Genesis 5:23 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years.

NIV: Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years.

NASB: So all the days of Enoch were 365 years.

CSB: So Enoch’s life lasted 365 years.

NLT: Enoch lived 365 years,

KJV: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:

NKJV: So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.

According to this verse, all of the days of Enoch were 365 years. To this point, the youngest listed age at death has been 895 years old. What happened? The Bible gives no details, other than God was the one responsible, and Enoch did not die. The next verse will tell us what little there is to know. One important piece of information comes from what the Bible does not say about Enoch. All the prior men of Noah's heritage were described with the same basic information, including the concluding phrase, "and then he died." Physical death was the primary, and most obvious effect of the fall of man.

Enoch, however, will not be described using that phrase. Rather, as the next verse shows, he seems to have been taken, prior to death, by God directly. This is probably similar to what happened at the end of Elijah's ministry (2 Kings 2:9–12).

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.

Accessed 11/21/2024 9:57:19 PM