Tag: Adam

Patterns in the Ages

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Genesis is full of patterns that are intended to draw your attention; breaks in the repetition should make you stop and ask, “Why?”

Genesis 5 lists the ages in the generations between Adam and Noah, and a few stand out. The youngest, the oldest, and the one with the strange number.

Methuselah lived the longest – 969 years. His name is linked to his long life, which was not just for his benefit, but for the benefit of humanity as God restrained the Flood until after Methuselah died.

Enoch notably never died.

And Lamech? He shares a name with a notable man in Cain’s genealogy. Cain’s Lamech is man of seventy-seven-fold vengeance. But the Lamech of Genesis 5 goes down a different path. Not one of vengeance, but of Comfort.

From Adam to Noah (Visualized)

Posted on by jovial_cynic

It’s interesting to see the ages of the patriarchs graphed out. If we read Genesis 5 literally, Adam lived to see Noah’s father born.

I suppose the blessing here is that during Adam’s life, he does not see any of the promised lineage below him die. Not to say that nobody died (Cain did kill Abel, after all), but nobody in this specific genealogy dies before Adam.

Maybe that’s a story of hope.

Long Lives

Posted on by jovial_cynic
The Rabbis debate over the ages in Genesis 5 regarding whether or not the long lives were attributed to all humans prior to the flood, or if they pointed to the remarkable ages of the lineage from Adam to Noah.

There is reason for this. They look here:

Pharaoh asked him, “How old are you?”
And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.”
Genesis 47:8-9 (NIV)

A Hint of the Nephilim

Posted on by jovial_cynic

When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.
Genesis 5:3 (NASB)

Genesis 5 says his image about Seth, and nobody else.

The Rabbis wondered about this and suggest that Adam and Eve may have had other offspring after Cain and Abel, before Seth. These offspring were… different. Not like Adam. Something monstrous.

This points to the Nephilim in Genesis 6.

10s and 100s

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Something important is happening with the ages listed in Genesis 5.

With Adam, the Hebrew language descdribes his age as 900, and 30 years.

But for everyone else in the list of ages, the 10s and 100s are reversed: Seth lived 12, and 900 years. Enosh lived 5 and 900.

The next time we see the person’s age listed with the 100s first, it’s with Abraham.

One rabbinical teaching is that when an age is written 100s and then 10s, it means the last years of their lives were good and productive. So we seem to be told that God has redeemed Adam.

That doesn’t mean the rest are not redeemed, but specifically that God has compassion on Adam, the first of the lineage to die from the curse (from dust, to dust).

The Book

Posted on by jovial_cynic

This is the book of the generations of Adam. On the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.
Genesis 5:1 (NASB)

Genesis 5 starts out mentioning “the book of the generations of Adam.”

It’s the first time we see this word “book.”

It means “book” or “writing,” but it also means “missive” or “instructions.” Like a decree… or a Promise.

In His Image

Posted on by jovial_cynic

When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.
Genesis 5:3 (NIV)

We are told something specific about Adam and Seth that we aren’t told about the rest of the genealogy.

Before you say that the text “wouldn’t include any unnecessary repetition,” keep in mind that the whole chapter is repetition. The differences are meant to stand out.

To Know

Posted on by jovial_cynic
The fact that Genesis 4 opens up with “Adam KNEW his wife” is striking. Yes, this is the Hebrew way of saying sex, but the wording suggests that immediately prior to this chapter, Adam did not know Eve. Not really.

We read that “their eyes were open” in Genesis 3, but perhaps “seeing” does not mean “knowing.” It requires something more.

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.”
Genesis 4:1 (NKJV)

Adam’s Role

Posted on by jovial_cynic
In the Bible, the father is normally the person listed as naming the children, but it’s Eve who names both Cain and Abel in Genesis 3. Adam isn’t involved.

Eve names Seth, but in Genesis 5, the text says Adam does, so the implication may be that they both did. And perhaps that’s the point. We are meant to work together.

What’s in a Name?

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Perhaps there is a story in the name and lives of the sons of Adam and Eve:

Cain means acquired
Abel means a breath; vanity
Seth means appointed

“By the work of my hands, I attempt to acquire a name for myself. But this, too, is vanity, a grasping for the wind.
But God appoints another way. God’s way.