Genesis 5:19 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters.

NIV: After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters.

NASB: Then Jared lived eight hundred years after he fathered Enoch, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

CSB: Jared lived 800 years after he fathered Enoch, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

NLT: After the birth of Enoch, Jared lived another 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters.

KJV: And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:

NKJV: After he begot Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters.

Jared fathered more sons and daughters during his 800 years after fathering Enoch. Judging by what we'll see of Enoch's life in the next few verses, it's very possible that Jared (or his father or grandfather) passed on to those sons and daughters what it meant to live in relationship to God. The fact that Enoch was so close to God might be due to godly parenting on the part of Jared.

On the other hand, Jared's grandson and great-grandson, Methuselah and Lamech, will both be alive in the years shortly before the flood. At that point in time, the state of mankind is best described as "evil" (Genesis 6:5). Looking at the lifespans given in this chapter, it stands to reason that many, if not most, of Enoch's peers were probably not followers of God. It's possible, if not likely, that at least a few of Enoch's brothers and sisters, and certainly many of his nieces and nephews, were killed when God sent destruction to remove that evil.

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 4/28/2024 2:09:15 PM