Genesis 5 is the genealogy of Adam. The first interesting thing to me is that Cain and Abel are not listed, even though they were the first born. I guess it’s because Abel was murdered and Cain ran off, even though he had sons and daughters. So Adam’s lineage begins with Seth. The pattern of the next 20 or so verses is the same.
“FATHER” lived “X” years and begot “SON”. After “SON”, “FATHER” lived “Y” years and had sons and daughters. So all the days of “FATHER” were “X+Y” and he died.
Adam begot Seth. (v3-5)
Seth begot Enosh. (v6-8)
Enosh begot Cainan. (v9-11)
Cainan begot Mahalalel. (v12-14)
Mahalalel begot Jared. (v15-17)
Jared begot Encoh. (v18-20)
Then something changes. Enoch’s “obituary” reads different.
Genesis 5:21-24 (NKJV)
21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. 22 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
987 Years after God created Adam, he took Enoch and Enoch did not die, because Enoch walked with God and pleased him.
Hebrews 11:5 speaks of Enoch:
5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
He took him well short of his natural life span for those days. Adam lived 930 years; Seth lived 815 years; Enosh lived 905 years; Cainan lived 910 years; Mahalalel lived 895 years; Jared lived 962 years; Jared was taken at 365 years.
I bring it up because Enoch’s son, Methuselah, was old enough to see his ancestors living to be very old men and to see his dad taken by God – because he walked with God – and yet Methuselah’s life reads exactly the same as his anscestors. He begat Lamech, had sons and daugthers and died after 969 years.
How quickly a generation forgets the godliness and impact of the preceding ones. This is all the Scripture records about Methuselah.
Or maybe, how lasting an impact the previous generations have on our children, thus the more we have give our children to Him and parent them as He leads us. I don’t know.
For me, today, I want to be more like Enoch. I want my impact to go beyond the next generation of my children, but to impact my children’s children’s children for the Lord, and not away from Him.
What does it look like to “walk with God” like Enoch did? What was the result of those men in the Scriptures who did? This would be an interesting word study.
