Genesis 5:1-32

The Descendants of Adam to Noah

The purpose of the historian in giving the names and ages of the antediluvian Patriarchs was, no doubt, to show the glorious ancestry of the chosen race, and to account for the period between the Creation and the Flood. This, according to the Hebrews, was 1656 years. (See on Genesis 10:32.) Various attempts have been made to explain the great ages attributed to these Patriarchs, but they are purely conjectural, and the view now generally held is that the Hebrews, like all other ancient nations, had a tradition that the forefathers of the race were vastly longer lived than their descendants. The golden age of the Hebrew lay in the past; and he attributed in preeminent degree to his ancestors in these far-off days the blessing he valued most of all—length of days upon the earth.

The similarity of the lists of names in Genesis 4:5 has been discussed in a note on Genesis 4:17; Genesis 5 continues the narrative of the Priestly document which we met with in Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 2:4 a, as appears from (a) the recurrence of Genesis 1:27 in Genesis 5:1, (b) the phrase 'the generations of' characteristic of P (see on Genesis 2:4), (c) the divine name God, and (d) the formal statistical style of the chapter.