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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Genesis 5:21 - 5:32
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From Enoch to Shem, Ham, and Japheth
v. 21. And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah.
v. 22. And Enoch walked with God, after he begat Methuselah, three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
v. 23. And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years.
v. 24. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him. Here we have the short account of Enoch and the praise in which the New Testament joins, Heb_11:5-6. He walked with God: he was in the most intimate intercourse, in the most confidential relation with God. He clung to the invisible God and walked before Him at all times as though He were present and saw every act, heard every word. To such a degree of perfection did he attain in the course of the three centuries after the birth of Methuselah that God chose to take him from this world with its manifold misery. Without seeing death, he was translated into heaven, according to both body and soul. Although a ripe old age, also in our days, may be considered a gift of God, and is to be accepted with all thanksgiving, yet it is also a great kindness on the parts of God if He takes some of His children home in the bloom of their youth or in the fullness of their strength and usefulness. He always knows the best time.
v. 25. And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech.
v. 26. And Methuselah lived, after he begat Lamech, seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters.
v. 27. And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years; and he died. Methuselah thus enjoys the distinction of having reached the greatest age recorded for any human being.
v. 28. And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son.
v. 29. And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed. It is seen here that even the patriarchs felt the misery of this earthly life in all its burdensomeness. But incidentally Lamech, in explaining the name Noah which he gave to his son, showed that the Messianic hope was alive in him and in his family. Like Eve, he thought that this son of his was the promised Savior, he that would bring rest. Thus the faith and the hope of the fathers before the Flood were directed toward Christ, and herein they agree with the believers of all times.
v. 30. And Lamech lived, after he begat Noah, five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters.
v. 31. And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years; and he died.
v. 32. And Noah was five hundred years old; and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. With Noah the genealogical table closes; he was the last patriarch before the Flood. His three sons are mentioned because each of them became the ancestor of a separate branch of the human family after the Flood.
The following list will aid in giving a correct idea of the time of the patriarchs before the Flood.
Adam