(BA) Genesis 5 notes

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(5:1) book. Hebrew, sefer. A scroll or written record of some kind, not a "book" in the strict sense of the term.

(5:1) generations. Hebrew toldot, for for which there is no perfect English equivalent. This term is often used in Genesis to introduce family histories with genealogical content.

(5:1) Adam is a name meaning "human being", or collectively, "humankind". Here is where the Hebrew text starts calling him adam as a name, instead of calling him ha-adam, "the human", as before. (If we go by the Masoretic pointing, there are a couple of instances of "Adam" as a proper noun in Genesis 3, but these appear to be a mispointing.)

(5:3) According to Kittel we should insert here the Hebrew ben, "a son."

(5:3) in his own likeness, after his own image. Kittel suggests we should follow some manuscripts in reading after his own likeness, in his own image. Dillmann mentions this opinion as well.

(5:5) nine hundred thirty years. There is a striking resemblance between the lifespans of Genesis and those of the Babylonian King Lists. In both, a succession of extremely long-lived persons live before a flood, and after the flood the lifespans begin to decrease until they reach normal proportions.

(5:5) At the end of this verse, the Masoretic Text has a "paragraph" marker (setumah).

(5:6) one hundred five years. So Enosh is born when Adam is 235 years old.

(5:6) Enosh. The name means "human" or "man", a synonym for "Adam". Enosh occupies the same position in the Sethite genealogy that Adam does in the Cainite genealogy.

(5:8) As in verse five, a setumah at the end of this verse.

(5:9) ninety years. So Kenan is born when Adam is 325 years old.

(5:9) Kenan. In Hebrew, this name (QYNN) is close than it appears in English to Cain (QYN). Just as Adam ("human") is the father of QYN, so Enosh ("human") is the father of QYNN.

(5:11) As in verse five, a setumah is here.

(5:12) seventy years. So Mahalalel is born 395 years after the creation of Adam.

(5:12) Throughout this chapter, Mahalalel in the Masoretic Text is Maleleel in the Septuagint. Kittel has a fairly trivial comment on the vowels, if you want to look it up.

While in Genesis 5, the descendants of Kenan are Mahalalel, Jared, and Enoch (Hebrew MHLLʾL, YRD, and ḤNWK); in Genesis 4 the descendants of Cain are Enoch, Irad, and Mehuyael (ḤNWK, ʿYRD, and MHWYʾL). Though the order of the three is reversed, the resemblances are clear enough.

(5:14) Setumah again.

(5:15) sixty-five. So Jared is born 460 years after the creation of Adam.

(5:17) Setumah.

(5:18) one hundred sixty-two years. So Enoch is born 622 years after the creation of Adam, as the Masoretic Text has it. The Samaritan Pentateuch omits "one hundred". According to Kittel, so does one Hebrew manuscript.

(5:19) eight hundred. The Samaritan Pentateuch reads "seven hundred eighty-five".

(5:20) nine hundred sixty-two years. The Samaritan Pentateuch reads eight hundred forty-seven.

(5:21) sixty-five years. So Methuselah is born 687 years after the creation of Adam.

(5:22) Walking, in the Hebrew Bible, is at times a metaphor for one's way of life. Compare the case of Noah, who "walked with God" (Genesis 6:9). The use of "walked with God" instead of "lived" would seem to indicate that Enoch is considered a favorable figure, though the text does not say explicitly whether the walking with God consisted of righteous living or walking in a more literal sense with God. It is odd that a figure favored by God would live shorter than all the other pre-Flood figures. In both Genesis 5 and 4, Enoch is singled out for special comment while most of his fellow list members are not remarked upon.

(5:22) walked with God. The Lucianic recension of the Septuagint reads, walked with God, and he lived. Kittel endorses the Lucianic reading here.

(5:23) were. In Hebrew, the Masoretic Text here has the somewhat unusual (in this context) form vayehi (singular), while the Samaritan Pentateuch has 'the more expected vayihyu (plural). Compare verse 5, 8, 11, 31. See Kittel.

(5:24) Notice that the word die is not used of Enoch. One interpretation has been that Enoch, as someone God favored, was directly ushered bodily into heaven without dying first. Alternately, it could also be read as indicating that Enoch's death is simply not explicitly described, but clothed in more dignified language appropriate to his special status. A great deal of literature developed in early Judaism, "filling in the gaps", as it were, left by the very short reference in Genesis. A quote from the Enochian literature has found its way into the Epistle of Jude.

The verse ends in a setumah.

(5:25) one hundred eighty-seven. Thus, in the Masoretic Text, Lamech is born 874 years after the creation of Adam. The Samaritan Pentateuch has sixty-seven.

(5:25) Lamech. Both the Methuselah of this genealogy and the Methushael of Genesis 4 become the father of a man named Lamech.

(5:26) seven hundred eighty-two. So Methuselah dies in the year 1656, which is the year of the Flood. One interpretation is that Methuselah was an exceptionally wicked man, as the math indicates that he is the only person named as dying in the Flood. Another interpretation is that God waited until just after the death of Methuselah to send the Flood, as a favor to Noah, so as not to kill his grandfather.

The Samaritan Pentateuch reads six hundred fifty-three.

(5:27) nine hundred sixty-nine. The Samaritan Pentateuch reads seven hundred twenty.

The verse ends with a setumah.

(5:28) one hundred eighty-two. The Samaritan Pentateuch reads fifty-three.

(5:29) saying. In both genealogies, Lamech is the only character who is quoted as speaking. While the Lamech of Cain's lineage speaks about violence, the Lamech of Seth's lineage at least thinks he is speaking about peace.

(5:29) comfort. The Hebrew verb is odd. See here.

(5:29) work. The Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, and Peshitta read works.

(5:29) toil. Or, "pain". The Hebrew term is the same one used in the curse of Adam and Eve, where they are sentenced to the pain of farming and childbirth, respectively.

(5:30) five hundred ninety-five. So, in the Masoretic Text, Lamech dies in the year 1651 after Adam's creation, five years before the Flood. The Samaritan Pentateuch reads six hundred.

(5:31) were. Masoretic Text has vayehi. Kittel thinks we should read vayihyu, as in verse 23.

(5:31) seven hundred seventy-seven. The Samaritan Pentateuch reads six hundred fifty-three.

(5:31) Setumah.

(5:32) five hundred years. So Noah is five hundred years old in the year 1556 from Adam's creation, one hundred years before the Flood. As to chronology, the naming of the three children with the associated date would seem to indicate that they, or at least the oldest of them, were born when Noah was five hundred years old. Otherwise, why is the 500 year date given at all? It is of course to indicate Noah's age at having one or more sons. And the first individual on the list is Shem, so it would be logical to assume that this verse provides a basis for dating the birth of Shem. And Genesis is explicit about Shem being the oldest. 10:21 calls him "the elder brother of Japheth", while 9:24 identifies Ham as the youngest.

(5:32) Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Kittel says that some Masoretic and Samaritan manuscripts read Shem, and Ham, and Japheth.

Like the genealogy of Cain, the genealogy of Seth ends with the birth of three sons who are in some sense the "fathers" of various later peoples.

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