Genesis 5:5

_AND ALL THE DAYS THAT ADAM LIVED WERE NINE HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS: AND HE DIED._ All the days that Adam lived. What vicissitudes must the personal history of Adam have comprised! What a momentous change from a state of unalloyed happiness to a condition of labour and varied suffering! and how frequently must the painful reflection have embittered his life, that all the errors and crimes, the misery and death, which he witnessed among his posterity, were the consequences of his own unhappy transgression of the Creator's easy law. But he is ranked in the list of antediluvian saints; and therefore the conclusion may be reasonably drawn, that he had happily repented, and believed the Gospel which was preached to him (Hebrews 6:2). AND HE DIED. This event, with the announcement of which the notice of each of these antediluvian patriarchs is closed, is the more rema

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....

1-5 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....

- Section V - The Line to Noah - The Line of Sheth 1. ספר _s__e__pher_ “writing, a writing, a book.” 9. קינן _qēynān_, Qenan, “possessor, or spearsman.” 12. מהללאל mahelal'ēl, Mahalalel, “praise of ‘El.” 15. ירד _yerĕd_, Jered, “going down.” 21. מתוּשׁלה _m__e__tûshālach_, Methushelach, “man of the missile.” 29. נה _noach_, Noach, “rest,” נחם _nācham_ “sigh; repent; pity; comfort onesel

§ 3. THE GENERATIONS OF ADAM (CH. 5:1-6:8) EXPOSITION The present section carries forward the inspired narrative another stage, in which the onward progress or development of the human race is traced, in the holy line of Seth, from the day of Adam's creation, through ten successive generations, till the point is reached when the first great experiment of attempting to save man by clemency rather than by punishment is brought to a termination, and Jehovah, whose mercy has been spurned and abused, determines to destroy the impenitent transgressors. First, in brief and somewhat monotonous outline, the lives of the ten patriarchs are sketched, scarcely more being recorded of them than simply that they were born, grew to manhood, married wives, begat children, and then died. In only two instances does the history diverge from this severely simple style of biographical narration, namely, in t...

AND ALL THE DAYS THAT ADAM LIVED WERE NINE HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS,.... Not lunar years, as Varro d, but solar years, which consisted of three hundred and sixty five days and odd hours, and such were in use among the Egyptians in the times of Moses; and of these must be the age of Adam, and of his posterity in this chapter, and of other patriarchs in this book; or otherwise, some must be said to beget children at an age unfit for it, particularly Enoch, who must beget a son in the sixth year of his age; and the lives of some of them must be very short, even shorter than ours, as Abraham and others; and the time between the creation and the deluge could not be two hundred years: but this long life of the antediluvians, according to the Scripture account, is confirmed by the testimony of many Heathen writers, who affirm that the ancients lived a thousand years, as many of them did, pretty...

III. THE BOOK OF THE GENERATIONS OF ADAM CHAPTER 5 Adam and His Seed Through Seth _ 1. Adam (Genesis 5:1)_ 2. Seth (Genesis 5:6) 3. Enos (Genesis 5:9) 4. Cainan (Genesis 5:12) 5. Mahalaleel (Genesis 5:15) 6. Jared (Genesis 5:18) 7. Enoch (Genesis 5:21) 8. Methuselah ...

Sethite Genealogy of Antediluvians. With the exception of Genesis 5:29 this comes from P, as is clear from the style, each statement being cast in the same mould, and the whole forming a mere catalogue of names and dates. There is a striking divergence between the Heb., Sam., and LXX figures, the period from the Creation to the Flood being reckoned as 1656, 1307, and 2242 (a variant yields 2262) years respectively. THE question is very complex; here the editor's view must be stated without discussion. The LXX may be set aside; the Sam. is probably to be preferred to the Heb. since the latter shows signs of artificiality and because it can be more readily explained from the Sam. than _vice versa._ The Sam. represents Jared, Methuselah, and Lamech as dying in the year of the Flood, and since this occurs early in the year the suggestion is that they perished in it. The Heb. presumably is an

AND ALL THE DAYS—WERE NINE HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS— Nothing is more remarkable than the longevity of those who lived before the flood: a matter which has exercised the thoughts and employed the pens of many: some wholly denying the fact, and insisting that not solar, but lunar years are meant; an absurdity which carries its own conviction, because thus the lives of this first generation would scarcely equal ours, while they must have themselves begotten children at the age of childhood. Others have been very solicitous to account for the fact itself; a matter, in my judgment, of little moment, and perhaps impossible to be attained satisfactorily. However, calm and settled seasons, strong original stamina, and temperate living, have with good shew of reason been urged. Perhaps we shall find nothing more rational on the subject than what Josephus offers: "They were beloved of God, and new...

3. _The Generations of Adam from Seth to Enoch_ (Genesis 5:1-20). _1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. 2 In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; 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 begat Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters._ 5 _And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty yean: and he died._ 6 And Seth lived a hundred and five years, and begat Enosh: 7 and Seth lived after he begat Enosh 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 Enosh lived ninet