What is the meaning of Genesis 5:4? And after he had become the father of Seth • The text points back to Genesis 4:25, where Eve declares, “God has granted me another offspring in place of Abel, because Cain killed him.” Seth stands as the appointed line through which the promise of Genesis 3:15 moves forward. • Luke 3:38 confirms Seth as an ancestor of Christ, underscoring the importance of this lineage for redemption. • Genesis 5:3 states that Seth was born “in his (Adam’s) own likeness, according to his image,” reminding us that, while marred by the Fall, the image of God endures in humankind. Adam lived 800 years • These years are literal. Antediluvian longevity is repeated throughout Genesis 5 (e.g., Methuselah’s 969 years, v. 27), underlining an environment and genetic vigor that differed from post-Flood conditions (cf. Genesis 7:11; 8:22). • Long life allowed the firsthand transmission of God’s words across generations. Adam overlapped with Lamech, Noah’s father (Genesis 5:3–32), so knowledge of creation and the Fall could be passed on reliably. • The contrast with Psalm 90:10 (“The length of our days is seventy years, or eighty if we have the strength”) highlights the eventual shortening of human life spans after sin’s cumulative effects and the Flood. and had other sons and daughters • Scripture affirms that Adam and Eve populated the earth as the single original couple (Genesis 1:28; Acts 17:26). • The mention of “other sons and daughters” explains where Cain found a wife (Genesis 4:17) and how early civilization expanded (Genesis 4:20–22). • Marriages between siblings or close relatives were initially necessary and not yet prohibited; the Mosaic Law restricting such unions appears much later (Leviticus 18), after genetic corruption had increased. • The simple phrase assures us that all humanity shares the same ancestry, a truth Paul applies evangelistically in Acts 17:26–27. summary Genesis 5:4 records the ongoing life and fruitfulness of Adam after Seth’s birth: the covenant line continues, human longevity attests to a very different early world, and a growing family fulfills God’s mandate to fill the earth. The verse anchors the reliability of the genealogical record and reinforces the unity of the human race under the sovereign plan of God. |
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