred sixty and nine years , and he died .

The longest time that any man lived. But it is observable that neither his nor any of the Patriarchs lives reached to a thousand years, which number hath some shadow of perfection.

But a little before the Flood came, being taken away from the evil to come.

28. And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a Son.

Not that wicked Lamech mentioned Chap. 4. for he was of the Family of Cain, but this was descended from Seth.

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.

Which signifies rest.

By the Spirit of Prophesie.

(i. e.) Concerning the hard labour and manifold troubles to which we are sentenced, ch. 3. 19. And this he did either 1. By the invention of instruments of husbandry whereby Tillage was made more easie. Or 2. By removing in some part the curse inflicted upon the Earth, and reconciling God unto mankind. Possibly he might suppose that this was the Messias or promised Seed, and the Saviour of the undone World: As it was frequent with the antient Fathers through their earnest desire of the Messias, to expect him long before he came, and to mistake other persons for him. Or, 3. By preserving a remnant of mankind from that deluge, which he by the spirit foresaw would come, and re-peopling the emptied Earth with a new Generation of men, and by restoring and improving the art of Husbandry. See Gen. 9. 20.

Marginal references: G[illegible: 1+ letters]. Noe.

32. And Noah was five hundred years old: And Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Iapheth.

(i. e.) He began to beget, God in mercy denying him Children till that time that he might not beget them to the destroyer, that he might have no more than should be saved in the Ark. Or, having before that time begotten others who were now dead, and having the approaching Flood in his view, he began again to beget a seminary for the World. Of these three Sons here following, the eldest seems to be Iaphet, Gen. 10. 21. The second was Sem, as appears because he was but an hundred years old two years after the Flood, Gen. 11. 11. The youngest Ham, Gen. 9. 24. But Sem is first named in order of dignity, as being the progenitor of the Church and of Jesus Christ, and because he and his progeny is the principal subject of this whole History.

II. History of Adam - Genesis 5-6:8

Generations from Adam to Noah - Genesis 5

The origin of the human race and the general character of its development having been thus described, all that remained of importance to universal or sacred history, in connection with the progress of our race in the primeval age, was to record the order of the families (Gen 5) and the ultimate result of the course which they pursued (Gen 6:1-8). - First of all, we have the genealogical table of Adam with the names of the first ten patriarchs, who were at the head of that seed of the woman by which the promise was preserved, viz., the posterity of the first pair through Seth, from Adam to the flood. We have also an account of the ages of these patriarchs before and after the birth of those sons in whom the line was continued; so that the genealogy, which indicates the line of development, furnishes at the same time a chronology of the primeval age. In the genealogy of the Cainites no ages are given, since this family, as being accursed by God, had no future history. On the other hand, the family of Sethites, which acknowledged God, began from the time of Enos to call upon the name of the Lord, and was therefore preserved and sustained by God, in order that under the training of mercy and judgment the human race might eventually attain to the great purpose of its creation. The genealogies of the primeval age, to quote the apt words of M. Baumgarten, are “memorials, which bear testimony quite as much to the faithfulness of God in fulfilling His promise, as to the faith and patience of the fathers themselves.” This testimony is first placed in its true light by the numbers of the years. The historian gives not merely the age of each patriarch at the time of the birth of the first-born, by whom the line of succession was continued, but the number of years that he lived after that, and then the entire length of his life. Now if we add together the ages at the birth of the several first-born sons, and the hundred years between the birth of Shem and the flood, we find that the duration of the first period in the world’s history was 1656 years. We obtain a different result, however, from the numbers given by the lxx and the Samaritan version, which differ in almost every instance from the Hebrew text, both in Gen 5 and Gen 11 (from Shem to Terah), as will appear from the table on the following page.

The principal deviations from the Hebrew in the case of the other two texts are these: in Gen 5 the Samaritan places the birth of the first-born of Jared, Methuselah, and Lamech 100 years earlier, whilst the Septuagint places the birth of the first-born of all the other fathers (except Noah) 100 years later than the Hebrew; in Gen 11 the latter course is adopted in both texts in the case of all the fathers except Shem and Terah. In consequence of this, the interval from Adam to the flood is shortened in the Samaritan text by 349 years as compared with the Hebrew, and in the Septuagint is lengthened by 586 (Cod. Alex. 606). The interval from the flood to Abram is lengthened in both texts; in the Sam. by 650 years, in the Sept. by 880 (Cod. Alex. 780). In the latter, Cainan is interpolated between Arphaxad and Salah, which adds 130 years, and the age of the first-born of Nahor is placed 150 years later than in the Hebrew, whereas in the former the difference is only 50 years. With regard to the other differences, the reason for reducing the lives of Jared, Methuselah, and Lamech in the Samaritan text after the birth of their sons, was evidently to bring their deaths within the time before the flood. The age of Methuselah, as given in the Cod. Alex. of the lxx, is evidently to be accounted for on the same ground, since, according to the numbers of the Vatican text, Methuselah must have lived 14 years after the flood. In the other divergences of these two texts from the Hebrew, no definite purpose can be detected; at the same time they are sufficient to show a twofold tendency, viz., to lengthen the interval from the flood to Abram, and to reduce the ages of the fathers at the birth of their first-born to greater uniformity, and to take care that the age of Adam at the birth of Seth should not be exceeded by that of any other of the patriarchs, especially in the time before the flood. To effect this, the Sept. adds 100 years to the ages of all the fathers, before and after the flood, whose sons were born before their 100th years; the Sam., on the other hand, simply does this in the case of the fathers who lived after the flood, whilst it deducts 100 years from the ages of all the fathers before the flood who begot their first-born at a later period of their life than Adam and Seth. The age of Noah alone is left unaltered, because there were other data connected with the flood which prevented any arbitrary alteration of the text. That the principal divergences of both texts from the Hebrew are intentional changes, based upon chronological theories or cycles, is sufficiently evident from their internal character, viz., from the improbability of the statement, that whereas the average duration of life after the flood was about half the length that it was before, the time of life at which the fathers begot their first-born after the flood was as late, and, according to the Samaritan text, generally later than it had been before. No such intention is discernible in the numbers of the Hebrew text; consequently every attack upon the historical character of its numerical statements has entirely failed, and no tenable argument can be adduced against their correctness. The objection, that such longevity as that recorded in our chapter is inconceivable according to the existing condition of human nature, loses all its force if we consider “that all the memorials of the old world contain evidence of gigantic power; that the climate, the weather, and other natural conditions, were different from those after the flood; that life was much more simple and uniform; and that the after-effects of the condition of man in paradise would not be immediately exhausted” (Delitzsch). This longevity, moreover, necessarily contributed greatly to the increase of the human race; and the circumstance that the children were not born till a comparatively advanced period of life, - that is, until the corporeal and mental development of the parent was perfectly complete, - necessarily favoured the generation of a powerful race. From both these circumstances, however, the development of the race was sure to be characterized by peculiar energy in evil as well as in good; so that whilst in the godly portion of the race, not only were the traditions of the fathers transmitted faithfully and without adulteration from father to son, but family characteristics, piety, discipline, and morals took deep root, whilst in the ungodly portion time was given for sin to develop itself with mighty power in its innumerable forms.The numbers in brackets are the reading of the Cod. Alexandrinus of the lxx. In the genealogical table, Gen 11:10 ff., the Samaritan text is the only one which gives the whole duration of life.

Gen 5:1-2

The heading in Gen 5:1 runs thus: “This is the book (sepher) of the generations (tholedoth) of Adam.” On tholedoth, see Gen 2:4. Sepher is a writing complete in itself, whether it consist of one sheet or several, as for instance the “bill of divorcement” in Deu 24:1, Deu 24:3. The addition of the clause, “in the day that God created man,” etc., is analogous to Gen 2:4; the creation being mentioned again as the starting point, because all the development and history of humanity was rooted there.

Gen 5:3-32

As Adam was created in the image of God, so did he beget “in his own likeness, after his image;” that is to say, he transmitted the image of God in which he was created, not in the purity in which it came direct from God, but in the form given to it by his own self-determination, modified and corrupted by sin. The begetting of the son by whom the line was perpetuated (no doubt in every case the first-born), is followed by an account of the number of years that Adam and the other fathers lived after that, by the statement that each one begat (other) sons and daughters, by the number of years that he lived altogether, and lastly, by the assertion ויּמת “and he died.” This apparently superfluous announcement is “intended to indicate by its constant recurrence that death reigned from Adam downwards as an unchangeable law (vid., Rom 5:14). But against this background of universal death, the power of life was still more conspicuous. For the man did not die till he had propagated life, so that in the midst of the death of individuals the life of the race was preserved, and the hope of the seed sustained, by which the author of death should be overcome.” In the case of one of the fathers indeed, viz., Enoch (Gen 5:21.), life had not only a different issue, but also a different form. Instead of the expression “and he lived,” which introduces in every other instance the length of life after the birth of the first-born, we find in the case of Enoch this statement, “he walked with God (Elohim);” and instead of the expression “and he died,” the announcement, “and he was not, for God (Elohim)took him.” The phrase “walked with God,” which is only applied to Enoch and Noah (Gen 6:9), denotes the most confidential intercourse, the closest communion with the personal God, a walking as it were by the side of God, who still continued His visible intercourse with men (vid., Gen 3:8). It must be distinguished from “walking before God” (Gen 17:1; Gen 24:40, etc.), and “walking after God” (Deu 13:4), both which phrases are used to indicate a pious, moral, blameless life under the law according to the directions of the divine commands. The only other passage in which this expression “walk with God” occurs is Mal 2:6, where it denotes not the piety of the godly Israelites generally, but the conduct of the priests, who stood in a closer relation to Jehovah under the Old Testament than the rest of the faithful, being permitted to enter the Holy Place, and hold direct intercourse with Him there, which the rest of the people could not do. The article in האלהים gives prominence to the personality of Elohim, and shows that the expression cannot refer to intercourse with the spiritual world.

In Enoch, the seventh from Adam through Seth, godliness attained its highest point; whilst ungodliness culminated in Lamech, the seventh from Adam through Cain, who made his sword his god. Enoch, therefore, like Elijah, was taken away by God, and carried into the heavenly paradise, so that he did not see (experience) death (Heb 11:5); i.e., he was taken up from this temporal life and transfigured into life eternal, being exempted by God from the law of death and of return to the dust, as those of the faithful will be, who shall be alive at the coming of Christ to judgment, and who in like manner shall not taste of death and corruption, but be changed in a moment. There is no foundation for the opinion, that Enoch did not participate at his translation in the glorification which awaits the righteous at the resurrection. For, according to 1Co 15:20, 1Co 15:23, it is not in glorification, but in the resurrection, that Christ is the first-fruits. Now the latter presupposes death. Whoever, therefore, through the grace of God is exempted from death, cannot rise from the dead, but reaches ἀφθαρσία, or the glorified state of perfection, through being “changed” or “clothed upon” (2Co 5:4). This does not at all affect the truth of the statement in Rom 5:12, Rom 5:14. For the same God who has appointed death as the wages of sin, and given us, through Christ, the victory over death, possesses the power to glorify into eternal life an Enoch and an Elijah, and all who shall be alive at the coming of the Lord without chaining their glorification to death and resurrection. Enoch and Elijah were translated into eternal life with God without passing through disease, death, and corruption, for the consolation of believers, and to awaken the hope of a life after death. Enoch’s translation stands about half way between Adam and the flood, in the 987th year after the creation of Adam. Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, and Jared were still alive. His son Methuselah and his grandson Lamech were also living, the latter being 113 years old. Noah was not yet born, and Adam was dead. His translation, in consequence of his walking with God, was “an example of repentance to all generations,” as the son of Sirach says (Ecclus. 44:16); and the apocryphal legend in the book of Enoch Gen 1:9 represents him as prophesying of the coming of the Lord, to execute judgment upon the ungodly (Jud 1:14-15). In comparison with the longevity of the other fathers, Enoch was taken away young, before he had reached half the ordinary age, as a sign that whilst long life, viewed as a time for repentance and grace, is indeed a blessing from God, when the ills which have entered the world through sin are considered, it is also a burden and trouble which God shortens for His chosen. That the patriarchs of the old world felt the ills of this earthly life in all their severity, was attested by Lamech (Gen 5:28, Gen 5:29), when he gave his son, who was born 69 years after Enoch’s translation, the name of Noah, saying, “This same shall comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed.” Noah, נוח from נוּח to rest and הניח to bring rest, is explained by נחם to comfort, in the sense of helpful and remedial consolation. Lamech not only felt the burden of his work upon the ground which God had cursed, but looked forward with a prophetic presentiment to the time when the existing misery and corruption would terminate, and a change for the better, a redemption from the curse, would come. This presentiment assumed the form of hope when his son was born; he therefore gave expression to it in his name. But his hope was not realized, at least not in the way that he desired. A change did indeed take place in the lifetime of Noah. By the judgment of the flood the corrupt race was exterminated, and in Noah, who was preserved because of his blameless walk with God, the restoration of the human race was secured; but the effects of the curse, though mitigated, were not removed; whilst a covenant sign guaranteed the preservation of the human race, and therewith, by implication, his hope of the eventual removal of the curse (Gen 9:8-17).

The genealogical table breaks off with Noah; all that is mentioned with reference to him being the birth of his three sons, when he was 500 years old (Gen 5:32; see Gen 11:10), without any allusion to the remaining years of his life-an indication of a later hand. “The mention of three sons leads to the expectation, that whereas hitherto the line has been perpetuated through one member alone, in the future each of the three sons will form a new beginning (vid., Gen 9:18-19; Gen 10:1).” - M. Baumgarten.

Genealogies. (b. c. 3852.)

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; 2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. 3 And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: 4 And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: 5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.

The first words of the chapter are the title or argument of the whole chapter: it is the book of the generations of Adam; it is the list or catalogue of the posterity of Adam, not of all, but only of the holy seed who were the substance thereof (Isa. vi. 13), and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came (Rom. ix. 5), the names, ages, and deaths, of those that were the successors of the first Adam in the custody of the promise, and the ancestors of the second Adam. The genealogy begins with Adam himself. Here is,

I. His creation, v. 1, 2, where we have a brief rehearsal of what was before at large related concerning the creation of man. This is what we have need frequently to hear of and carefully to acquaint ourselves with. Observe here, 1. That God created man. Man is not his own maker, therefore he must not be his own master; but the Author of his being must be the director of his motions and the centre of them. 2. That there was a day in which God created man. He was not from eternity, but of yesterday; he was not the first-born, but the junior of the creation. 3. That God made him in his own likeness, righteous and holy, and therefore, undoubtedly, happy. Man's nature resembled the divine nature more than that of any of the creatures of this lower world. 4. That God created them male and female (v. 2), for their mutual comfort as well as for the preservation and increase of their kind. Adam and Eve were both made immediately by the hand of God, both made in God's likeness; and therefore between the sexes there is not that great distance and inequality which some imagine. 5. That God blessed them. It is usual for parents to bless their children; so God, the common Father, blessed his. But earthly parents can only beg a blessing; it is God's prerogative to command it. It refers chiefly to the blessing of increase, not excluding other blessings. 6. That he called their name Adam. Adam signifies earth, red earth. Now, (1.) God gave him this name. Adam had himself named the rest of the creatures, but he must not choose his own name, lest he should assume some glorious pompous title. But God gave him a name which would be a continual memorandum to him of the meanness of his original, and oblige him to look unto the rock whence he was hewn and the hole of the pit whence he was digged, Isa. li. 1. Those have little reason to be proud who are so near akin to dust. (2.) He gave this name both to the man and to the woman. Being at first one by nature, and afterwards one by marriage, it was fit they should both have the same name, in token of their union. The woman is of the earth earthy as well as the man.

II. The birth of his son Seth, v. 3. He was born in the hundred and thirtieth year of Adam's life; and probably the murder of Abel was not long before. Many other sons and daughters were born to Adam, besides Cain and Abel, before this; but no notice is taken of them, because an honourable mention must be made of his name only in whose loins Christ and the church were. But that which is most observable here concerning Seth is that Adam begat him in his own likeness, after his image. Adam was made in the image of God; but, when he was fallen and corrupt, he begat a son in his own image, sinful and defiled, frail, mortal, and miserable, like himself; not only a man like himself, consisting of body and soul, but a sinner like himself, guilty and obnoxious, degenerate and corrupt. Even the man after God's own heart owns himself conceived and born in sin, Ps. li. 5. This was Adam's own likeness, the reverse of that divine likeness in which Adam was made; but, having lost it himself, he could not convey it to his seed. Note, grace does not run in the blood, but corruption does. A sinner begets a sinner, but a saint does not beget a saint.

III. His age and death. He lived, in all, nine hundred and thirty years, and then he died, according to the sentence passed upon him, To dust thou shalt return. Though he did not die in the day he ate forbidden fruit, yet in that very day he became mortal. Then he began to die; his whole life afterwards was but a reprieve, a forfeited condemned life; nay, it was a wasting dying life: he was not only like a criminal sentenced, but as one already crucified, that dies slowly and by degrees.

6 And Seth lived a hundred and five years, and begat Enos: 7 And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters: 8 And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died. 9 And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan: 10 And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters: 11 And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died. 12 And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel: 13 And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters: 14 And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died. 15 And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared: 16 And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters: 17 And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died. 18 And Jared lived a hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch: 19 And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 20 And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.

We have here all that the Holy Ghost thought fit to leave upon record concerning five of the patriarchs before the flood, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, and Jared. There is nothing observable concerning any of these particularly, though we have reason to think they were men of eminence, both for prudence and piety, in their day: but in general,

I. Observe how largely and expressly their generations are recorded. This matter, one would think, might have been delivered in fewer words; but it is certain that there is not one idle word in God's books, whatever there is in men's. It is thus plainly set down, 1. To make it easy and intelligible to the meanest capacity. When we are informed how old they were when they begat such a son, and how many years they lived afterwards, a very little skill in arithmetic will enable a man to tell how long they lived in all; yet the Holy Ghost sets down the sum total, for the sake of those that have not even so much skill as this. 2. To show the pleasure God takes in the names of his people. We found Cain's generation numbered in haste (ch. iv. 18), but this account of the holy seed is enlarged upon, and given in words at length, and not in figures; we are told how long those lived that lived in God's fear, and when those died that died in his favour; but as for others it is no matter. The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot.

II. Their life is reckoned by days (v. 8): All the days of Seth, and so of the rest, which intimates the shortness of the life of man when it is at the longest, and the quick revolution of our times on earth. If they reckoned by days, surely we must reckon by hours, or rather make that our frequent prayer (Ps. xc. 12), Teach us to number our days.

III. Concerning each of them, except Enoch, it is said, and he died. It is implied in the numbering of the years of their life that their life, when those years were numbered and finished, came to an end; and yet it is still repeated, and he died, to show that death passed upon all men without exception, and that it is good for us particularly to observe and improve the deaths of others for our own edification. Such a one was a strong healthful man, but he died; such a one was a great and rich man, but he died; such a one was a wise politic man, but he died; such a one was a very good man, perhaps a very useful man, but he died, &c.

IV. That which is especially observable is that they all lived very long; not one of them died till he had seen the revolution of almost eight hundred years, and some of them lived much longer, a great while for an immortal soul to be imprisoned in a house of clay. The present life surely was not to them such a burden as commonly it is now, else they would have been weary of it; nor was the future life so clearly revealed then as it is now under the gospel, else they would have been impatient to remove to it: long life to the pious patriarchs was a blessing and made them blessings. 1. Some natural causes may be assigned for their long life in those first ages of the world. It is very probable that the earth was more fruitful, that the productions of it were more strengthening, that the air was more healthful, and that the influences of the heavenly bodies were more benign, before the flood, than afterwards. Though man was driven out of paradise, yet the earth itself was then paradisiacal—a garden in comparison with its present wilderness-state: and some think that their great knowledge of the creatures, and of their usefulness both for food and medicine, together with their sobriety and temperance, contributed much to it; yet we do not find that those who were intemperate, as many were (Luke xvii. 27), were as short-lived as intemperate men generally are now. 2. It must chiefly be resolved into the power and providence of God. He prolonged their lives, both for the more speedy replenishing of the earth and for the more effectual preservation of the knowledge of God and religion, then, when there was no written word, but tradition was the channel of its conveyance. All the patriarchs here, except Noah, were born before Adam died; so that from him they might receive a full and satisfactory account of the creation, paradise, the fall, the promise, and those divine precepts which concerned religious worship and a religious life: and, if any mistake arose, they might have recourse to him while he lived, as to an oracle, for the rectifying of it, and after his death to Methuselah, and others, that had conversed with him: so great was the care of Almighty God to preserve in his church the knowledge of his will and the purity of his worship.

Translation of Enoch. (b. c. 3017.)

21 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: 22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: 24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

The accounts here run on for several generations without any thing remarkable, or any variation but of the names and numbers; but at length there comes in one that must not be passed over so, of whom special notice must be taken, and that is Enoch, the seventh from Adam: the rest, we may suppose, did virtuously, but he excelled them all, and was the brightest star of the patriarchal age. It is but little that is recorded concerning him; but this little is enough to make his name great, greater than the name of the other Enoch, who had a city called by his name. Here are two things concerning him:—

I. His gracious conversation in this world, which is twice spoken of: Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah (v. 22), and again, Enoch walked with God, v. 24. Observe,

1. The nature of his religion and the scope and tenour of his conversation: he walked with God, which denotes, (1.) True religion; what is godliness, but walking with God? The ungodly and profane are without God in the world, they walk contrary to him: but the godly walk with God, which presupposes reconciliation to God, for two cannot walk together except they be agreed (Amos iii. 3), and includes all the parts and instances of a godly, righteous, and sober life. To walk with God is to set God always before us, and to act as those that are always under his eye. It is to live a life of communion with God both in ordinances and providences. It is to make God's word our rule and his glory our end in all our actions. It is to make it our constant care and endeavour in every thing to please God, and nothing to offend him. It is to comply with his will, to concur with his designs, and to be workers together with him. It is to be followers of him as dear children. (2.) Eminent religion. He was entirely dead to this world, and did not only walk after God, as all good men do, but he walked with God, as if he were in heaven already. He lived above the rate, not only of other men, but of other saints: not only good in bad times, but the best in good times. (3.) Activity in promoting religion among others. Executing the priest's office is called walking before God, 1 Sam. ii. 30, 35, and see Zech. iii. 7. Enoch, it should seem, was a priest of the most high God, and like Noah, who is likewise said to walk with God, he was a preacher of righteousness, and prophesied of Christ's second coming. Jude 14, Behold, the Lord cometh with his holy myriads. Now the Holy Spirit, instead of saying, Enoch lived, says, Enoch walked with God; for it is the life of a good man to walk with God. This was, [1.] The business of Enoch's life, his constant care and work; while others lived to themselves and the world, he lived to God. [2.] It was the joy and support of his life. Communion with God was to him better than life itself. To me to live is Christ, Phil. i. 21.

2. The date of his religion. It is said (v. 21), he lived sixty-five years, and begat Methuselah; but (v. 22) he walked with God after he begat Methuselah, which intimates that he did not begin to be eminent for piety till about that time; at first he walked but as other men. Great saints arrive at their eminence by degrees.

3. The continuance of his religion: he walked with God three hundred years, as long as he continued in this world. The hypocrite will not pray always; but the real saint that acts from a principle, and makes religion his choice, will persevere to the end, and walk with God while he lives, as one that hopes to live for ever with him, Ps. civ. 33.

II. His glorious removal to a better world. As he did not live like the rest, so he did not die like the rest (v. 24): He was not, for God took him; that is, as it is explained (Heb. xi. 5), He was translated that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had translated him. Observe,

1. When he was thus translated. (1.) What time of his life. It was when he had lived but three hundred and sixty-five years (a year of years), which, as men's ages went then, was in the midst of his days; for there was none of the patriarchs before the flood that did not more than double that age. But why did God take him so soon? Surely, because the world, which had now grown corrupt, was not worthy of him, or because he was so much above the world, and so weary of it, as to desire a speedy removal out of it, or because his work was done, and done the sooner for his minding it so closely. Note, God often takes those soonest whom he loves best, and the time they lose on earth is gained in heaven, to their unspeakable advantage. (2.) What time of the world. It was when all the patriarchs mentioned in this chapter were living, except Adam, who died fifty-seven years before, and Noah, who was born sixty-nine years after; those two had sensible confirmations to their faith other ways, but to all the rest, who were or might have been witnesses of Enoch's translation, it was a sensible encouragement to their faith and hope concerning a future state.

2. How his removal is expressed: He was not, for God took him. (1.) He was not any longer in this world; it was not the period of his being, but of his being here: he was not found, so the apostle explains it from the LXX.; not found by his friends, who sought him as the sons of the prophets sought Elijah (2 Kings ii. 17); not found by his enemies, who, some think, were in quest of him, to put him to death in their rage against him for his eminent piety. It appears by his prophecy that there were then many ungodly sinners, who spoke hard speeches, and probably did hard things too, against God's people (Jude 15), but God hid Enoch from them, not under heaven, but in heaven. (2.) God took him body and soul to himself in the heavenly paradise, by the ministry of angels, as afterwards he took Elijah. He was changed, as those saints will be that shall be found alive at Christ's second coming. Whenever a good man dies God takes him, fetches him hence, and receives him to himself. The apostle adds concerning Enoch that, before his translation, he had this testimony, that he pleased God, and this was the good report he obtained. Note, [1.] Walking with God pleases God. [2.] We cannot walk with God so as to please him, but by faith. [3.] God himself will put an honour upon those that by faith walk with him so as to please him. He will own them now, and witness for them before angels and men at the great day. Those that have not this testimony before the translation, yet shall have it afterwards. [4.] Those whose conversation in the world is truly holy shall find their removal out of it truly happy. Enoch's translation was not only an evidence to faith of the reality of a future state, and of the possibility of the body's existing in glory in that state; but it was an encouragement to the hope of all that walk with God that they shall be for ever with him: signal piety shall be crowned with signal honours.

25 And Methuselah lived a hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech: 26 And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters: 27 And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.

Concerning Methuselah observe, 1. The signification of his name, which some think was prophetical, his father Enoch being a prophet. Methuselah signifies, he dies, or there is a dart, or, a sending forth, namely, of the deluge, which came the very year that Methuselah died. If indeed his name was so intended and so explained, it was fair warning to a careless world, a long time before the judgment came. However, this is observable, that the longest liver that ever was carried death in his name, that he might be reminded of its coming surely, though it came slowly. 2. His age: he lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years, the longest we read of that ever any man lived on earth; and yet he died. The longest liver must die at last. Neither youth nor age will discharge from that war, for that is the end of all men: none can challenge life by long prescription, nor make that a plea against the arrests of death. It is commonly supposed that Methuselah died a little before the flood; the Jewish writers say, "seven days before," referring to ch. vii. 10, and that he was taken away from the evil to come, which goes upon this presumption, which is generally received, that all the patriarchs mentioned in this chapter were holy good men. I am loth to offer any surmise to the contrary; and yet I see not that this can be any more inferred from their enrollment here among the ancestors of Christ than that all those kings of Judah were so whose names are recorded in his genealogy, many of whom, we are sure, were much otherwise: and, if this be questioned, it may be suggested as probable that Methuselah was himself drowned with the rest of the world; for it is certain that he died that year.

Account of Noah. (b. c. 2448.)

28 And Lamech lived a hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: 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. 30 And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters: 31 And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died. 32 And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Here we have the first mention of Noah, of whom we shall read much in the following chapters. Observe,

I. His name, with the reason of it: Noah signifies rest; his parents gave him that name, with a prospect of his being a more than ordinary blessing to his generation: This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed. Here is, 1. Lamech's complaint of the calamitous state of human life. By the entrance of sin, and the entail of the curse for sin, our condition has become very miserable: our whole life is spent in labour, and our time filled up with continual toil. God having cursed the ground, it is as much as some can do, with the utmost care and pains, to fetch a hard livelihood out of it. He speaks as one fatigued with the business of this life, and grudging that so many thoughts and precious minutes, which otherwise might have been much better employed, are unavoidably spent for the support of the body. 2. His comfortable hopes of some relief by the birth of this son: This same shall comfort us, which denotes not only the desire and expectation which parents generally have concerning their children (that, when they grow up, they will be comforts to them and helpers in their business, though they often prove otherwise), but an apprehension and prospect of something more. Very probably there were some prophecies that went before of him, as a person that should be wonderfully serviceable to his generation, which they so understood as to conclude that he was the promised seed, the Messiah that should come; and then it intimates that a covenant-interest in Christ as ours, and the believing expectation of his coming, furnish us with the best and surest comforts, both in reference to the wrath and curse of God which we have deserved and to the toils and troubles of this present time of which we are often complaining. "Is Christ ours? Is heaven ours? This same shall comfort us."

II. His children, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. These Noah begat (the eldest of these) when he was 500 years old. It should seem that Japheth was the eldest (ch. x. 21), but Shem is put first because on him the covenant was entailed, as appears by ch. ix. 26, where God is called the Lord God of Shem. To him, it is probable, the birth-right was given, and from him, it is certain, both Christ the head, and the church the body, were to descend. Therefore he is called Shem, which signifies a name, because in his posterity the name of God should always remain, till he should come out of his loins whose name is above every name; so that in putting Shem first Christ was, in effect, put first, who in all things must have the pre-eminence.

CHAP. V.

THis is the booke of the generations of Adam: in the day God created Adam, in the likenesse of God made he him. Male and female created hee them: and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day they were created. And Adam lived a hundred and thirty yeeres; and begat (a sonne) in his likenesse; in his image: and called his name Seth. And the dayes of Adam were, after he had begotten Seth, eight hundred yeeres, and hee begat sonnes and daughters. And all the dayes of Adam which he lived, were nine hundred yeeres, and thirty yeeres: and he dyed.

And Seth lived a hundred yeeres, and five yeeres: and begat Enos. And Seth lived after he begat Enos, eight hundred yeeres, and seven yeeres: and begat sonnes and daughters. And all the dayes of Seth were nine hundred yeeres, and twelve yeeres: and hee died.

And Enos lived ninety yeeres: and begat Kainan. And Enos lived, after hee begat Kainan, eight hundred yeeres, and fifteene yeeres: and begat sonnes and daughters. And all the daies of Enos, were nine hundred yeeres, and five yeeres: and hee died.

And Kainan lived seventy yeeres; and begat Maleleel. And Kainan lived after he begat Maleleel, eight hundred yeeres, and fortie yeeres: and begat sonnes and daughters. And all the dayes of Kainan were nine hundred yeeres, and ten yeeres: and he died.

And Maleleel lived sixtie yeeres, and five yeeres: and begat Iared. And Maleleel lived after he begat Iared, eight hundred yeeres, and thirty yeeres: and begat sons and daughters. And al the dayes of Maleleel were eight hundred yeeres, and ninety and five yeeres: and he died.

And Iared lived a hundred yeeres, and sixtie and two yeeres: & begat Enoch. And Iared lived, after he begat Enoch, eight hundred yeeres: and begat sons and daughters. And al the daies of Iared were nine hundred yeres, & sixty and two yeres: and he dyed.

And Enoch lived sixty and five yeres: and begat Methusala. And Enoch walked with God, after hee begat Methusala, three hundred yeeres: and begat sonnes and daughters. And all the daies of Enoch, were three hundred yeeres, and sixtie and five yeeres. And Enoch walked with God: and he was not: for God tooke him.

And Mathusala lived a hundred yeeres, and eightie and seven yeeres: and begat Lamech. And Mathusala lived, after he begat Lamech, seven hundred yeeres, and eighty and two yeeres: and begat sons and daughters. And all the dayes of Mathusala were nine hundred yeres, and sixty and nine yeres: and he died.

And Lamech lived a hundred yeeres, and eighty and two yeeres; and begat a son. And called his name Noe, saying: This shall comfort us from our worke, and from the sorrow of our hands, because of the earth the which Iehovah hath cursed. And Lamech lived, after he begat Noe, five hundred yeres, and ninety and five yeeres: and begat sons & daughters. And all the dayes of Lamech were seven hundred yeeres, and seventy and seven yeeres: and he died.

And Noe was five hundred yeres old: and Noe begat Sem, Cham, and Iapheth.

Annotations. THe booke:] that is, the narration, or rehearsall. generations of Adam:] the Greeke translateth, generation of men, it meaneth both the children which Adam begat, and the events that did befall them; as the word generation, is used for all accidents in times and ages, whatsoever the day may bring forth, (as Solomon speaketh, Proverb. 27. 1.) So Genesis 2. 4. and 6. 9. and 25. 19. And here are tenne generations reckoned from Adam to Noe; the chiefe end whereof, is to shew the genealogy of Christ the promised s[illegible: 1 letter]ed according to the flesh, and so of his Church, Luk. 3. 23. 38. 1 Chron. 1. 1. &c. likenesse of God:] See Gen. 1. 26. Vers. 2. their name:] so Adam was the common name of man and woman, (which were one flesh, Gen. 2. 23. 24) and of all their posterity, Gen. 9. 6. for we are all of one blood, Act. 17. 26. Vers. 3. and begat] to weet, a sonne, as the sequell sheweth. The Scripture often omitteth such words, and sometime sheweth they must be understood: as David put in Syria, 1 Chron. 18. 6. that is, he put garisons in Syria, 2 Sam. 8. 6. See before the note on Gen. 4. 20. in his likenesse:] namely, that which he now had in his sinfull state: for the first likenesse and image of God in him was by sinne corrupted, Gen. 3. wherupon all men now are conceived in sinne, Psal. 51. 7. and are by nature children of wrath, Eph. 2. 3. Seth:] that is, Set or Appointed in stead of Abel: see Gen. 4. 25. onely his posterity were reserved, when all the world was drowned. And from him the genealogy is rekoned both in the Old and New Testament, 1 Chr. 1. 1. &c. Luke 3. 38. Vers. 6. yeeres:] Hebr. yeere: sometime the Originall useth indifferently one for another; as, eight yeeres, 2 Chron. 34. 1. for which in 2 King. 22. 1. is written eight yeere. It is also the property of the Hebrew, to set the least number for most, as here, Seth lived five yeeres, and an hundred yeere; and so after: which because it differeth from our manner, and in the order there is no speciall weight, is changed according to our speaking: because the Hebrew it selfe, in repeating matters, doth often change the order of words: as, 2 Chron. 23. 7. when he commeth in, & when he goeth out: which in 2 Kin. 11. 8. is, when he goeth out, and when hee commeth in. So, great and small, 2 Chron. 34. 30. or, small and great, 2 King. 23. 2. And in translating, the holy Ghost often also changeth the order of words: as Ioel 2. 28. your old men shall dreame dreames, your young men shall see visions: which in Act. 2. 17. is placed thus, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dreame dreames. So in 1 King. 19. 10. they haue broke downe thy Altars, and killed thy Prophets: which Paul rehearseth thus, they have killed thy Prophets, and broke downe thy Altars, Rom. 11. 3. and sundry the like. Enos:] or, as the Hebrew pronounceth it, Enosh: but because our language and custome rather followeth the Greeke, which is more easie, the names are expressed as the New Testament doth in Luke 3. lest the Reader should mistake, and thinke them diverse persons. Verse 9. Kainan] so Luke 3. 37. in Hebrew Kenan. Verse 12. Maleleel] Hebr. Mahalalel. Vers. 15. Iared] Hebr. Iered. Vers. 18. Enoch] in Hebrew Chanoch, that is, Dedicated, or Catechised: he is said to be the seventh from Adam, and a prophesier of Gods judgement upon wicked men for their impious deeds, and hard speeches against God, Iude ver. 14. 15. So hee is distinguished from Enoch the Kainite, the third from Adam, Gen. 4. 17. and seven being the number of the Sabbath, the seventh generation implyed the mystery of rest in Christ. Accordingly the number of all the generations here, may be observed; which are ten from Adam to Noe: as before in Gen. 4. there are seven generations of Kain, so Abram the Ebrew was the seventh from Eber; Moses the seventh from Abram: and in Mat. 1. twice seven generations are reckned from Abram to David, and so many from David to the Captivity of Babylon, and againe so many from that captivity, to Christ, Mat. 1. 17. The estate of times for these ten Patriarchs, may thus be viewed: 1. Adam being 130. yeeres old, begat Seth. 2. Seth, 105. yeeres old, begat Enos. In the yeere of the World, 235. 3. Enos, 90. yeere old, begat Kainan: in the yeere of the World, 325. 4. Kainan, 70. yeere old, begat Maleleel: in the yeere of the World, 395. 5. Maleleel, 65. yeere old, begat Iared: in the yere of the World, 460. 6. Iared, 162. yeere old, begat Enoch: in the yere of the World, 622. 7. Enoch, 65. yeere old, begat Mathusala: in the yeere of the World, 687. 8. Mathusala, 187. yeere old, begat Lamech: in the yeere of the World, 874. 9. Lamech, 182. yeere old, begat Noe: in the yeere of the World, 1056. 10. Noe, 500. yeeres old, begat Iapheth: in the yeere of the World, 1556. The lives of these Patriarchs are also to be noted. 1. Adam lived 930. yeeres. 2. Seth lived 912. y. 3. Enos lived 905. 4. Kainan lived 910. y. 5. Malaleel lived 895. y. 6. Iared lived 962. y. 7. Enoch lived on earth, 365. yeeres. The shortest liver. 8. Mathusala lived 969. y. The longest liver. 9. Lamech lived 777. y. 10. Noe lived 950. y. Gen. 9. 29. By this computation it appeareth, that Adam lived to see Lamech the ninth generation, in the 56 yeere of whose life hee dyed, first of all these Patriarchs. That Enoch the 7 from Adam, (after he had lived on earth, so many yeeres as there be dayes in the yeere of the Sunne,) was taken away into Paradise, next after Adams death, seven Patriarchs remaining witnesses of his translation. That all the first nine Patriarchs were taken out of this world, before it was drowned by the Flood that came in the 600. yeere of Noes life. That Mathusala lived till the very yeere wherein the Flood came, as his name signified that he should: with sundry other things, worthy to bee observed in the briefe Historie of these tenne Fathers. Vers. 21. Mathusala:] so in Luke 3. 37. in Hebrew Methushelach, which is by interpretation, He dyeth, and the emission (or dart) meaning the flood, commeth. Enoch being a Prophet, foretold in his sonnes name, of the flood to come in the yeere that Mathusala dyed: as came to passe. Compare Iude vers. 14. 15. Vers. 22. walked with God:] that is, led his life and administred before God, holily, justly, and faithfully, and so pleasing to God, as Gen. 6. 9. Wherefore the Apostle (following the Greeke version) saith, he pleased God, (which without faith it is unpossible to doe,) Heb. 11. 5. 6. The Chaldee translateth, he walked in the feare of the Lord: and the lerusalemy Thargum saith, he served (or laboured) in the truth before the Lord. And by comparing the like speech unto Eli, 1 Sam. 2. 30. 35. it seemeth to imply a pleasing or acceptable ministration of office before the Lord. Wherefore Enoch is noted to be a Prophet, Iude 14. And Noe who also walked with God, Gen. 6. 9. was a Preacher of justice, 2 Pet. 2. 5. Of Eli, it is spoken touching the Priesthood, 1 Sam. 2. 30. 35. and of David in the Kingdome, Psal. 56. 14. and 116. 9. See also Gen. 17. 1. Thus Enoch was a speciall figure of Christ. Vers. 24. he was not] to weet, not found, as the Apostle (according to the Greeke) saith, Heb. 11. 5. and the Chaldee addeth, he appeared not, and yet the Lord killed him not. The like speech is also used of them that are taken away by death, Ier. 31. 15. which the Evangelist alledging, addeth the word are (or were) that wanted in the Hebrew, as in this place it is wanting also God tooke him,] that is, translated him, (saith the Apostle) that he should not see death, Heb. 11. 5. where the Arabicke version addeth, he was translated into Paradise: meaning the heavenly Paradise, mentioned Luke 23. 43. 2 Cor. 12. 2. 4. So Elias was taken up into heaven, 2 King. 2. and the Hebrew Doctors say, that Enoch was taken up in a whilewind as Elias was; and that he was disarayed of the foundation corporall, and clothed with the foundation spirituall. Also that God shewed him all the high treasures, and shewed him the tree of life, in the midst of the garden, &c. R. Menachem on Gen 5. and the Zohar on the same. By this translating of Enoch, God assured all the faithfull, of their resurrection and eternall life: therefore they after applyed the like worke of God to themselves after death, as in Psal. 49. 16. And the Apostle teacheth, we shall all be changed, and shall have spirituall bodies, and a building of God, an house not made with hand, eternall in the heavens, with which house we desire to be clothed-upon, &c. 1 Cor. 15. 51. 44. and 2 Cor. 5. 1. 2. Ben Syrach saith, Enoch translated, was an example of repentance to all generations, Ecclesiasticus 44. 16. Vers. 25. Lamech] Hebr. Lemec. Vers. 29. Noe:] so written in Luke 3. 36. 1 Pet. 3. 20. The Hebrew soundeth Noach, which signifieth rest, which proceedeth from comfort, as the words following shew; his name having affinity with Nachum. comfort us from our worke:] that is, comfort us with rest from our worke: as the Greeke translateth, he shall give us rest from our workes. This prophesie his father uttered of him, as hee that should be a figure of Christ, in his building the Arke, and offering of sacrifice, whereby God smelled a savour of rest, and said, hee would not curse the ground any more for mans sake, Gen. 8. 21. Of wee may reade it, comfort us concerning our worke, &c. from the earth:] understand againe, which commeth from the earth: for the earth being cursed, bare not fruits without great labour and sorrow, Gen. 3. 17. 18. hath cursed:] Hebr. hath cursed it: but this phrase our Tongue useth not: for it, I therefore say before, the (or that) which. And the Hebrew text sometime omits it as superfluous, 2 Chron. 28. 3. with 2 King. 16. 3. Vers. 32. 500. yeares old:] Hebr. sonne of 500. yeeres: that is, going in his 500. yeere. An usuall speech in the Hebrew Scripture of mens age, or of beasts: Gen. 17. 1. Exod. 12. 5. But sometime it is not meant of naturall age properly, as appeareth 2 Chron. 22. 2. compared with 2 King. 8. 26. where Ahaziah is sonne of 22. yeeres, for his owne life: but sonne of 42. yeeres, for the state of his kingdome. And by being old, (or sonne of) 500. yeere, is not meant that yeere full ended; but while hee was living in that yeere: As appeareth by Gen. 7. 6. where Noe is 600 yere old: which in v. 11. is explained to be, In the yeare of the 600. yeere of his life. Accordingly, must we understand the ages of men, and beasts, spoken of in Scripture: as when a Levite entred upon his Ministery, being a sonne of 30. yeeres, Num. 4. 3. it is meant, going in the 30. yere of his life. Therefore Christ fulfilling that and all other figures, entred upon his Ministery, when he began to be of 30. yeeres, as is expressed, Luk. 3. 23. And for the sacrifices in the Law, which were to be of any yeerling beast, (after the Hebrew phrase, sonne of a yeere, Exod. 12. 5.) the Iewes have left recorded, that it must be strictly within the first yere of the life; and if it bee but an houre older then a yeere, it is not allowable for an oblation to God: Maimony, 8. book in Magnaseh Korbanoth, chap. 1. S. 13. Noe begat,] that is, began to beget; for all his three sonnes were not borne in a yeere, but Shem was borne two yeeres after, when his father was 502 yeers old: as may bee gathered by Gen. 11. 10. where two yeeres after the flood, hee was but an hundred yeeres old: and then was Noe his father 602. by Gen. 7. 6. See the like of Thara, Gen. 11. 26. Sem, Cham, and Iapheth,] sounded in Hebrew; Shem, Cham, and Iepheth: of which Iapheth was the eldest, Sem the next, and Cham the youngest; as is evident both by the former note of Sems age, and by Gen. 10. 21. and 9. 24. But because Sem was in dignity preferred of God before his brethren, Gen. 9. 26. 27 therefore he is first named. The like is in the history of Abram and his brethren, Gen. 11. 26. So Iaakob is named before Esau his elder, Gen. 28. 5. and Ephraim before Manasses, Gen. 48. 20.