Genesis 5:10 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan 815 years and had other sons and daughters.

NIV: After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters.

NASB: Then Enosh lived 815 years after he fathered Kenan, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

CSB: Enosh lived 815 years after he fathered Kenan, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

NLT: After the birth of Kenan, Enosh lived another 815 years, and he had other sons and daughters.

KJV: And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters:

NKJV: After he begot Cainan, Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years, and had sons and daughters.

After fathering Kenan at the age of 90, Enosh lived a further 815 years. We know from Genesis 4:26 that it was during Enosh's lifetime that people began to call on the name of the Lord. He likely passed this down to Kenan and his other sons and daughters, along with the likeness of God he had inherited from his father.

By modern standards, these lifespans are extraordinary. However, modern science tells us that most living creatures are capable of living, in theory, much longer than they do. Environment, genetic decay, and other factors limit how long people can live. Early in the history of mankind, these factors would have been much friendlier to life. This would have made extensive lifespans much more probable.

These enormous numbers make it easy to miss the more relevant point, one made over and over in this passage: all of these men died. Long or short, each man's life is destined to end, one way or the other.

Another interesting effect of these long lives would have been the value of oral history. In modern times, eyewitnesses are at best available for several decades. In these earlier days, however, it would have been possible to speak with many people who had seen events of centuries past. This huge overlap of generations would have made it all but impossible for historical truths to be lost.

Genesis 5:1-32 is a bridge of genealogy connecting the time of Adam and his son Seth to the time of Noah. This brings the Bible's historical record to the era of the flood. It provides a small, but helpful set of details: early humans lived a long time, had many children, and all died as a result of ubiquitous human sin. Enoch is the exception that proves the rule, commended for walking with God and seemingly taken away before his physical death. Despite the presence of early God-worshippers such as Adam and Seth, man will quickly descend into extraordinary wickedness, as seen in chapter 6. The coming of Noah at the end of this chapter prepares us for God's response to the sins of humankind.

Chapter 5 uses a simple genealogy of Adam's descendants through Seth to link the earliest humans with the time of Noah and the flood. In the generations after the garden, human beings live extraordinarily long lives, have great numbers of children, and continue to be in relationship with God though separated from Him physically and spiritually. The description of Enoch being ''taken'' by God is the exception that proves the rule: No matter how long a person lives, sin always leads to death.

Genesis 4 ends with the birth of Seth's son Enosh, and a statement that people had begun to call on the Lord's name. Chapter 5 details the generations from Adam through Seth to Noah, connecting the time of Adam and Seth with the time of Noah and his sons as described in chapter 6. This sets the stage for God's judgment of mankind's pervasive sin in the flood.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.