PATRIARCHAL GENEALOGY FROM ADAM TO NOAH.

(1) This is the book of the generations of Adam.—See on Genesis 2:4, and Excursus on the Books of Generations.

In the likeness of God.—Man is now a fallen being, but these words are repeated to show that the Divine likeness was not therefore lost, nor the primæval blessing bestowed at his creation revoked. As man’s likeness to God does not mainly consist in moral innocence (see on Genesis 1:26), it was not affected by the entrance into the world of sin, except so far as sin corrupted the vessel in which this great gift was deposited. (Comp. 2Corinthians 4:7.)

- The Line of Sheth

1. ספר sepher "writing, a writing, a book."

9. קינן qēynān, Qenan, "possessor, or spearsman."

12. <מהללאל mahelal'ēl, Mahalalel, "praise of 'El."

15. ירד yerĕd, Jered, "going down."

21. מתוּשׁלה metûshālach, Methushelach, "man of the missile."

29. נה noach, Noach, "rest," נחם nācham "sigh; repent; pity; comfort oneself; be revenged."

32. שׁם shēm, Shem, "name, fame; related: be high." חם chām Cham, "hot." יפת yāpet, Japheth, "spreading; related: spread out."

We now enter upon the third of the larger documents contained in Genesis. The first is a diary, the second is a history, the third a genealogy. The first employs the name אלהים 'ĕlohı̂ym exclusively; the second uses אלהים יהוה yehovâh'ĕlohı̂ym in the second and third chapters, and יהוה yehovâh usually in the fourth; the third has אלהים 'ĕlohı̂ym in the first part, and יהוה yehovâh in the second part. The name אלהים 'ĕlohı̂ym is employed in the beginning of the chapter with a manifest reference to the first document, which is here quoted and abridged.

This chapter contains the line from Adam to Noah, in which are stated some common particulars concerning all, and certain special details concerning three of them. The genealogy is traced to the tenth in descent from Adam, and terminates with the flood. The scope of the chapter is to mark out the line of faith and hope and holiness from Adam, the first head of the human race, to Noah, who became eventually the second natural head of it.

Genesis 5:1-2

These verses are a recapitulation of the creation of man. The first sentence is the superscription of the new piece of composition now before us. The heading of the second document was more comprehensive. It embraced the generations, evolutions, or outworkings of the skies and the land, as soon as they were called into existence, and was accordingly dated from the third day. The present document confines itself to the generations of man, and commences, therefore, with the sixth day. The generations here are literal for the most part, though a few particulars of the individuals mentioned are recorded. But taken in a large sense this superscription will cover the whole of the history in the Old and New Testaments. It is only in the prophetic parts of these books that we reach again in the end of things to the wider compass of the heavens and the earth Isaiah 65:17; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1. Then only does the sphere of history enlarge itself to the pristine dimensions in the proper and blessed sense, when the second Adam appears on earth, and re-connects heaven and earth in a new, holy, and everlasting covenant.

The present superscription differs from the former one in the introduction of the word ספר sepher, "book". There is here some ground in the text for supposing the insertion by Moses of an authentic document, handed down from the olden time, in the great work which he was directed to compose. The chapter before us could not have been completed, indeed, until after the birth of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. But if we except the last verse, there is no impossibility or improbability in its being composed before the deluge.

continued...

Ge 5:1-32. Genealogy of the Patriarchs.

1. book of the generations—(See Ge 11:4).

Adam—used here either as the name of the first man, or of the human race generally.4004

The manner of man’s creation repeated, Genesis 5:1-2. The genealogy, age, and death of the fathers from Adam to Noah, in the line of Seth. Seth begotten of Adam after his image, Genesis 5:3. The piety and translation of Enoch, Genesis 5:24. Lamech’s prophecy of his son Noah, Genesis 5:29. Sons born to Noah, Genesis 5:32.

This is the book, i.e. the list or catalogue, as this word is taken, Nehemiah 7:5 Matthew 1:1, as it is also put for any short writing, as for a bill of divorce, as Deu 24:1-2.

The generations of Adam, i.e. his posterity begotten by him; the word being passively used. But he doth not here give a complete list of all Adam’s children, but only of his godly seed, which preserved true religion and the worship of God from Adam to the Flood, and from whose loins Christ came, Luke 3:1-38.

God created man. This is here repeated to note the different way of the production of Adam, and of his posterity; his was by creation from God, theirs by generation from their parents. See Genesis 1:26.

in the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; this is repeated from Genesis 1:27 to put in mind that man is a creature of God; that God made him, and not he himself; that the first man was not begotten or produced in like manner as his sons are, but was immediately created; that his creation was in time, when there were days, and it was not on the first of these, but on the sixth; and that he was made in the likeness of God, which chiefly lay in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, and in dominion over the creatures.

(a) Read Ge 1:26.