God's Way of Writing History
Genesis 5:1-32
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;…


Bible history is written on the principle of abridgment and selection. God Himself is the abridger and selector. He has written the story of His own world in His own way, and according to His own plan, keeping such things as these in view —

1. What would most glorify Himself.

2. What would most benefit the Church upon the whole.

3. What would mark distinctly the stages leading on to the incarnation of His Son.

4. What would prove the true humanity of Messiah as the seed of the woman, and so the embodiment of the grace and truth wrapt up in the first promise to man.The first verse carries us back to the earlier chapters, and repeats the statement already given as to man's creation in the Divine image. It is plain from it that God desires us to look at and ponder such things as these —

1. Man's creation by God.

2. His creation in the likeness of God.

3. His creation, male and female.

4. His being "blessed" by God, and that he enters this world as a blessed being, not under the curse at all.

5. His receiving the name of Adam, or man, from God Himself, as if God specially claimed the right of nomenclature to Himself.How much importance must God attach to these things when He thus repeats them at so brief an interval! He does not repeat in vain. Every word of God is "pure," and it is full of meaning, even though we may not now see it all. It is not a mere grain or atom; it is a seed, a root.

(H. Bonar, D. D.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;

WEB: This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him in God's likeness.




Distinguished Men
Top of Page
Top of Page