The Book of Genesis, Chapter 5

Genesis 5:1-32

Summary

The first sentence of this chapter is "This is a list of the descendants of Adam" (Gen 5:1), and the chapter is exactly what it says on the tin.

Commentary

I've got a feeling this is going to be a pretty short post, so if I write this up in under half an hour, I'll make up one of the days I missed with an extra chapter today.

The first few verses reiterate that humankind was made in the likeness of God, and was created to be both male and female. I personally like this, because if you read it with the right thoughts in mind, it could mean that God is both male and female. I personally tend to the interpretation that God transcends gender and sex.

The next few verses describe a few facts about Adam, notably that he became the father of Seth at youthful age of one hundred and thirty. Say what you will about my use of the word "youthful", because after this Adam lived another eight hundred years. After these nine hundred and thirty years, he died.

There's also a very interesting phrase used in reference to Adam as the father of Seth,

"When Adam had lived for one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth." (Gen 5:3)

I find this interesting because it's almost the same as a passage from the first chapter,

"So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." (Gen 1:27)

Adam's experience is referred to in the passive voice, he becomes the father of Seth, whereas God actively creates humanity. I find an interesting separation between humanity and God here, but maybe I'm reading a lot into a little passage where similar words were used merely for effect.

Regardless, the discussion of image that came about in the post on the first chapter still applies here. This passage could be a primitive attempt to explain why human children look like their parents, or a subtle discussion of the tendency of parents to imprint more than physical attributes on their children.

I have to admit this at some point, and this is a good a point as any: I am enjoying this process greatly. It's an amazing piece of writing that can make me think and write at such great length over a passage a sentence or two long. Anyway, back to Seth.

Seth became the father of Enosh at the age of a hundred and five, had other sons and daughters (none of whom were worth mentioning by name?), lived for another eight hundred and seven years, and died at the age of nine hundred and twelve.

This pattern continues a few times, almost word for word with various names and ages plugged in, until we get to Enoch, the son of Jared. This quick description of his ages at points in his life is the same, but there's also a declaration that

"Enoch walked with God for three hundred years after the birth of Methuselah" (Gen 5:22)

Not only that, but God took Enoch after three hundred years, making him "no more". The word choice here is very important, because it's different from all of the rest. With each blurb on these people, the words "and he died" come right at the end. Not so with Enoch. The final sentence about Enoch reads

"Enoch walked with God; then he was no more because God took him." (Gen 5:24)

We may have the first hint of people going to heaven right here. If there had been various euphemisms for death sprinkled throughout the chapter, I wouldn't have seized on this one here, but this is the only one that's different.

Enoch's son Methuselah had a son, and Methuselah's son's name was Lamech. Does that name sound familiar? It should. It's mentioned in chapter four, but in that chapter he's a descendant of Cain, not Seth. This marks for me an interesting difference, of competing claims to Lamech. It's possible that each family named a descendant Lamech, but I'd have to know how common a name it would have been.

As I consider it, I think I like that interpretation. Cain's Lamech was responsible for the sons Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-Cain. On the other side, Seth's Lamech was responsible for a somewhat better-known guy named Noah, who was, according to Lamech, supposed to "bring [them] relief from [their] and from the toil of [their] hands" (Gen 5:29).

Ouch. I mean, I suppose technically drowning would release you from your work, but talk about a twisted fullfilment of prophecy. But I'm skipping ahead.

In true genealogical fashion, the chapter ends by telling us that Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth