5 And all the years of Adam's life were nine hundred and thirty: and he came to his end.
And all the years of Enosh were nine hundred and five: and he came to his end.
And all the years of Seth's life were nine hundred and twelve: and he came to his end.
For as by man came death, so by man there is a coming back from the dead. For as in Adam death comes to all, so in Christ will all come back to life.
For death comes to us all, and we are like water drained out on the earth, which it is not possible to take up again; and God will not take away the life of the man whose purpose is that he who has been sent away may not be completely cut off from him.
And because by God's law death comes to men once, and after that they are judged;
For this reason, as through one man sin came into the world, and death because of sin, and so death came to all men, because all have done evil: Because, till the law came, sin was in existence, but sin is not put to the account of anyone when there is no law to be broken. But still death had power from Adam till Moses, even over those who had not done wrong like Adam, who is a picture of him who was to come.
And all the years of Kenan's life were nine hundred and ten; and he came to his end. And Mahalalel was sixty-five years old when he became the father of Jared: And after the birth of Jared, Mahalalel went on living for eight hundred and thirty years, and had sons and daughters: And all the years of Mahalalel's life were eight hundred and ninety-five: and he came to his end. And Jared was a hundred and sixty-two years old when he became the father of Enoch: And Jared went on living after the birth of Enoch for eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters: And all the years of Jared's life were nine hundred and sixty-two: and he came to his end. And Enoch was sixty-five years old when he became the father of Methuselah: And after the birth of Methuselah, Enoch went on in God's ways for three hundred years, and had sons and daughters: And all the years of Enoch's life were three hundred and sixty-five: And Enoch went on in God's ways: and he was not seen again, for God took him. And Methuselah was a hundred and eighty-seven years old when he became the father of Lamech: And after the birth of Lamech, Methuselah went on living for seven hundred and eighty-two years, and had sons and daughters: And all the years of Methuselah's life were nine hundred and sixty-nine: and he came to his end. And Lamech was a hundred and eighty-two years old when he had a son: And he gave him the name of Noah, saying, Truly, he will give us rest from our trouble and the hard work of our hands, because of the earth which was cursed by God. And after the birth of Noah, Lamech went on living for five hundred and ninety-five years, and had sons and daughters: And all the years of Lamech's life were seven hundred and seventy-seven: and he came to his end. And when Noah was five hundred years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
And he is in fear of that which is high, and danger is in the road, and the tree is white with flower, and the least thing is a weight, and desire is at an end, because man goes to his last resting-place, and those who are sorrowing are in the streets;
The living are conscious that death will come to them, but the dead are not conscious of anything, and they no longer have a reward, because there is no memory of them.
The measure of our life is seventy years; and if through strength it may be eighty years, its pride is only trouble and sorrow, for it comes to an end and we are quickly gone.
Truly, no man may get back his soul for a price, or give to God the payment for himself; (Because it takes a great price to keep his soul from death, and man is not able to give it.) So that he might have eternal life, and never see the underworld. For he sees that wise men come to their end, and foolish persons of low behaviour come to destruction together, letting their wealth go to others.
For I am certain that you will send me back to death, and to the meeting-place ordered for all living.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Genesis 5
Commentary on Genesis 5 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 5
This chapter is the only authentic history extant of the first age of the world from the creation to the flood, containing (according to the verity of the Hebrew text) 1656 years, as may easily be computed by the ages of the patriarchs, before they begat that son through whom the line went down to Noah. This is one of those which the apostle calls "endless genealogies' (1 Tim. 1:4), for Christ, who was the end of the Old Testament law, was also the end of the Old Testament genealogies; towards him they looked, and in him they centered. The genealogy here recorded in inserted briefly in the pedigree of our Saviour (Lu. 3:36-38), and is of great use to show that Christ was the "seed of the woman' that was promised. We have here an account,
Gen 5:1-5
The first words of the chapter are the title or argument of the whole chapter: it is the book of the generations of Adam; it is the list or catalogue of the posterity of Adam, not of all, but only of the holy seed who were the substance thereof (Isa. 6:13), and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came (Rom. 9:5), the names, ages, and deaths, of those that were the successors of the first Adam in the custody of the promise, and the ancestors of the second Adam. The genealogy begins with Adam himself. Here is,
Gen 5:6-20
We have here all that the Holy Ghost thought fit to leave upon record concerning five of the patriarchs before the flood, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, and Jared. There is nothing observable concerning any of these particularly, though we have reason to think they were men of eminence, both for prudence and piety, in their day: but in general,
Gen 5:21-24
The accounts here run on for several generations without any thing remarkable, or any variation but of the names and numbers; but at length there comes in one that must not be passed over so, of whom special notice must be taken, and that is Enoch, the seventh from Adam: the rest, we may suppose, did virtuously, but he excelled them all, and was the brightest star of the patriarchal age. It is but little that is recorded concerning him; but this little is enough to make his name great, greater than the name of the other Enoch, who had a city called by his name. Here are two things concerning him:-
Gen 5:25-27
Concerning Methuselah observe,
Gen 5:28-32
Here we have the first mention of Noah, of whom we shall read much in the following chapters. Observe,