Genesis 5

Today’s Passage: Genesis 5

Chapter 5 looks like a list of names, and it is one. Stay with it anyway. A man lives, he has a son, he lives some more, and then he died. Adam. Seth. Enosh. Kenan. Mahalalel. Jared. You will hear that ending until it is almost too much. Death keeps repeating. Then one name breaks the line. Enoch walked with God. After that the same ending starts again, all the way to Noah.

As you read, hold this: Death keeps repeating. Then Enoch walked with God.

Genesis 5:1–5 (BSB)

¹ This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in His own likeness. ² Male and female He created them, and He blessed them. And in the day they were created, He called them “man.” ³ When Adam was 130 years old, he had a son in his own likeness, after his own image; and he named him Seth. ⁴ And after he had become the father of Seth, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. ⁵ So Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.

Adam dies. The first man does not get a special exemption. You see the image of God and the sentence of death in the same paragraph. Both are true. God made him, and He blessed them. Then Adam lived 930 years, and then he died. Seth is born in Adam’s likeness, after Adam’s image. The line goes on. The grave goes on with it.

Genesis 5:6–20 (BSB)

⁶ When Seth was 105 years old, he became the father of Enosh. ⁷ And after he had become the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. ⁸ So Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.

⁹ When Enosh was 90 years old, he became the father of Kenan. ¹⁰ And after he had become the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹¹ So Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died.

¹² When Kenan was 70 years old, he became the father of Mahalalel. ¹³ And after he had become the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁴ So Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died.

¹⁵ When Mahalalel was 65 years old, he became the father of Jared. ¹⁶ And after he had become the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁷ So Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years, and then he died.

¹⁸ When Jared was 162 years old, he became the father of Enoch. ¹⁹ And after he had become the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁰ So Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died.

You keep meeting the same four words. Long life does not beat them. Seth lived 912 years, and then he died. Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, and Jared: each one has other sons and daughters, and each one still dies. Children are a mercy. They do not cancel the grave. The last chapter ended with men calling on the name of the LORD. That calling does not cancel the grave either. Death keeps repeating, and the weight of it builds before Enoch’s name finally arrives.

Genesis 5:21–24 (BSB)

²¹ When Enoch was 65 years old, he became the father of Methuselah. ²² And after he had become the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. ²³ So Enoch lived a total of 365 years. ²⁴ Enoch walked with God, and then he was no more, because God had taken him away.

Enoch has a son, Methuselah. His years will be the longest in the list. Even that life ends with the same four words. Walking (הָלַךְ) halak, pronounced hah-LAHK. Strong's H1980, to walk, to go. Enoch walked with God. You hear that twice. The rest of the list is walking toward a grave. Enoch walks with God, and then he is not there, because God took him.

Hebrews says he was taken up so that he did not see death, and that before he was taken he pleased God. God can interrupt the refrain. He does it here for one man. The list goes on, because the rest of us still need the Seed.

"By faith Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death: \u201cHe could not be found, because God had taken him away.\u201d For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God." Hebrews 11:5 (BSB)

Genesis 5:25–32 (BSB)

²⁵ When Methuselah was 187 years old, he became the father of Lamech. ²⁶ And after he had become the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁷ So Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died. ²⁸ When Lamech was 182 years old, he had a son. ²⁹ And he named him Noah, saying, “May this one comfort us in the labor and toil of our hands caused by the ground that the LORD has cursed.” ³⁰ And after he had become the father of Noah, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. ³¹ So Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died. ³² After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Lamech names his son Noah and says it out loud: the ground is cursed, the work is hard, may this one comfort us. He is still living in chapter 3. He hopes the next boy will ease what Adam’s sin made heavy. You can hear a father’s ache in that name. The list hands you Noah, then Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and then it stops. Next you will see why you needed that name.