Genesis
5
1 This is the
book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God
created man, in the
likeness of God made He him. 2 Male and
female
created He them;
and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the
day when they
were created. This is the book. Sepher, a register, a complete
writing of any kind, a book,
whether consisting of a pair of leaves or of only a
single leaf (Deuteronomy 24:1, 3; "a
bill of divorcement;" Septuagint, βίβλος -
biblos - small
scroll - compare Matthew 1:1; Luke 3:36, 38). The
expression
presupposes the invention of the art
of writing. If, therefore, we may conjecture
that the original compiler of
this ancient document was Noah, than whom no
one would be more likely or
better qualified than he to preserve some memorial
of the lost race of which he
and his family were the sole survivors, it affords
an additional corroboration
of the intelligence and culture of the antediluvian
men. It is too frequently
taken for granted that the people who could build
cities, invent musical
instruments, and make songs were unacquainted with
the art of writing; and
though certainly we cannot affirm that the transmission
of such a family register as
is here recorded was beyond the capabilities
of oral tradition, it is
obvious that its preservation would be much more
readily secured by some kind of
documentary notation. Of the generations -
i.e. evolutions (tol'doth; compare Genesis 2:4) - of
Adam. In the preceding
section the tol'doth of the heavens and
the earth were exhibited, and
accordingly the narrative commenced
with the creative labors of the
third day. Here the historian
designs to trace the fortunes of the holy seed,
and finds the point of his
departure in the day that God (Elohim) created
man (Adam), i.e. the sixth of the creative days. More particularly
he
calls attention to the great
truths which had been previously included in
his teaching concerning
man; viz., the dignity of his nature, implied in the
fact that in the
likeness of Elohim made He him; his sexual
distinction -
male and female
created He them; their Divine
benediction - and
blessed them (compare ch. 1:27-28); at the same time adding a fourth
circumstance, which in the first
document was not narrated, that their Maker
gave to them a suitable and specific appellation - and called their name Adam
(vide ch. 1:26), in
the day when they were created.
3 And Adam
lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his
own likeness,
and 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. At the head of the Adamic race stands the first man,
whose career is summarized in
three short verses, which serve as a model for
the subsequent
biographies. And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years.
Shanah, a repetition, a return
of the sun s circuit, or of similar natural phenomena;
from shanah, to fold together, to
repeat; hence a year
(Gesenius, Furst). Compare
Latin, annus; Greek, ἐνιαυτός - eniautos - anniversary; year - Gothic, Jar, jar, jet;
German, jahr; English, year
- all of
which "seem to carry the same thought, viz.,
that which comes again"
(T. Lewis). "Shanah never means
month" (Kalisch).
And begat a son in his own likeness, - damuth (compare ch. 1:26)
- after his
image - tselem (compare iobid.); not the Divine image in which he was himself
created (Kalisch,
Knobel, Alford), but the image or likeness of his own fallen
nature, i.e. the image of God modified
and corrupted by sin (Keil, Murphy,
Wordsworth). "A
supernatural remedy does not prevent generation from
participating in the corruption of sin.
Therefore, according to the flesh Seth
was born a sinner, though
he was afterwards renewed by the Spirit of grace"
(Calvin). The doctrine of
inherited depravity or transmitted sin has been
commonly held to favor the theory
which accounts for the origin of the human
soul per traducem (Tertullian,
Luther, Delitzsch), in opposition to that which
holds it to be due to the
creative power of God (Jerome, Augustine, Calvin, Beza,
Turretin). Kalisch thinks the
statement "Adam begat Seth in his own image '
decisive in favor of Traducianism, while Hodge affirms "it only asserts
that Seth
was like his father, and
sheds no light, on the mysterious process of generation
('Syst. Theol.,'
both sides of this
question. Vide Psalm 51:5 in favor
of Traducianism, and
Psalm 139:14-16; Jeremiah
1:5 in support of Creationism (cf. Martensen's
'Dogmatics,'
§ 74), though there is much force in the words of Augustine
"De re obscurissima disputatur, non adjuvantibus divinarum scripturarum
certis clarisque documentis." And
called his name - probably concurring in the
name selected by Eve (ch. 4:25)
- Seth - Appointed, placed, substituted; hence
compensation (ibid.). And
the days of Adam after he had begotten - literally,
his begetting - Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters.
"In that primitive
time the births did not rapidly follow each other - a fact which
had to indicate that his
having a posterity at all was conditioned by the ripeness
of his faith. At the same
time the lateness of paternity among these primeval men
may have been partly due to a
physical cause as well, "since in exact accordance
with the increasing degeneracy
and rankness of human life is there, in a literal
sense, the increase of a numerous
and wretched offspring" (Lange). And all the
days that Adam - not the whole tribe (Gatterer, vide Bohlen; cf. Balgarnie,
'Expositor,' vol. 8.),
"as in this case Enoch must have been taken to heaven with
his whole family" (Kalisch); but the individual bearing that name - lived
were
nine hundred and thirty years.
The remarkable longevity of the Macrobii has been
explained -
1. On the supposition of its non-authenticity.
(a) As
a purely mythical conception (Knobel, Bauer, Hartmann, Bohlen); which,
however,
may be safely rejected as an altogether inadequate hypothesis.
(b) As due to an error in the
traditional transmission of the genealogical registers,
several
names having fallen out, leaving their years to be reckoned to those that
remained
(Rosenmüller); but against this conjecture stands the
orderly succession
of
father and son through ten generations.
(c) As representing not the
lifetimes of individuals, but dynastic epochs (vide supra);
and
(d) as signifying lesser spaces
of time - e.g. three months (Hensler), or one month
(Raske)
- than solar years; but even Knobel
admits that "no shorter year have
the
Hebrews ever had than the period of a year's time."
2. On the basis of its
historic credibility; as attributable to:
(a) The original immortality with which man was
endowed, and which was
now
being frayed away by the inroads of sin (Kalisch).
(b) The superior piety and
intelligence of these early father's of the race
(Josephus, 'Antiq.,'
(c) The influence of the fruit
of the tree of life which, while in the garden, Adam ate
(Whately,
'Ency. Brit.,' eighth ed., Art. Christianity).
(d) The original vigor of their
physical constitutions, and the greater excellence of the
food
on which they lived (Willet). But if the first and second opinions are correct,
then
the Cainites should have died earlier than the Sethites, which there is no
reason
to believe they did; while the third is a pure conjecture (vide ch. 2:9),
and
the fourth may contain some degree of truth. We prefer to ascribe the
longevity
of these antediluvian men to a distinct exercise of grace on the part
of
God, who designed it to be:
(α) a proof
of the Divine clemency in suspending the penalty of sin;
(β) a symbol of that
immortality which had been recovered for men by
the
promise of the woman's seed; and
(γ) a medium of
transmission for the faith, for the benefit of both the Church
and
the world.
And he died. "The solemn toll of the
patriarchal funeral bell (Bonar). Its constant
recurrence at the close of
each biography proves the dominion of death from
Adam onward, as an
immutable law (Romans 5:12;
Baumgarten, Kefi, Lange);
"warns
us that death was not denounced in vain against men" (Calvin); "is a standing
demonstration of the effect
of disobedience" (Murphy); "was intended to show what
the condition of all mankind
was after Adam's fall (Willet). The expression is not
appended to the genealogical list
of the Fathers after the Flood, doubtless as
being then sufficiently
understood; and it is not said of the descendants of Cain
that they died, "as if the inheritance of the sons of God were not here
on earth,
but in
death, as the days of the deaths of martyrs are held in honor by the Church
as their
birthdays" (Wordsworth).
6 And Seth
lived an 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:
16And 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 an 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
(vs. 6-20) The lives of
the succeeding patriarchs are framed upon the model of this
Adamic biography, and do not
call for separate notice. The names of the next six
were:
·
Seth (v. 6; vide ch. 4:25);
·
Enos (v. 9; vide ibid. v.26);
·
Cainan, (v. 12) possession (Gesenius);
a child,
one begotten (Furst); a created
thing, a creature, a young man (Ewald);
possessor, or spearsman;
·
Mahalaleel, praise of God (Gesenius,
Furst, Murphy; v. 15);
·
Jared, descent (Gesenius); low ground, water,
or marching down
(Furst);going down (Murphy; v.
18);
·
Enoch, dedicated, initiated (v. 19; compare ch.
4:17)).
21 And Enoch
lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:
The dedicated and
initiated child grew up, like an Old Testament Timothy let
us hope, to possess,
illustrate, and proclaim the piety which was the
distinguishing characteristic
of the holy line. At the comparatively early
age of sixty-five he begat ("forbidding
to marry" being unknown then) Methuselah.
Man of a dart (Gesenius), man of military arms (Furst),
man of the missile
(Murphy), man of the
sending forth - sc. of water (Wordsworth), man
of growth (Delitzsch).
22 And Enoch
walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years,
and begat sons
and daughters: And Enoch walked with God (Elohim). The phrase,
used also of Noah, (ch. 6:9), and by Micah (Micah 6:8. Compare the
similar
expressions, "to walk before God," Genesis 17:1; Psalm 116:9, and "to
walk
after God," Deuteronomy 13:4; Ephesians 5:1), portrays a
life of singularly
elevated piety; not merely a
constant realization of the Divine presence,
or even a perpetual effort
at holy obedience, but also "a maintenance of the
most confidential intercourse
with the personal God (Keil). It implies a
situation of nearness to
God, if not in place at least in spirit; a character
of likeness to
God (Amos 3:3), and a life of converse with God. Following
the Septuagint (εὐηρὲστησε δὲ
Ἐνὼχ τῷ
θεῷ - euaerestaese de Enoch to Theo),
the writer to the Hebrews
describes it as a life that was "pleasing to
God,"
as springing from the root
of faith (Hebrews 11:5).
Yet though pre-eminently
spiritual and contemplative, Jude
tells us (1:14-15) the patriarch’s life had its
active and aggressive
outlook towards the evil times in which he lived.
After he begat Methuselah. "Which
intimates that he did not begin to be
eminent for piety till about that
time; at first he walked as other men' (Henry).
Procopius Gazeus
goes beyond this, and thinks that before his son's birth
Enoch was "a wicked
liver," but then repented. The historian's language,
however, does not necessarily
imply that his piety was so late in commencing
and it is more pleasing to
think that from his youth upwards he was "as a shining
star for virtue and holiness
(Willet). Three hundred years. As his
piety began early,
so likewise did it continue long; it was not intermittent
and fluctuating, but
steadfast and persevering (Job 17:9; Proverbs 4:18; 1 Corinthians 15:58).
And begat sons and daughters. "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" (Peele). And
all the days of
Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. "A year of
years" (Henry);
"the
same period as that of the revolution of the earth round the sun. After
he had
finished his course, revolving round him who is the true light, which
is God, in
the orbit of duty, he was approved by God, and taken to Him"
(Wordsworth). Modern
critics have discovered in the age of Enoch traces of a
mythical origin. They conclude the
entire list of names to be not older than the
time of the Babylonian Nabonassar, and believe it to be not improbable that
"the
Babylonians regulated the calendar with the assistance of an Indian
astrologer or ganaka (arithmetician) of
the town of
But "it would be
strange indeed if just in the life of Enoch, which represents
the purest and sublimest unity with God, a heathen and astrological
element
were intentionally
introduced;" and, besides, "it is almost generally admitted
that our list contains no
astronomical numbers that the years which it specifies
refer to the lives of
individuals, not to periods of the world; and that none of
all these figures is in any
way reducible "to a chronological, system" (Kalisch).
And Enoch walked with God. "Non otiosa ταυτολογία,"
but an emphatic repetition,
indicative of the ground of what
follows. And he was not. Literally, and
not he
(compare
ch. 12:36; Jeremiah 31:15; καὶ οὐχ
εὐρίσκετο - kai ouch eurisketo -
and was not
found - Septuagint.).
"Not absolutely he was not, but relatively
he was not extant in the sphere of sense." "Non amplius inter mortales
apparuit"
(Rosenmüller).
"If this phrase does not denote annihilation, much less does
the phrase "and he died."
The one denotes absence from the world of sense,
and the other indicates the
ordinary way in which the soul departs from this
world" (Murphy). For God (Elohim) took him. Compare. II Kings 2:3, 5, 9-10,
where the same word לָקַח is used of Elijah's
translation; ὁτι μετέθηκεν αὐτὸν
ὁ θέος-
hoti metethaeken auton
ho Theos - CHANGE-PLACE-ed
Lit:"place/put/lay-with", hence transfer,
change-place, slip.
Septuagint). Though the writer to the
Hebrews (Genesis 11:5)
adopts the
paraphrase of the Septuagint, yet
his language must be accepted as conveying
the exact sense of the words of Moses. Analyzed, it teaches
(1) that the patriarch Enoch did not see death, as did all the
other worthies in the
catalogue; and:
(2) that in some mysterious way "he was taken
up from this temporal life and
transfigured
into life eternal, as those of the faithful will be who shall be alive
at the coming of Christ to judgment" (Keil). The case of Elijah, who was also
taken up, and
who afterwards appeared in glory on the mount of transfiguration
(Matthew 17; Mark 9; Luke 9.), appears to
determine the locality into which Enoch
was
translated (which Kaliseh willingly leaves to
antiquaries to decide) to be neither
the
terrestrial Eden (certain Popish writers) nor the heavenly paradise where the
pious
dead are now
assembled - sheol (Delitzsch
and Lange), but the realm of celestial glory
(Keil). That the departure of the good man was witnessed by his contemporaries
we may infer
from what occurred in the case of Elijah; and, indeed, unless it had
been so it is
difficult to see how it could have served the end for which apparently
it was
designed, which was not solely to reward Enoch's piety, but to
demonstrate
the certainty and to stimulate
the hope of immortality. That the memory of an
event so
remarkable should have survived not merely in Jewish (Ecclesiasticus
44:16)
and
Christian tradition (Jude 1:15),
but also in heathen fable, is nothing marvelous.
The Book of Enoch, compiled probably by a Jew in the days of Herod the
Great,
describes the
patriarch as exhorting, his son Methuselah and all his contemporaries
to reform
their evil ways; as penetrating with his prophetic eye into the remote future,
and
exploring all mysteries in earth and heaven; as passing a retired life after
the birth
of his
eldest son in interaction with the angels and in meditation on Divine matters;
and as at
length being translated to heaven in order to reappear in the time of
the Messiah, leaving
behind him a number, of writings on religion and morality.
The Book of Jubilees relates that he was carried into paradise, where
he writes down
the judgment
of all men, their wickedness and eternal punishment" (Kalisch).
Arabic
legend declares
him to have been the inventor of writing and arithmetic. The Phrygian
sagsannacus (Ἀνακος: "nomen detortum ab Chanoch") is said by Stephanus Byzantinus,
and Suidas, who corrupts the name into Nannacus,
to have lived before the flood
of Deucalion, to have attained an age of more than 300 years, to have foreseen the
flood, gathered
all the people into a temple and made supplication to God, and finally
to have been
translated into heaven. "Classical writers also mention such
translations
into heaven;
they assign this distinction among others to Hercules, to Ganymede,
and to Romutus (54:1:16: "nec deinde in terris fuit"). But it was awarded to them
either for
their valor or their physical beauty, and not, as the translation of Enoch, for
"a pious and religious life." Nor is "the idea of a translation to
heaven limited to the
old world;
it was familiar to the tribes of Central America; the chronicles of
record four
progenitors of mankind who were suddenly raised to heaven; and the
documents add that
those first men came to
from the
East" (cf. Rosenmüller and Kalisch,
in loco).
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.
Enoch (vs. 22-24)
I. THE CHARACTER OF HIS PIETY.
1. Walking with God.
2. Witnessing for God.
II. THE EXCELLENCE OF HIS PIETY
1. It began in early boyhood.
2. It flourished in evil times.
3. It grew in spite of scanty privileges.
4. It continued to the close of life.
III. The REWARD OF ENOCH’S PIETY. He was translated that he
should not see death.
1. A visible proof of immortality:
2. A solemn confirmation of the gospel.
3. A striking prophecy of Christ’s ascension.
A Great
Example and a Great Reward (v. 24)
Notice the three distinctions in this
patriarchal prophet.
I. HIS DISTINGUISHED PIETY.
·
walking
with God;
·
faith
giving him knowledge,
·
confidence
in God, AND
·
enjoyment of
God.
II. HIS COMPAREITIVELY SHORT LIFE, and therefore speedy deliverance
from the imperfection and suffering of this
world, though his son lived the
longest antediluvian life, and perhaps was a
disciple of his father, teaching
his doctrine. Those who “initiate” (Enoch) great
moral movements are
seldom long-lived men.
III. HIS DISTINGUISHED
END — translation. God took him because He
loved him. The anticipation of the resurrection
was itself a prophecy. The
seventh from Adam is
taken to heaven without death, though all the rest died,
however long they lived, as though to vivify the
promise of the redeeming
seed. It seems better to supply the word “died”
rather than “was.” “And he
died not; for God
took him” — referring
to the common formula of the
patriarchal history, “and he died.” Walking with God is walking to God.
Those who are like Enoch in their life will
not be very different from him in
their end; for the peace and triumph of a good man’s
end is little short of
translation. The first of the prophets is thus
gloriously signalized. Was it
not like a
special blessing from the beginning of the world on the life of
consecrated ministration to God? Walking with God may be the
description of any kind of service, but especially of
the prophets.”
(vs. 25-32)
25 And
Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech.
The shortest life was
followed by the longest, Methuselah begetting, at the advanced
age of 187, Lamech, - strong or young man (Gesenius);
overthrower, wild man (Furst);
man of, prayer (Murphy), - continuing after
his son s birth 782 years, and at last
succumbing to the stroke
of death in the 969th year of his age, the year
of the Flood. Lamech, by whom the
line was carried forward, was similarly
far advanced when he begat a
son, at the age of 182, and called his name Noah, -
"rest,"
from nuach, to rest (compare ch. 8:4)
- not "The Sailor," from the Latin
no, and the Greek ναῦς - naus - (Bohlen),
but at the same time explaining it
by saying, This same
shall comfort - na-cham, to pant, groan, Piel
to comfort.
"Nuach and nacham are stems not
immediately connected, but they both
point back to a common
root, nch, signifying to sigh,
breathe, rest, lie down"
(Murphy) - us concerning our work and toil of our hands. To say that Lamech
anticipated nothing more than that
the youthful Noah would assist him in the
cultivation of the soil (Murphy) is
to put too little into, and to allege that"
this prophecy his father
uttered of him, as he that should be a figure
of Christ in his building of
the ark, and offering of sacrifice, whereby God
smelled a sweet savor of rest,
and said he would not curse the ground
any more for man's
sake, Genesis 8:21"
(Ainsworth), is to extract too much
from his language. Possibly he
had nothing but a dim, vague expectation of
some good thing - the
destruction of sinners in the Flood (Chrysostom),
the use of the plough (R.
Solomon), the grant of animal food (Kalisch),
the invention of the arts and
implements of husbandry (Sherlock, Bush) -
that God was about to bestow
upon his weary heritage; or at most a hope that
the promise would be
fulfilled in his son s day (Bonar), if not in his son himself
(Calovius).
The fulfillment of that promise he connects with a recall of the
penal curse which Jehovah had
pronounced upon the soil. Because of the
ground which the Lord - Jehovah, by whom the curse had been pronounced
(ch. 3:17) - hath cursed. The clause
is not a Jehovistic interpolation
(Bleek,
Davidson, Colenso), but a proof "that the Elohistic theory is unfounded"
('Speaker's
Commentary').
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.
28 And Lamech lived an 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. And
Noah was five hundred years old. Literally, a son of 500
years, i.e. going in his 500th
year (compare ch. 7:6; ; 16:1). The son of a year
(Exodus 12:5) means "strictly
within the first year of the life" (Ainsworth).
And Noah begat - i.e. began to beget (compare ch. 11:26)
- Shem, - name
(Gesenius), fame (Furst) - Ham, - chain; hot (Gesenius,
Murphy), dark-
colored (Furst) - and Japheth - spreading
(Gesenius, Murphy); beautiful,
denoting the white-colored race (Furst). That the
sons are mentioned in
the order of their ages (Knobel, Kalisch, Keil, Colenso) may seem to be deducible:
(1) from
the fact that they usually stand in this order (compare; ch. 7:13; 9:18; 10:1;
1 Chronicles 1:4);
(2) from the circumstance that
it is commonly the eldest son's birth which is stated in
the preceding
list, though this is open to doubt;
(3) from ch. 10:21,
which, according to Calvin, Knobel, Keil, and others, describes
Shem as Japheth's elder brother; and ch. 9:24,
which, according to Keil, affirms
Ham to be the younger son of Noah;
(4) from ch. 10:2-31,
in which the order is reversed, but not otherwise altered.
But there is reason to believe that
Japheth was the eldest and Ham the
youngest of the
patriarch's children (Michaelis, Clarke, Murphy,
Wordsworth,
Quarry).
According to ch. 11:10 Shem was born 97 years before the
Flood,
while (ch. 6:11)
Noah was 600 years old at the time of the Flood. Hence,
if Noah began to
beget children in his 500th year, and Shem was born in Noah's
503rd year, the probability is that the
firstborn son was Japheth. In accordance
with this Genesis 10:21 is
understood by Septuagint, Vulgate, Michaelis,
Lange, Quarry, and
others to assert the priority in respect of age of Japheth.
In the narrative Shem is placed first as
being spiritually, though not physically,
the firstborn. Ranke perceives in the mention of the three sons an
indication
that each was
subsequently "to lay the foundation of a new beginning."
THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN.
The chronology of the present chapter represents
man as having been in
existence at the time of the Deluge
exactly 1656 years. According to the
Septuagint, which Josephus follows except in one
particular (the age of
Lamech), and which proceeds,
again with two exceptions (the age of Jared,
which it leaves untouched, and
that of Lamech, which it increases by six),
upon the principle of adding
100 to the Hebrew numbers, the age of man
at the date of that
catastrophe was 2262 (vide Chronological Table
below).
The dates of the Samaritan Pentateuch, being
manifestly incorrect, need
not be considered. Adding to
the above dates the subsequent chronological
periods from the Deluge to the
call of Abram (Hebrew, 367; Septuagint,
1017), from the call of Abram to the exodus from
according to one calculation,
Septuagint; 730 according to another,
Kalisch), from the exodus to the
birth of Christ (1645, Hales; 1593,
of man, according to the
Biblical account, is not less than 5652 and
not more than 7536 years. The
conclusion thus reached, however,
is somewhat scornfully
repudiated by modern science, as affording,
on either alternative, an
altogether inadequate term of existence for
the human race.
1. The
evidence of geology is supposed irrefragably to attest that man must
have been
upon the earth at least 1000 centuries, and probably ten times as
long (Wallace
on 'Natural Selection,' p. 303). The data for this deduction,
as stated
by Sir Charles Lyell, are chiefly the discovery, in
recent and post
Pliocene formations of alleged
great antiquity, of fossil human remains
and flint
implements along with bones of the mammoth and other animals \
long since
extinct ('Antiquity of Man,' Genesis 1.
- 19.). But:
(a) "So
far as research has been prosecuted in the different
quarters of the globe, no remains of man or of his works
have
been discovered till we come to the lake-silts, the
peat-mosses,
the river-gravels, and the cave-earths of the post-tertiary
period,"
which seems at least an indirect confirmation of the
Biblical record.
(b) "The tree canoes, stone hatchets, flint implements,
and occasional
fragments of the human skeleton," upon which so much is
based, "have been
chiefly discovered within the limited area of Southern and
Western
while "we have scarcely any information from the
corresponding deposits
of other regions;" consequently, "till these other
regions shall have been
examined - and especially
civilization in
man's first appearance on the globe."
(c) "It is true that the antiquity of some of the
containing deposits, especially
the river drifts, is open to question, and it is also quite
possible that the
remains of the extinct quadrupeds may in some instances have
been
reasserted from older accumulations."
(d) "Historically we have no means of arriving at the age
of these deposits;
geologically we can only approximate the time by comparison with
existing
operations; while palaeontologically
- the differences between these extinct
pachyderms and those still existing are not greater than
that which appears
between the several living species, and would therefore
indicate no great
palaeontological antiquity -
nothing that may not have taken place within a
few thousand years of the ordinarily received
chronology" (Page on 'The
Philosophy of Geology,' Genesis 12. pp.
114-117). With these undesigned
replies from a late eminent authority in geological science,
the Bible student
will do well to pause before displacing the
currently-received age of man by the
fabulous duration claimed for him by the first-named
writers. (Not bad for
something written two to three centurries
ago - CY - 2024)
The
Antediluvian Saints (vs. 1-32)
I. DESCENDANTS OF ADAM. As
such they were:
1. A sinful race. Adam’s son Seth was begotten in his father’s image.
Though still
retaining the Divine image (1 Corinthians 11:7) as to
nature, in respect of purity man has lost it.
Inexplicable as the mystery is of
inherited corruption, it is still a fact that the moral
deterioration of the head
of the human family has transmitted itself to all the
members. The doctrine
of human depravity, however unpleasant and
humbling to carnal pride, is
asserted in Scripture (see ch.
6:5, 12; 8:21; Job
15:14; 25:4; Psalm 14:2-3; 51:5;
Isaiah 53:6; Romans
3:28), implied
in the universal prevalence of sin and
death (Romans 5:12-21), assumed in the doctrines of regeneration, which
is declared to be necessary absolutely and universally (John 3:3), and
redemption, of which one part of the design was
to deliver men from the
power as well as guilt of sin (Ephesians 5:25-27; Titus 2:14; Hebrews
9:12-14; 13:12),
and abundantly confirmed by experience, which testifies that
“the wicked are estranged from the womb, and go astray as
soon as they be
born, speaking lies” (Psalm 58:3).
2. A
long-lived race. Whether
their remarkable longevity was due to the
original vigor of the primus homo, or to the
influence of the tree of life, or
to the eminency of the Sethites’
piety, it was:
(a) A great
privilege,
affording to themselves ample opportunity for self-
cultivation and family training; to the world’s
enlarged facilities for
advancement
in intelligence and civilization; and to the Church the means
of transmitting truth from. age to age, and of drawing more closely
together
the bonds of religious communion.
(b) An
unexpected privilege. Upon the mind and heart of Adam in
particular it must have come with much surprise to
find that life, which had
been forfeited by sin, prolonged to well-nigh a
millennium of years; and this
impression, though perhaps it might become less as
patriarch succeeded
patriarch, would not, we think, entirely disappear.
And so let us hope they
came to recognize it as:
(c) a gracious privilege, due not to any secondary
cause whatsoever, but
primarily
and solely to the infinite mercy of God, who had given them the
promise of a Woman’s seed to sustain their faith and
hope. And as such
also
(d) a suggestive privilege,
emblematic of the immortality they had lost by
sin, but received again through grace.
3. A dying race. Though
a sinful, they were yet a pardoned race; but
though a pardoned, they were yet a mortal race. A portion of the original
penalty remains to remind man of his past history
and present condition;
and so although the Sethites
“lived many hundred years, yet none of them
filled up a thousand, lest they should have too
much flattered themselves in
long life; and seeing a thousand is a number of
perfection, God would have
none of them to attain to a thousand, that we
might know that nothing is
perfect here” (Willet).
II. MEMBERS OF THE
CHURCH Or GOD. Great as was the former
distinction, it is completely eclipsed by this. It is a great
thing to be born,
but a greater to be born again. To be in God’s world is much, to be in
God’s Church is
more. To be of the line of Adam by nature is questionable
honor, to be of Adam’s line by grace is
unquestionable glory.
These ten
names from Adam to Noah represent the leaders of
the
the primeval age of the world. Whether
distinguished by rare talent, great
wealth, or high position, whether they invented
arts, built cities and
composed hymns like the Cainites,
is not said. Their chief
distinction lay in:
—
1. Their possession of faith in God. Not perhaps all with the
same tenacity,
but all with the same reality, they clung to the promise
of the woman’s
seed. This it was which made them members of the
antediluvian Church.
Without faith it is impossible to please God
(Hebrews
11:6).
2. Their observance of religious worship. From the beginning of the
world
the practice of sacrificial worship was maintained by
believers. For two
generations it appears to have been private rather
than public in its
character. In the days of Enos,
according to one of the interpretations of
ch. 4:26, the Sethites
began to worship God in social assemblies,
as a means at once of fostering their own piety and
of defending
themselves against the rising tide of ungodliness; and we
cannot doubt the
godly practice
would continue
till the number of believers
became so small
that Noah could discover no one of like heart
and spirit with himself to
participate in his devotions.
3. Their nonconformity to the world. According to another
reading of
ch. 4:26, in the third generation the
holy seed began to make
clearer
and more distinct the lines of demarcation between themselves and
the Cainites
by calling themselves by the name of Jehovah, i.e. by adopting
to themselves the appellation of the worshippers of
the Lord. The fact that
“the sons of God” are mentioned in ch.6:1 lends a sanction to this
view. If it was so, doubtless the assumption of this
particular title was only
a sign or symptom of a great religious
movement that began to effect the
age, — a movement of separation
in heart and life from the unbelievers of
the
time, —
and that with a greater or lesser intensity perpetuated itself
through each successive generation, not even dying ‘away when there was
only one man to be affected by it.
4. Their witness-bearing against the wickedness of the ungodly world.
This
comes out not indeed here, but in other Scriptures, in
connection with two
patriarchs, Enoch and Noah; the first of whom
prophesied of the coming of
the Lord (Jude 1:14), and the second of whom was a
preacher of
righteousness to the men of his generation (II Peter
2:5); and what was
true of them was doubtless characteristic in a measure
of them all. They
were unquestionably prophets, priests, and kings in
their families and in
relation to their contemporaries.
5. Their eminently godly lives. As much as this is
implied in what has been
already said. But of two of them it is distinctly stated
that they walked with
God:
of Enoch, that before his translation he had this testimony, that he
pleased
God; and
of Noah, that he was a perfect man and an upright; and
though not perhaps entitled to say that all of them
lived at the same
spiritual elevation as did those two fathers, yet we
are fairly warranted to
conclude that all of them maintained a holy walk and
conversation IN
A
RAPIDLY DETERIORATING AGE!
III. PROGENITORS OF
THE PROMISED SEED. This
was the chief
distinction of these saintly men, and the real reason
why their names and
ages have been so carefully preserved to the
links in the chain leading on to the woman’s
seed. So to speak, they were
the ten first heralds sent out to proclaim the
approach of the king; the ten
first shadows or adumbrations of the great
Prophet, Priest, and King to
whom the faith of the Church was looking
forward. True, it is not much
that we know about them beyond their names, and
certainly there is
considerable vagueness and uncertainty about their
import; but still,
accepting those meanings which have the greatest
probability in their favor,
it is interesting to note how they all
indicate points of character or features
of history which met in Christ.
·
Adam we know was a prophecy of Christ, the
second Adam,
in more than his
name (1 Corinthians 15:45).
·
Abel, the first martyr, prefigured him m dying
by a brother’s hand.
·
Seth, the Substituted One, was a shadow of Him
who took our
room and stead (Romans
5:8);
·
Enos, the Frail
One, of Him who, as to his human nature,
was as “a
tender plant, and a root out of a dry ground” (Isaiah 53:2);
·
Cainan, Possession, of Him who was the gift of God
(II Corinthians
9:15).
·
Mahalaleel, Praise of God, of Him who “was
not ashamed to call us
brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren,
in the
midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee” (Hebrews 2:11-12);
·
Jared, Descent, of Him who came down from heaven (John 6:38);
·
Enoch, the dedicated and instructed child who
walked with God,
and was
translated that he should not see death, of Him who for His
people “sanctified Himself” (John 17:19), “in
whom were hid all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge’
(Colossians 2:3), who
with regard to His Father could say, “I
do always those things
that please Him” (John 8:29), and who, after accomplishing
His
Divine mission
on the earth, was received up into glory (Acts 1:11);
·
Methuselah, Man of the Dart, of him of whom the royal
psalmist
sang,
“Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s
enemies”(Psalm
45:5);
·
Lamech, Strong Youth, of the strong One whom David
saw in
vision raised up for
·
Noah,
Rest, of him in whose sacrifice God smelled a sweet savor of rest
(Ephesians 5:2).
LESSONS:
1. As
descendants of Adam, let us remember we are sinners, and,
repenting, believe the gospel; let us measure our
days, and,
observing their shortness, apply our hearts unto
wisdom;
let us think of our mortality, and prepare for
the narrow house
appointed for all the living.
2. As
members of the
distinguished these antediluvian saints?
3. As the spiritual posterity of Jesus Christ,
do we reflect him as his
progenitors foreshadowed him?
Walking
with God (v. 24)
The whole chapter is a reproof of the
restless ambitions of men. Of these long
lives the only record is a name, and
the fact, “he died.” The moral of the whole,
“...
for dust thou art, and unto dust shall thou return.” (ch. 3:19; compare
1 Corinthians 15:50). Yet there is a link
between life here and life above.
Enoch was translated (Hebrews 11:5). The living man passed into the presence
of God. How, we need not care to know. But we know
why. He
“walked with
God.” Who would not covet this? Yet it may be ours. What then was that life?
Of its outward form we know nothing. But the
same expression (ch. 6:9) tells
us that Noah’s was such. Also Abraham’s, “the
friend of God” (ch. 17:1);
and
with the Father” not for himself only (compae John 14:23).
I. THE ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF A WALK WITH GOD. It is not a life of
austerity or of contemplation, removed from
interests or cares of world.
Noah’s was not; nor Abraham’s. Nor a life without fault. Elijah was “of
like passions as we are” (James 5:17) and David; and
“If
we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not
in us.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not
sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in
us.” 1 John 1:8-10).
1. It is
a life of faith, i.e. a life in which the word of God is a real power.
Mark in Hebrews
11. how faith worked in different circumstances. To walk
with God is to trust Him as a child trusts; from belief of his
fatherhood,
and that He is true. With texts before us such as John 3:16; 1 John 1:9;
2:2, why are any
not rejoicing? Or with such as John 4:10 “If thou knewest
the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou
wouldest have
asked of Him and He would have given thee living water.”
and
Luke 11:13 - “If ye then, being evil, know how
to give good gifts unto
your children , how much more shalt your heavenly Father give the
Holy Spirit to them that ask Him.?” Why are any not asking and
receiving to the full? God puts no hindrance - “Behold, I stand at
the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door,
I will come in to him and will sup with him,
and he with me.”
(Revelation
3:20). But:
(a) too often men do not care. To
walk with God is of less importance
than to be admired of men.
(b) If they do care, they
often will not take God’s way. The simple message
(II
Corinthians 5:20; 1 John 5:11) seems too simple.
They look for
feelings, instead of setting God’s message before them and
grasping it.
2. To
walk with God implies desire and effort for the good of men. In an
ungodly world Enoch proclaimed the coming judgment
(Jude 1:14; compare
Acts
24:25). Spiritual
selfishness is often a snare to those who have
escaped the snare of the world. It is not the mind
of Christ. It springs from
weakness of faith. Knowing the gift so dearly
purchased, so freely offered
to all, our calling is to persuade men. Not
necessarily as teachers
(James
1:19), but by intercession and by loving influence.
III. ENOCH WAS TRANSLATED. But apostles and saints died. Yet
think not that their walk with God was less
blessed. Hear our Lord’s words
“And
whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never
die. Believeth
thou this?”(John 11:26), and
hath abolished death, and hath brought life and
immortality to light
through the gospel.” (II Timothy 1:10). Hear the apostle’s
desire (Philippians 1:23). Enoch walked with God
on earth, and the
communion was carried on above. Is not this our
Savior’s promise?
(John 14:21-23; 17:24). Death is not the
putting off that which is
corruptible; it is separation from the Lord. Assured that we
are His forever,
we may say, “O death, where is thy sting? O
grave, where is thy victory?”
(I Corinthians 15:55)
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