Genesis 5.6-20

Scripture

6 Seth lived one hundred five years, then became the father of Enosh. 7 Seth lived after he became the father of Enosh eight hundred seven years, and became the father of other sons and daughters. 8 All the days of Seth were nine hundred twelve years, then he died. 9 Enosh lived ninety years, and became the father of Kenan. 10 Enosh lived after he became the father of Kenan, eight hundred fifteen years, and became the father of other sons and daughters. 11 All the days of Enosh were nine hundred five years, then he died. 12 Kenan lived seventy years, then became the father of Mahalalel. 13 Kenan lived after he became the father of Mahalalel eight hundred forty years, and became the father of other sons and daughters 14 and all the days of Kenan were nine hundred ten years, then he died. 15 Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, then became the father of Jared. 16 Mahalalel lived after he became the father of Jared eight hundred thirty years, and became the father of other sons and daughters. 17 All the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred ninety-five years, then he died. 18 Jared lived one hundred sixty-two years, then became the father of Enoch. 19 Jared lived after he became the father of Enoch eight hundred years, and became the father of other sons and daughters. 20 All the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty-two years, then he died.

Abstract

Genesis 5:6–20 is the whole of what Scripture records of the antediluvian line — Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, and Jared — the five who carried the holy seed across the 1,656 years from Adam to the Flood. The commentary reads the passage’s very carefulness as a mark of favor: where Cain’s line was written hurriedly, Seth’s descendants are named with exact, unambiguous ages, for God delights in the names of His people. Each life is reckoned “by days,” and the deliberate refrain “then he died” falls on every patriarch but Enoch — proof that death touches all, however faithful or famous. The great lifespans, once used to attack Scripture and now intelligible through cellular senescence, are read not as a problem but as providence: since reckless antediluvians survived for centuries, only God kept them from death. He prolonged their years, the commentary proposes, to preserve first-hand knowledge of Himself — and against death’s finality He sets the Christ who holds its keys.

Brief Observations

• The whole of the antediluvian record — These five men — Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared — are all Scripture tells of the epoch between Adam and Noah, the noteworthy bearers of the holy seed across the 1,656 years leading to the Flood.

• A careful record is a mark of favor — Where Cain’s rebellious line was set down hurriedly and thin, Seth’s descendants are recorded with exact, self-evident ages and added notes, because God takes pleasure in the names of those who lived in the fear of Him.

• Lives reckoned by days — Even lifespans near a thousand years are counted “by days,” a reminder that all life is fleeting and that wisdom begins in numbering our days, since none of us knows the hour of our death.

• “Then he died” — on all but one — Though a finite span already implies death, the text deliberately writes “died” over each patriarch, with Enoch the lone exception, to press that death reaches everyone regardless of faith or fame.

• Death, cynicism, and the keys of Christ — Despair follows only from the false belief that our work dies with us and that death is supreme; because Christ was dead and is alive forevermore, holding the keys of Death and Hades, the worst enemy becomes the measure of the Savior who defeats it.

• Science raised the resolution on providence — The lifespans, once an apologetic liability, are now intelligible through cellular senescence — yet since reckless antediluvians still survived for centuries, science did not explain God away but showed more precisely where His providence was at work.

• Do not dismiss the not-yet-understood — Because God is not a God of deception and brings truth to light, incredible claims in Scripture must not be discarded merely because an age cannot yet account for them; the longevity objection is the proof case, reversed by time.

• Prolonged to preserve the knowledge of God — Every patriarch but Noah was born before Adam died, so each could hear paradise, the Fall, and the promises first-hand; the commentary proposes God stretched these lives chiefly to keep the knowledge and worship of Himself intact through an oral-tradition age.

• Piety amid gathering corruption — For all their genuine godliness, these patriarchs were stewards over a humanity sliding toward the Flood, when every intent of the heart had become only evil continually — a sobering shadow over even the holy line.

Full Commentary

This passage is all we know about the antediluvian lineage. If you calculate the years from Adam’s creation to the Flood of Noah you get 1,656 years. The five men named here are the noteworthy figures who passed the holy seed from Adam to Noah during this epoch. These are Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, and Jared. It’s possible these men were preeminent figures of their generations, well-known for wisdom and faithfulness. These men came from Seth’s lineage and scripture records Seth as a pious man who called upon the name of the Lord. We can contrast his godly line with Cain’s lineage of moral decay. If nothing else these men are noteworthy because of their integration into the holy lineage of Christ. But there’s also a dark side to consider even with Seth’s lineage. By the time God floods the world scripture says humanity was only evil all the time. This must mean these patriarchs, despite their genuine piety, were stewards over the pervasive corruption of humanity.

You can tell in the writing of Seth’s lineage how they had favor in God’s sight over Cain’s rebellious family. Cain’s family line was hurriedly written down with little or no detail. Seth’s descendants are carefully recorded and given additional notes. One thing we notice is how their ages are given without any place for ambiguity. We don’t need to see the sum total of their years to be able to calculate the math of it, but God saw fit to give us their ages in a self-evident, direct way. God Himself takes pleasure in the names of His people. With Seth’s lineage we get to read how long those lived who lived in the fear of God. We read how old they were when they passed away in God’s favor.

Also notice how the lives of the righteous are reckoned by days. This is why you read, “All the days of such and such were x-amount of years.” Even though these people lived remarkably long lives compared to our own, their lives were still reckoned by days. By comparison our own lives are so fleeting they may be considered by hours. Psalm 90:12 says, “So teach us to count our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” The idea here is that none of us know when it will be our time to die, and if we keep that thought at the fore of our minds it will change our perspective in how we live.

With Enoch being the only exception, each person listed in this lineage was given a finite number of years. When the years expired their deaths were implied. Even with this clear implication of death, the Scripture still goes out of its way to map the word “death” onto each of them. I think this is to show us that death touches all of us, no matter how faithful and no matter how famous.

The people listed in this lineage each excelled at different things. One may have been strong and athletic. One may have been rich. One may have been wise and well-read. In the final analysis it doesn’t matter how good or useful you become in life, you’re still going to die. Some may accept this truth with a great deal of cynicism, saying, “Well if we’re all going to die and be buried in the same ground, then what’s the point in trying hard to achieve anything?” I’ll grant there is some truth to that. No amount of work will earn you immortality or spare you from death.

The problems emerge when we falsely believe the work dies with us. The problems emerge when death’s universal quality convinces us that death itself is the final, supreme ruler of us all. In Revelation 1:18 when Jesus Christ is speaking to John the Revelator on the island of Patmos, He says this: “I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever more. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades.” Death is the final enemy which comes for us all, but Jesus Christ is sovereign over death. Jesus is able to save us from the finality of death which is the principal reason He is called Savior.

So much of whether you fall into the depths of cynical despair or whether you experience peace which goes beyond comprehension depends entirely on how you view death. There’s no arguing its position as the final enemy which defeats us all (that’s the cynical despair), but if you actually trust that Jesus Christ is sovereign even over this indomitable enemy — that’s the key to unimpeachable peace. The worse your enemy, the greater the Savior when He defeats your enemy.

The people listed in this lineage lived extraordinary lifespans. In some cases nearly a thousand years. Critics point to this as incredible and for a long time no one knew how such lifespans could be possible. Apologists from the bygone era attempted to explain it by suggesting the earth was more fruitful, the food and water were more strengthening, the air was less damaging, and the planets themselves had a different effect on our physical bodies. Maybe there’s something to that. The scripture never attempts to explain it.

Some of the early apologists thought that since these people lived in the first ages of the world, the creation itself had remaining paradisiacal qualities. The “goodness” which God created hadn’t had enough generations to turn into wilderness. Man had knowledge of animals, foods, and medicines. Perhaps he was able to use these to extend his own life. Whatever the case, those macro-processes fail to address the actual mechanics of aging.

Today we understand aging scientifically which is why this text is no longer a key passage in attacks on the trustworthiness of scripture.

Aging as we know it carries simple causal relationships to a network of factors which trigger what is called cellular senescence. DNA damage, telomere shortening, mitochondrial dysfunction, and epigenetic changes all contribute to senescence. Not only do we understand this, but our own science of medicine is not far from being able to slow the process sufficient to extend human lifespan. A thousand year life is no longer incomprehensible, and it may in fact be apprehensible by medicine.

The point of me saying this is that we must be careful about dispensing with incredible claims when we read them in scripture simply because we don’t yet understand them. God is not a God of deception, He will bring the truth to light.

We can surmise the people in this lineage didn’t deal with aging the same way we do. Otherwise they would have broken under the weight of living half a millennia in aged infirmity. They weren’t invalids for hundreds of years. The world was broken same as it is now, but they had what they needed to survive in it for centuries.

In their lifetimes, the sight of Heaven and the eternal afterlife was not as clear as it is for us under the Gospel. That was a good thing for them, or else they would have been very tempted to cut their own lives short and be removed to paradise. Scripture is clear that their long lives were a blessing to them and allowed them to be a blessing to others.

You might argue that living the better part of 800 years in a world where one reckless move can result in your death is revealing about these people’s temperance. They must have lived in safety bubbles, insulated from the harsh realities of predation and disaster. But there’s a hole in that argument. Many of the antediluvian people weren’t temperate at all.

In Genesis 6:5, the very next chapter, we’ll read how every intent of the thoughts of man’s heart was only evil continually. The antediluvian people were the people who lived in the generations leading up to The Flood and they lived during the same era of these long lifespans. Luke 17:27 describes their final moments, “They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.”

So while we understand the mechanics of aging, the fact that you could live recklessly and still survive for hundreds of years points to a deeper reality: the providence of God was keeping these people from dying. This is what I love about the interplay between scientifically discovered objective truths and the divine revelation of scripture. The old apologists held to the providence of God because they couldn’t explain long lifespans. Today, even though we can explain long lifespans, we still converge back to the providence of God.

We didn’t “explain God away” with recourse to science, our science simply increased the resolution on how God’s providence was working and where it was most active. While we may be able to stave off aging with medicine, it turns out only God can stave off death in the face of sinful conduct.

God prolonged these people’s lives and He did it for His own reasons. Perhaps it was to expedite the multiplication of humanity on the earth. Perhaps it was for the preservation of the knowledge of God among humanity. Notice how every patriarch listed in this lineage besides Noah was born before Adam died. This means every one of them had an opportunity to hear the stories of God, paradise, the Fall, and God’s promises straight from a first-hand account. This would have been very important during a time when oral tradition was the primary channel for the passing of information.

Adam, being a priest of his family, would also be able to give direct instructions concerning worship and religious life. Adam also functioned as an authoritative source to check mistakes and disputes against. No one is going to argue with the man who himself lived in paradise with God. He could be an oracular judge to help the people discern the character of God in their worship of Him.

From Adam, this authority could pass to others like Methuselah who had direct conversation with the man who had direct conversation with God (and so forth). And that might be the sole reason God kept them alive for so long. Simply to preserve the integrity of human knowledge concerning His word, His will, and the purity of His worship. Across history God has moved entire empires in service to such a task, so it’s certainly not outside the scope of precedent to extend human lifetimes if that’s what it takes.