Genesis 5:4 - Printer Friendly

ESV: The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters.

NIV: After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters.

NASB: Then the days of Adam after he fathered Seth were eight hundred years, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

CSB: Adam lived 800 years after he fathered Seth, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

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

KJV: And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:

NKJV: After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters.

The previous verse tells us that Adam was 130 years old when he fathered Seth. Now we learn that Adam, having many other children, lived another 800 years after Seth was born. These long lifespans seem amazing, but make sense when one considers a world free from pollution, most diseases, and most genetic disorders.

It would have been necessary, of course, for Adam and Eve to have many, many children. With no other source of humanity yet on the planet, their children would have married each other, had more children, and then continued to intermarry with members of the ever-expanding family.

Later, God would restrict the practice of marrying close relatives. As humanity continued to suffer the consequences of the fall, genetic diseases would have become more likely, and more problematic. As a result, close intermarriage carries a much greater risk of birth defects for the offspring. At this time, however, before that genetic pool had become so diverse, that would not have been an issue.

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 5/3/2024 9:45:33 PM