Genesis 5

Genesis 5 – the “Death” Chapter

From Adam to Noah

1This is the *history (the book) of the descendants (generations) of Adam. When God created people (adam), he made them in the likeness of God.
* —"This is the book of the generations of Adam." We find this expression once more when we open the New Testament in the very first verse! "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ." These are the two books of Federal Headship. In the first book—"The book of the generations of Adam" are enrolled the names of the fallen descendants of the first man; in the second—"The book of the generation of Jesus Christ"—are inscribed the names of all who have been redeemed by grace. One is the Book of Death; the other is the Lamb’s Book of Life. The whole of the Bible centers around these two books—the book of the generations of Adam, and the book of the generation of Jesus Christ.
From this point onwards we have the history and development of Adam’s progeny. So, too, of Matthew 1:1. What is the New Testament but the history and development of Jesus Christ and His "brethren"?
2He created them male and female, and he blessed them and called them "human." (adam-man)
3When Adam was 130 years old, his son Seth was **born, and Seth was the very **image of his father.
*‘Seth’ means ‘the appointer’, or ‘foundation’.
** Hebrew was in his own likeness, after his image. It is stressed that Seth is in the image and likeness of Adam. It does not say he is in the image and likeness of God. He is in the image and likeness of Adam, for like Adam he must die.
Col 1:15 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”
4After the birth of Seth, Adam lived another 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters.
5He died at the age of 930.
Fulfillment of Gen 3:19 - “‘All your life you will sweat to produce food, until your dying day. Then you will return to the ground from which you came. For you were made from dust, and to the dust you will return.’”
6When Seth was 105 years old, his son was born.
7After the birth of *Enosh, Seth lived another 807 years, and he had other sons and daughters.
*Enosh means ‘man’ in his frailty, no longer the strong ‘adam’ but the weak ‘enosh’. Means sickly or weak.
Gen 4:26 – “When Seth grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh. It was during his lifetime that people first began to worship (profane) the LORD.
8He died at the age of 912.
9When Enosh was 90 years old, his son *Kenan was born.
* Kenan = Sorrow
10After the birth of Kenan, Enosh lived another 815 years, and he had other sons and daughters.
11He died at the age of 905.
12When Kenan was 70 years old, his son *Mahalalel was born.
*Mahalal-el means ‘praise of God’ or ‘the blessed God’. First instance of using “el” in a person’s name.

13After the birth of Mahalalel, Kenan lived another 840 years, and he had other sons and daughters.
14He died at the age of 910.
15When Mahalalel was 65 years old, his son *Jared was born.
*Jared means ‘descent’ or ‘shall come down’.
16After the birth of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years, and he had other sons and daughters.
17He died at the age of 895.
18When Jared was 162 years old, his son Enoch was born.

19After the birth of Enoch, Jared lived another 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters.
20He died at the age of 962.
21When Enoch was 65 years old, his son *Methuselah was born.

22After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch lived another 300 years in close fellowship with God, and he had other sons and daughters. (KJ: “And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:”)
23Enoch lived 365 years in all.
24He enjoyed a close relationship with God throughout his life. Then suddenly, he disappeared because God took him. (KJ: “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”)
His walk with God is mentioned as occurring ‘after the birth of Methuselah’. Enoch seemingly began his walk with God after the birth of Methuselah.
Enoch is a striking character. He is one of but two men of whom it is said in Scripture that he "walked with God." He is one of but two men who lived on this earth and went to heaven without dying. He is one of the very few who lived before the Flood of whom we know anything at all. The days when Enoch lived on the earth were flagrantly wicked, as the Epistle of Jude plainly shows. He seems to have stood quite alone in his fearless denunciation of the ungodly and in his faithful testimony for God.
Heb 11:5: “It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying--"suddenly he disappeared because God took him. But before he was taken up, he was approved as pleasing to God.” (Heb 11:5 - KJ: “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”)
The first thing implied in Enoch’s walk with God is reconciliation. A pertinent question is asked in Amos 3:3, "How can two walk together except they be agreed?" Thus, two walking together supposes agreement, sympathy, harmony. From the nature of the ease, it is implied that one of the two had been at enmity with the other and that there had been a reconciliation. So, when we say of any man that he walks with God, it implies that he has been reconciled or conformed to God.
To walk with God implies a correspondency of nature. No sinner can walk with. Sin separates from God. The day that Adam sinned, he fled from God and hid himself among the trees of the garden. A walk with God then supposes the putting away of sin and the impartation of the Divine nature to the one who walked with Him.
To walk with God implies a moral fitness. God does not walk out of the way of holiness. Before God would walk through Israel’s camp everything which defiled had to be put away. Before Christ commences His millennial reign all things that offend must be gathered out of His Kingdom. God keeps no company with the unclean. "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But, if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:6, 7. In a sentence, then, walking with God means that we cease taking our own way, that we abandon the world’s way, that we follow the Divine way.
To walk with God implies a surrendered will. God does not force His company upon any. "How can two walk together except they be agreed?" The supreme example and illustration is the Lord Jesus. None enjoyed such perfect and intimate communication with the Father as He. And what was the secret of it all? "I delight to do Thy will, O God," supplies the explanation. If, then, we would walk with the Lord, there must be a willingness and readiness on our part. "Take My yoke upon you." He does not force it on any!
To walk with God implies spiritual communion. "How can two walk together except they be agreed?" The word "walk" suggests steady progress. Enoch walked with God for hundreds of years. It was not a run, a leap, a spurt, but a steady walk."
What was the cause of this reconciliation? Hebrews 11:5 supplies the answer—Enoch "had this testimony, that he pleased God." If it be further asked, How did he please God? the very next verse informs us, "Without faith it is impossible to please Him." Faith then was the instrumental cause of his reconciliation. Again we say, how much that one sentence tells us about this "seventh from Adam"! Born into this world a lost sinner, he is saved by grace through faith. He is born again and thus made a partaker of the Divine nature. He is brought into agreement with the Most High and fitted to have fellowship with the Holy One.
What would be the result of his walk with God? The first consequence of such a walk would be a growth in grace. Walking implies progress, and that in a forward direction. Enoch’s life must have been progressive. At the close of three hundred years of communion with God, Enoch could not be morally and spiritually where he was at the beginning. He would have a deeper abhorrence of sin and a humbler estimate of himself. He would be more conscious of his own helplessness and would feel more and more his need of absolute dependency on God. There would be a larger capacity to enjoy God.
There would also be a growth in the knowledge of the Lord. It is one thing to talk about God, to reason and speculate about Him, to hear and read about Him, it is quite another to know (Phil 3:10) Him. This is the practical and experimental side of the Christian life. If we would know God we must walk with Him: we must come into living contact with Him, have personal dealings with Him, commune with Him.
Another consequence of Enoch’s walk with God would be a deep settled joy and peace. Enoch’s life must have been supremely happy. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me.”
A further consequence of Enoch’s walk was his witness for God—see Jude 14 and 15: ‘Now Enoch, who lived seven generations after Adam, prophesied about these people. He said, “Look, the Lord is coming with thousands of his holy ones. He will bring the people of the world to judgment. He will convict the ungodly of all the evil things they have done in rebellion and of all the insults that godless sinners have spoken against him.”’

This order cannot be reversed. Before we can witness for God, we must walk with God. Much of what passes for "Christian service" is not the product of such a walk, and it will prove but "wood, hay and stubble" in the day of testing. There is something which must precede service, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve." (1 Sam 7:3)
Having considered at some length the character of Enoch’s walk, let us in closing note two other things, the commencement and the culmination of this walk.
It is not said that Enoch walked with God before his son was born, and the inference seems to be that the coming into his life of this little one God’s gift—may have been the means of leading him into this close fellowship.
The name of his son strongly implies that Enoch had received a revelation from God. Methuselah signifies, "When he is dead it shall be sent," i.e., the Flood. In all probability then, a Divine revelation is memorialized in this name. It was as though God had said to Enoch, "Do you see that baby? The world will last as long as he lives and no longer! When that child dies, I shall deal with the world in judgment. The windows of heaven will be opened. The fountains of the great deep will be broken up, and all humanity will perish." What would be the effect of such a communication upon Enoch? Imagine for a moment a parallel case today. Suppose God should make known to you, in such a way that you could not question His veracity, that this world would last only as long as the life of some little one in your home. Suppose God should say to you, "The life of that little one is to be the life of the world. When that child dies the world will be destroyed.’’ What would be the effect upon you? Not knowing how soon that child might die, there would come before you the possibility that the world might perish at any time. Every time that child fell sick the world’s doom would stare you in the face! Suppose further, that you were unsaved. Would you not be deeply exercised? Would you not realize as never before your urgent need of preparing to meet God? Would you not at once begin to occupy yourself with spiritual things? It is implied that from the time Methuselah was born, the world lost all its attractiveness for Enoch and from that time on, if never before, he walked with God.
"By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God" (Heb. 11:5). God had translated him. After Enoch had lived on earth the great cycle—a year for a day—of three hundred and sixty-five years, God took him to Himself, as if to show that he was an example of a human being, who had fulfilled his destiny, and a type of what the destiny of all mankind might have been had sin never entered the world.
“Translated” is an old Latin word that simply means carried over or carried across. God carried him across. Across what? Across death. Death is the river that divides this world from the world to come, and here was a man that never did go through that river at all. When he got there God carried him across. God transferred him; translated him; God picked him up and carried him over and put him on the other shore. And walking along here in time and communing with God by faith, in an instant he was communing with God by sight in another world. Faith had turned to sight, and hope had turned to fruition in a single moment. The life of faith was thus crowned by entrance into the life of perfect fellowship above, "And they shall walk with Me in white" (Rev. 3:4).
Enoch is a type of those believers who shall be alive on the earth when our Lord shall descend into the air to catch up to Himself His blood bought people "Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep (die), but we shall be all changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Cor. 15:51, 52). Just as Enoch was translated to heaven without seeing death, so also will those of the Lord’s people who remain on the earth till the time of His return. May it be ours to "walk with God" during the short interval that now intervenes, and, if it pleases Him, may we be among that number which shall be raptured to glory without having to first pass through the portals of the grave.
"And Enoch walked with God." Now the Bible tells us that David was "a man after God's own heart." Abraham was "a friend of God." Elijah was "a man of God." But there is no greater testimony than that of Enoch .. that he "walked with God."
No “He died” phrase here!

Are Elijah and Enoch the 2 witnesses in Rev 11:3-12?
Cor. 5:7 "We walk by Faith, not by sight."

Rom. 6:4 "...we should walk in newness of life."

Rom. 8:1,4"...we walk not after the flesh but after the spirit"

2 Cor. 6:16"God said, 'I will dwell in them and walk in them;
and I will be their God, and they will be my people.'"

Gal. 5:16 "Walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust
of the flesh."

Gal. 5:25 "If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."

Col. 2:6 "As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in Him."

1 Thess. 2:12 ...you should walk worthy of God."

1 John 1:7 “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin."

3 John 1:4 "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."

Most people live a Christianity that is primarily "works-oriented" rather than "walk-oriented."
Example 1: Some are caught up in "works-oriented salvation."
Roman Catholics
Mormons
Jehovah's Witnesses
All teach a salvation by works.
Example 2: Some are caught up in a "works oriented sanctification." Most Baptists understand they have been saved by grace...but they try to live by law and works. They have never been taught the essence of Christian living is:
*life in Christ...not labor for Christ
*walking with Christ...working for Christ
*abiding in Christ...not activity for Christ
And as a result--many Christians are entirely caught up in a
works oriented, labor-intensive Christianity. And they are so busy
working for God ... they have no time to walk with God!!
More is said about Enoch in New Testament than in the Old Testament. He is described in 51 words in the Old and in 94 words in the New. One of the things the New Testament highlights about his life is his testimony. He had the testimony that he pleased God. Genesis 5 tells us how he pleased God. We read twice, that Enoch walked with God. You could say that his only claim to fame was that he walked with God. We never read about him parting a sea, raising the dead, healing the sick, or leading an army. His entire life is summed up in the words, "He walked with God."

There is nothing greater that could be said about us than that we walked with God. When we are gone, people could say, "He went to the moon, he ran a large company, he was a wealthiest man that ever lived, or that he was president of the United States." But I say unto you the greatest thing that could be said of us is that you or me walked with God. The greatest thing a child could say about his father, is that dad walks with God.
Enoch appears only three times in the Word of God. In Genesis chapter 5:21-24, we are told of his birth, that he walked with God, that he gave birth to a son, and that he was raptured into heaven. In Hebrews 11:5, we read that he pleased God and that he was translated into heaven. In Jude, verses 14-15, we learn that he preached to the ungodly of his day and warned them of the coming of the Lord in judgment. In these two short verses, Jude refers to what Enoch saw concerning the Second Coming of Jesus in the Book of Genesis, and 6,000 years later, what he saw about the Lord's coming "with ten thousands of His saints to bring judgment upon this wicked world."

In Enoch's day there were two kinds of people on the earth: the descendants of Seth and the descendents of Cain. The descendents of Cain lived for this world. They are found in Genesis four in the marketplaces and cities of art, science and industry. It was man doing man's thing to build a pain-free, pleasure-filled society.
Enoch was the seventh from Adam. Instead of a tomb he experienced translation. Instead of death he experienced departure. Instead of a grave he made it to Glory. Enoch is a type of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now go back to Hebrews 11:5. The text says that Enoch was TRANSLATED that he should not see death. Enoch was, changed, removed to another place, taken up from
the earth and not allowed to suffer death. In fact, the text states that he could not be found anymore because God had removed him from this place to another. He took him from earth and brought him to heaven. Why? Before his removal from this earth, he
bore witness by his life that he was he was well pleasing to God. The verb tense indicates that he always pleased God in every way. His pleasing God was the fruit of his faithfulness to God. In what way? In verse 6, we see that he pleased God in that he
BELIEVED in who He is and that He rewarded faithfulness in Him!

After that first child he lived 300 years. He probably saw 15 generations of children and grandchildren, maybe more, depending how young or old the children were when they began to have children. Most of us, may see our children and our grandchildren, and if we are fortunate enough, we may see great grandchildren in our lives. But Enoch saw his son Methuselah and then his sons and daughters, then his grandchildren and great grandchildren, great, great grandchildren, great, great, great grandchildren. Because he walked with God he influenced all of those generations. God wants us to be an influence in our generation. Not a lot is said about Enoch, but what is said about him has a lot to do with character.

The testimony of our children and generations to follow should be that we walked with God. That's the testimony that we need to give. Verse 24 says, "Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him."
25When Methuselah was 187 years old, his son *Lamech was born.
*Lamech means “despairing” – we get our word “lament” from it. Same name as Cain’s son.

26After the birth of Lamech, Methuselah lived another 782 years, and he had other sons and daughters.
27He died at the age of 969.
28When Lamech was 182 years old, his son *Noah was born.

29Lamech named his son Noah, for he said, "He will bring us relief from the painful labor of farming this ground that the LORD has cursed."
Lamech’s statement about his son demonstrates a knowledge of the fall, and the curse and covenant which ensued. The ground is cursed by God and yields its fruits reluctantly. Noah will thus be a comfort to them because he can help with the work of survival.


30After the birth of Noah, Lamech lived 595 years, and he had other sons and daughters.
31He died at the age of 777.
32By the time Noah was 500 years old, he had three sons: *Shem, **Ham, and ***Japheth.
As with Lamech at the end of Cain’s line, Noah begets three sons, a sign of complete fulfilment.
*Shem - “name”
**Ham = “warm”
***Japheth = “enlarged”