Chuck Larsen

Mahalalel’s son Jared is the subject of Genesis 5:18-20: “When Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered Enoch. Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.” In the Pseudepigraphal book of I Enoch, we read the myth of Mahalalel, interpreting the vision of his grandson Enoch regarding the coming of the flood to destroy all life on the earth. Another Pseudepigraphal book, The Book of Jubilees, tries to fill in information about those in the line of Seth. Parts of these two books were found amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls, but they were not understood as being part of the Holy Bible. One writer says, “As for whether the Book of Jubilees should be in the Bible, we must first recognize the fact that God is the One at work in the Scriptures, and if He wanted the Book of Jubilees as a part of Scripture, no man (or Satan) could have prevented it. Hundreds and hundreds of years of Christian (and Jewish) scholars have labored to ensure that the Holy Scriptures remain true and untainted. Part of the problem with the Book of Jubilees is that so little remains of original writings that there is no way to determine if the book as it now exists is the same book that was originally written. This is one huge reason that the Book of Jubilees fails the standards of the canon of Scripture.”[1]

Though it is not scripture, many of the earlier Christians regarded it worthy of reading, and some of the early Christian writers refer to the book of Jubilees. I mention it because it attempts to add information about the people mentioned in Genesis 5 who are in the godly genealogy of Seth. Most modern commentators treat the first 20 verses of Genesis Chapter 5 like Pink does. He says, “Until we reach the twenty-first verse of Genesis 5, there is little else in the chapter which calls for comment.”^[2] They will say about my life: “not much calls for comment.” I like to push the borders a little to say something about them, like the writer of I Enoch and the Book of Jubilees.

The Book of Jubilees tells us about Mahalalel’s birth and his marriage. It says, “In the second week of the tenth jubilee Mahalalel took unto him to wife Dînâh, the daughter of Barâkî’êl, the daughter of his father’s brother, and she bare him a son in the third week in the sixth year, and he called his name Jared.” The name Jared means to go down or to descend. According to the Book of Jubilees, he was named thus because. “In his days, the angels of the Lord descended on the earth, those who are named the Watchers, that they should instruct the children of men, and that they should do judgment and uprightness on the earth.” Then we read about Jared’s wife. “Her name was Bâraka, the daughter of Râsûjâl, a daughter of his father’s brother, in the fourth week of this jubilee, and she bare him a son in the fifth week, in the fourth year of the jubilee, and he called his name Enoch.”^[3]

[1] https://www.gotquestions.org/book-of-Jubilees.html

^[2] Pink, Arthur Walkington. 2005. Gleanings in Genesis. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

^[3] Charles, Robert Henry, ed. 1913. Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament. Vol. 2. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Kenan was Adam’s great-grandson, Seth’s grandson, and Enosh’s son. He is the subject of Genesis 5:12-14. It says, “When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel. Kenan lived after he fathered Mahalalel 840 years and had other sons and daughters.  Thus, all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died.” Kenan is included in the genealogy of the kings in 1 Chronicles 1:2 and the genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3:37-38. Another “Kenan” is the son of Arphaxad and is called the post-flood Kenan or the second Kenan. According to the Handbook for translators, “In Hebrew, this name is similar in spelling to Cain’s name, and it is thought to be a variant of ‘Cain,’ without suggesting that it is the same person.”^[1] The difference in the Hebrew spelling of the two names is that Cain’s name has only two consonants. Kenan’s name has three. Hebrew was originally made of only consonants, and the vowels were not added until around 900 AD by the Masoretic Scribes. English transliterates Cain’s Hebrew name beginning with a hard “C” sound. Still, the Septuagint transliterates it with a “K.” Greek does not have a letter corresponding to our “C.” To keep the spellings consistent, Cain’s name was KN, and Kenan’s name was KNN.

Kenan lived and died before the flood, according to our Hebrew and English Bibles lists. He appears to have died a normal death. There are more than 200 epic flood stories from around the world. They are similar, yet each has its variant, which makes them somewhat different. According to the Islamic flood tradition, Kenan died in flood. The Religion Wiki page says that there are miniatures of Noah’s Ark that depict a kind of manned diving bell next to it. The bell was the innovation of Kenan, who was trying to escape the flood in his own way. But he ended up drowning in his own “Urine inside his contraption as God punishes him with a bladder infection.”[2]

Kenan lived for over 900 years. It’s interesting to note that none of the Pre-flood patriarchs made it to one thousand years. According to one article from the “Friday Magazine,” we might be the first generation to live that long. It says, “The chief science officer at the California-based Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescene (Sens) Research Foundation, a regenerative medicine research centre, and his team of scientists are working on a project that could make age-related diseases a thing of the past. In a nutshell, their mission is to extend the healthy human lifespan to a 1,000 years. In fact, Aubrey made a breath-taking announcement three years ago that the first person who will live to be 1,000 years has already been born.”^[3] This might be “breath-taking,” but I’m not going to hold my breath! From what I can gather, a thousand-year lifespan is being preserved for those who make it to the millennial kingdom.

^[1] Reyburn, William David, and Euan McG. Fry. 1998. A Handbook on Genesis. UBS Handbook Series. New York: United Bible Societies.

[2] https://religion.fandom.com/wiki/Kenan#cite_note-3

[3] https://fridaymagazine.ae/life-culture/people-profiles/soon-humans-will-be-able-to-live-1-000-years-1.2199205

The first person we meet after Adam is Seth. Interestingly, there is no mention of Abel at all. Cain’s line recorded in Chapter 4 is also ignored from this point on. Then Seth has Enosh. Genesis 5:9-11 gives us the record of Enosh’s son, Kenan. It says, “When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan. Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan 815 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus, all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died.” We know very little about Enosh and Kenan. Most of the early commentators focused on the meaning of the names. Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, lived from 333 AD to 397 AD and was the teacher of Augustine. He said, “The name Enosh means ‘man’ in the language of the Chaldeans as well as in Hebrew.” In his “City of God,” Augustine says, “Seth means ‘resurrection,’ and the name of his son Enosh means ‘man.’ The name Adam also means “man,” but in Hebrew, it can be used for any human person, either male or female; as one can see from the text: ‘He created them male and female and blessed them and called their name Adam.’ This text leaves no doubt that Eve was given her proper name, whereas the common noun ‘Adam’ or ‘human being’ applied to both Adam and Eve. It was different with the name Enosh. This means ‘man,’ Hebrew scholars tell us, in the sense of a man as distinguished from a woman. Thus, Enosh was a ‘son’ of ‘resurrection.’”

For the most part, the people mentioned in this genealogy from Seth consist of ordinary people. In contrast to the line of Cain, however, they were people who appeared to have faith in God. They are not known for outstanding accomplishments or innovations. Like most believers, they just lived out their lives in faith. I like the way Exell says about those in this genealogy. He says that, like most people, they “Are extremely uninteresting. They are names and nothing more. They are producers and consumers, tenants and taxpayers, and that is all; they are without wit, music, piquancy, enterprise, or keenness of sympathy. Such people were Seth and Enos, Mahalaleel and Jared; respectable, quiet, plodding; said ‘good-night’ to one another regularly, remarked briefly upon the weather, and died. Just what many nowadays seem to do.”^[1] What’s interesting to notice is that they are in the line of the Messiah! From the line of Seth and other “uninteresting” people, the Messiah will emerge.

The classic commentary by Spence-Jones limits its comments on Genesis 5:6 through verse 20 to one brief paragraph beginning with this comment: “The lives of the succeeding patriarchs are framed upon the model of this Adamic biography, and do not call for separate notice.”^[2] Most of us live lives that do not call for “separate notice.” But just as Jesus stopped amidst a crowd and called out to leper, the blind man, the cripple, and little Zacchaeus. He stops and calls out to us. Through faith, we move from being not worth noticing, the Children of God. We’ve been grafted into this genealogy!

^[1] Exell, Joseph S. n.d. The Biblical Illustrator: Genesis. Vol. 1. The Biblical Illustrator. London: James Nisbet & Co.

^[2] Spence-Jones, H. D. M., ed. 1909. Genesis. The Pulpit Commentary. London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.

The Genealogies of Genesis chapter five lists ten men. They all lived incredibly long lives.  Leupold argues, “There is no reason for doubting the correctness of the chronology submitted by the Hebrew Masoretic text. This is intended to be a complete chronology, complete as far as marking the actual lapse of time is concerned. No other nation has anything to compare with it. Yet, strange to say, the only reliable chronology which we have, which purports to be a good chronology dating back to Creation, is continually being questioned, corrected, amended, and condemned in favor of fallible documents which are historically but poorly attested and marked by many a gap. The claim that the Scriptures do not give a complete and accurate chronology for the whole period of the Old Testament that they cover is utterly wrong, dangerous and mischievous. At the slightest objection, men are ready to cast aside as inadequate the only adequate chronology mankind possesses.”^[1]

The attacks on these genealogies and other subjects mentioned in the early chapters of Genesis are all based on man’s ability and reason to work out things for himself. It’s very reminiscent of the spirit and intent of those in the genealogy of chapter four, the genealogy of Cain. It speaks about all the wonderful deeds of his descendants: One built cities, another made weapons, and still, another advanced in the production of music and musical instruments. Cain’s genealogy ends with Lamech, who committed what seems to be a double homicide and introduced bigamy into the world. In Genesis 5:7-8, we read of the second line of descendants from Adam, the line of Seth. It says, “Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died.”

We don’t have any record of outstanding accomplishments except that they “called out in the name of the Lord.” And as the line of Cain, the murderer, led to more murder, the line of Seth led to more Faith in God. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Enoch walked with God by “faith.” I agree with Augustine that it’s most likely that accomplishments were achieved and cities were built. Louth quotes from Augustine’s “City of God” and suggests we “…Notice that when the inspired writer sets forth the length of the lives of the men he mentions, the narrative always ends with the formula, ‘and he begot sons and daughters, and all the time that so and so lived were so many years, and he died.’ Considering that these sons and daughters are not named and remembering how long people lived in that first period of our history, can anyone refuse to believe that so great a multitude of men was born to have been able, in groups, to build a great number of cities?”^[2] Yet, what mattered to those in Seth’s line, was their walk with God, not their outstanding accomplishments. It’s not what we do; it’s what God has done for us that matters.

^[1] Leupold, H. C. 1942. Exposition of Genesis. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.

^[2] Louth, Andrew, and Marco Conti, eds. 2001. Genesis 1–11. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Genesis 5:6 introduces us to Enosh, Seth’s first son. It says, “When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh. Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters.” From Seth to Noah, the rest of the generations tell us how old the man was when the next one was born and how long he lived after the son was born. I realize that the Septuagint (Greek Translation of the Old Testament) and the Samaritan Pentateuch present us with different years for Enosh and the following descendants. I’m trusting the Original Hebrew as reflected in the Masoretic Text, as did most of our English translators. For a thorough discussion on this subject, see Larsson’s article.^[1] The Lexham Research Commentary summarizes his conclusion for us. It says, “Larsson argues that numbers in the Masoretic Text are original. He shows how the Septuagint and Samaritan Pentateuch altered these original numbers.”^[2]

Trusting the Hebrew Masoretic Text to be the original and inspired text, Butler makes some interesting observations. He writes, “Adam died at 930 years. Seth at 912, Enos at 905, Cainan at 910, Mahalaleel at 895 (the first in the list to die under 900), Jared at 962, Enoch did not die but lived only 365 years on the earth before his supernatural departure, Methuselah died at 969 years (which is the longest any human lived), Lamech died at 777 (the youngest in age at death in this obituary). The years of their death indicate that Noah was born 126 years after Adam’s death. Lamech died five years before his father, Methuselah. Methuselah was 243 years old when Adam died. Enoch was translated just 57 years after Adam died and before any of the rest of the men on the list died. All of the nine men listed in the obituary were born before Adam died.” Then he adds, “The obituary goes from Adam to Noah, and significantly Noah spoke with Lamech, his father, who could have spoken with Adam (for Lamech was 56 when Adam died). Furthermore, Noah could have spoken to Abraham (for Abraham was 58 when Noah died). Any tradition, information, etc., that needed to be passed down only required four people in all the years from Adam to Abraham. God protects His revelation!”^[3]

As Calvin points out, “Through six successive generations when the family of Seth had grown into a great people, the voice of Adam daily resounded to remind them about the creation, the Fall, man’s punishment, and the hope of salvation.”^[4]

^[1] Larsson, Gerhard. 1983. “The Chronology of the Pentateuch: A Comparison of the Mt and LXX.” Journal of Biblical Literature 102: 401.

^[2] Mangum, Douglas, Miles Custis, and Wendy Widder. 2012. Genesis 1–11. Lexham Research Commentaries. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

^[3] Butler, John G. 2008. Analytical Bible Expositor: Genesis. Clinton, IA: LBC Publications.

^[4] Calvin, John. 2001. Genesis. Crossway Classic Commentaries. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

In Genesis 5:4, we’re introduced to the long life-spans of the ante-diluvian characters. It tells us, “The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters.” He was 130 years old when Seth was born, making Adam 930 years old at his death. Some that will follow in the genealogy will even live longer than Adam. Methuselah lived to be nearly 1000 years old. One of Carasik’s ancient Jewish commentators says, “It is unclear whether all the children lived these unusually long lives, or whether this applied only to the named ones, who did not pursue the bodily appetites that shorten one’s life. Maimonides certainly thought so.”^[1] He was a 12^th century “Jewish scholar, physician, and philosopher, the most influential Jewish thinker of the Middle Ages.”^[2]

Who am I to argue with one of the most influential Jewish thinkers? Yet, there are other records of people who lived during this time who lived long lives. Matthews writes, “Although there is no satisfactory explanation of the long life spans before the flood, there are Sumerian lists of kings who purportedly reigned before the flood with reigns as long as 43,200 years. The Sumerians used the sexagesimal number system (a combination of base six and base ten), and when the numbers of the Sumerian king list are converted to decimal, they are very much in the range of the age spans of the preflood genealogies of Genesis. The Hebrews, like most other Semitic peoples, used a base-ten decimal system as far back as writing extends.”^[3] Most modern conservative commentators attribute the long life to the climate conditions that existed before the flood. Afterward, the canopy that protected man from the aging rays of the sun was gone and the lifespan of man was reduced.

Exell argues that it isn’t the length of one’s life that is important but the content. He says, “We cannot measure a man’s life by the number of years he has passed in the burden and battle of the world. A long life may be lived in a very short space of time, and a number of years may be the chronicle of a brief life. Man’s truest life is spent in and measured by deeds, thoughts, sympathies, and heroic activities. A man may live a long life in one day. He has been instrumental in the salvation of one soul; then, in that day, he has lived a short eternity. A man who writes in a year a thoughtful book, which shall instruct and culture the minds of men, lives a century in that brief space of time. The schoolmaster who teaches a boy to think, the minister who helps men to be pure and sound, the gentle spirits who aid by visitation and prayer the sorrowful and the sick, are the world’s most extended lives; these are the world’s true Methuselahs.”^[4]

^[1] Carasik, Michael, ed. 2018. Genesis: Introduction and Commentary. Translated by Michael Carasik. The Commentators’ Bible. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society.

^[2] Lagassé, Paul, Columbia University. 2000. In The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. New York; Detroit: Columbia University Press; Sold and distributed by Gale Group.

^[3] Matthews, Victor Harold, Mark W. Chavalas, and John H. Walton. 2000. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament. Electronic ed. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

^[4] Exell, Joseph S., and Thomas H. Leale. 1892. Genesis. The Preacher’s Complete Homiletic Commentary. New York; London; Toronto: Funk & Wagnalls Company.