Genesis 5:7 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters.

NIV: After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters.

NASB: Then Seth lived 807 years after he fathered Enosh, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

CSB: Seth lived 807 years after he fathered Enosh, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

NLT: After the birth of Enosh, Seth lived another 807 years, and he had other sons and daughters.

KJV: And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters:

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

Population growth is considered "neutral" in areas with low life expectancy when the average woman has three or four children in her lifetime. Imagine a world with much lower rates of disease or war, cleaner food, water, and air, and a dramatically longer natural lifespan. It's not unreasonable to calculate the population of earth exploding at an explosive rate during the generations described in this chapter.

In this verse, it's stated that Seth lived for "807 years and had other sons and daughters." More than likely, Seth had an enormous number of sons and daughters. Due to the long lifespans of these first generations of humans after the garden, the population of the world was likely increasing dramatically. Each couple could likely bear many children over the span of hundreds of years, seeing those children marry and have children and grandchildren and great grandchildren while they continued to have new children of their own.

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 9:06:37 PM