Genesis 5:2 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.

NIV: He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them 'Mankind' when they were created.

NASB: He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them 'mankind' on the day when they were created.

CSB: he created them male and female. When they were created, he blessed them and called them mankind.

NLT: He created them male and female, and he blessed them and called them 'human.'

KJV: Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

NKJV: He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created.

The previous verse restated the claim of Genesis 1:27: that God made humankind in His own likeness. This verse is specific that "mankind" includes male and female, beginning with Adam and Eve. God blessed our human race and named it. God did this because He was the Creator. He owned humanity, and He claimed responsibility for it. From that position of power, He blessed us and He claimed His right to name us. Together, we, the human race, became "Adam." The Hebrew words for Adam and man are exactly the same: ā'dām.

Included in God's blessing is fertility and reproduction. It's important to remember that God intended man to multiply and fill the earth prior to the fall (Genesis 1:28). Sex, within the context of God's intended plan of one man and one woman, is part of His "good" creation. God enabled humanity to increase in numbers, to thrive as we began to fill up the earth. The following verses will detail a single generational line of God's blessing.

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 4/30/2024 7:53:35 PM