CHAPTER 5

5:1-2 This is the genealogy of men in the day in which God made Adam; in the image of God he made him: 2 male and female he made them, and blessed them; and he called his name Adam, in the day in which he made them.

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO. This seems to me to be inserted for this purpose, that here again the reckoning of the times may start from Adam himself— a purpose which the writer had not in view in speaking of the earthly city, as if God mentioned it, but did not take account of its duration. But why does he return to this recapitulation after mentioning the son of Seth, the man who hoped to call on the name of the Lord God, unless because it was fit thus to present these two cities, the one beginning with a murderer and ending in a murderer (for Lamech, too, acknowledges to his two wives that he had committed murder), the other built up by him who hoped to call upon the name of the Lord God?… After having presented the two cities, the one founded in the material good of this world, the other in hope in God, but both starting from a common gate opened in Adam into this mortal state, and both running on and running out to their proper and merited ends, Scripture begins to reckon the times, and in this reckoning includes other generations, making a recapitulation from Adam, out of whose condemned seed, as out of one mass handed over to merited damnation, God made some vessels of wrath to dishonor and others vessels of mercy to honor; in punishment rendering to the former what is due, in grace giving to the latter what is not due: in order that by the very comparison of itself with the vessels of wrath, the heavenly city, which sojourns on earth, may learn not to put confidence in the liberty of its own will, but may hope to call on the name of the Lord God. For will, being a nature which was made good by the good God, but mutable by the immutable, because it was made out of nothing, can both decline from good to do evil, which takes place when it freely chooses, and can also escape the evil and do good, which takes place only by divine assistance. [City of God 15.21 NPNF s.1 v.2]

JEROME OF STRIDON. 5:2 HE MADE THEM MAN AND WOMAN, AND BLESSED THEM, AND CALLED THEIR NAME ADAM, that is, mankind. So the designation 'man' is applicable both to man and to woman. [Hebrew Questions on Genesis]

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM OF CONSTANTINOPLE. (Gen. 5:1-2) This is the number of the posterity of Adam. In the day that God created man, God made him in his likeness; He created them male and female, and he gave them the name of Adam, that is to say, terrestrial, in the day he created them. See how he uses the same words as at the beginning, to teach us that these infamous generations, he no longer judges them worthy of memory; it begins with the child who lives then, I want to tell Seth, the genealogy, to teach us how much life men are before God, and how God hates bloodthirsty souls. He passes them in silence, as if they had not lived, showing us all that is sinister in sin, teaching us the perverse. attract the greatest evils. See! here they are now stricken from the catalog; their memory is remembered only to show the infamy of their perversity, only for the example and correction of the generations who follow them. But he whom injustice has put to death, only the hand. of a brother deprived of life, from these times to our days, is praised by all the mouths. No time has extinguished the memory of one, nor diminished the crime of the other; this one, every day, is celebrated by all men; the other remains forever attached to an infamous post. Do you understand all that corruption has to do with all that virtue has? Do you understand how even malice, which attacks and triumphs, is struck with death and vanishes? how does virtue, attacked, persecuted in combats without number, acquire for this reason even more brilliancy and more glory? Other similar events could be drawn from the same teaching for you, my beloved ones, but do not stray from our subject; let us take again the words which you have heard: Here is the enumeration of the posterity of Adam. In the day that God created man, God made him in his likeness; he created them male and female, and he gave them the name of Adam in the day he created them. See how, by this way of recounting the story from the beginning of the world, divine Scripture reminds us of the insignificant honor that man has received from his Creator. In the day, says the Scripture, that God created man, God made him in his likeness, that is to say, put him at the head of all visible creatures; in fact, this expression, in its resemblance, must be understood as domination and command; for just as God commands all creatures, both visible and invisible; since it is he who created everything, who did everything; likewise, when he formed the animal which has the privilege of reason, he wished to confer upon him the honor of commanding all visible creatures. As a result he gave him the substance of the soul, wanting him also to possess immortality, perpetuity. And now, when the man was broken by his fault, when he had transgressed the commandment that had been done to him, even then, God did not turn away completely from him. [Homilies on Genesis]

5:3 And Adam lived two hundred and thirty years, and begot a son after his own form, and after his own image, and he called his name Seth.

JEROME OF STRIDON. 5:3 THEN ADAM LIVED 230 YEARS AND BEGAT A SON IN HIS IMAGE AND LIKENESS, AND CALLED HIS NAME SETH. It is to be understood that up to the story of the Flood, where in our codices it is said that someone aged 200 and however many more years fathered a child, in the Hebrew it has 100 and the remaining years which follow. [Hebrew Questions on Genesis]

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM OF CONSTANTINOPLE. See again here the diligent care of the blessed prophet: Adam, he said, begot such things in his image and likeness, and he called him Seth. When he spoke of his first son, of Cain, he said nothing of the sort, already sensing the inclination to evil, and the prophet was right; for he did not preserve the manners which characterized his father, but he quickly let himself be carried away to evil. Here, on the contrary, he says: In his image and likeness, which means: having the same customs as the one who had begotten him, retaining the same qualities of virtue, destined to reproduce by his works the image of his father, to repair, by his peculiar virtue, the fault of his elder brother. Indeed, Scripture does not speak here of the features of the body, when it says: In his image and likeness, but qualities of the soul, so that we understand that it will not look like Cain. [Homilies on Genesis]

5:4-5 And the days of Adam, which he lived after his begetting Seth, were seven hundred years; and he begot sons and daughters. 5 And all the days of Adam which he lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO. begetting Seth. It was not necessary that the first-born should succeed their fathers in the kingdom, but those would succeed who were recommended by the possession of some virtue useful to the earthly city, or who were chosen by lot, or the son who was best liked by his father would succeed by a kind of hereditary right to the throne. [City of God, 15.20 NPNF s. 1 v.2]

EPIPHANIUS OF SALAMIS. And so we must be surprised at someone (like Tatian) who knows, as I too have found in the literature — that our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified on Golgotha, nowhere else than where Adam’s body lay buried. Nor after leaving Paradise, living opposite it for a long time and growing old, Adam later came and died in this place, I mean Jerusalem, and was buried there, on the site of Golgotha. This is probably the way the place, which means “Place of a Skull,” got its name, since the contour of the site bears no resemblance to a skull. Neither is it on some peak so that this can be interpreted as a skull, as we say of the head’s position on a body. Nor is it on a height. And indeed, it is no higher than the other “places” either. Opposite it is the Mount of Olives, which is higher; and Gibeon, eight milestones off is the highest of the three. Even the height which was once in Zion but has now been leveled was itself taller than Golgotha. Why the name “Of the Skull” then, unless because the skull of the first-formed man had there and his remains were laid to rest there, and so it had been named “Of the Skull”? By being crucified  above them our Lord Jesus Christ mystically showed our salvation, through the water and blood that flowed from him through his pierced side—at the beginning of the lump beginning to sprinkle our forefather’s remains,  to show us too the sprinkling of his blood for the cleansing of our defilement and that of any repentant soul; and to show, as an example of the leavening and cleansing of the filth our sins have left, the water which was poured out on the one who lay buried beneath him, for his hope and the hope of us his descendants. [Panarion 46.5.1-2]

JEROME OF STRIDON. 55:4 NOW THE DAYS OF ADAM AFTER HE BEGAT SETH WERE 700 YEARS. Because the text had made a mistake in the matter of the 200 years, it therefore put here 700 years, while in the Hebrew it has 800, 100 in addition. [Hebrew Questions on Genesis]

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM OF CONSTANTINOPLE. and he died. Some say that Adam died at the place of a skull, and there lies; and that Jesus in this place where death had reigned, there also set up the trophy. For He went forth bearing the Cross as a trophy over the tyranny of death: and as conquerors do, so He bare upon His shoulders the symbol of victory. [Homily 85 on the Gospel of John, NPNF s.1 v.14]

5:6-23 Now Seth lived two hundred and five years, and begot Enosh. 7 And Seth lived after his begetting Enosh, seven hundred and seven years, and he begot sons and daughters. 8 And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died. 9 And Enosh lived an hundred and ninety years, and begot Cainan. 10 And Enosh lived after his begetting Cainan, seven hundred and fifteen years, and he begot sons and daughters. 11 And all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years, and he died. 12 And Cainan lived an hundred and seventy years, and he begot Maleleel. 13 And Cainan lived after his begetting Maleleel, seven hundred and forty years, and he begot sons and daughters. 14 And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died. 15 And Maleleel lived an hundred and sixty and five years, and he begot Jared. 16 And Maleleel lived after his begetting Jared, seven hundred and thirty years, and he begot sons and daughters. 17 And all the days of Maleleel were eight hundred and ninety and five years, and he died. 18 And Jared lived an hundred and sixty and two years, and begot Enoch: 19 and Jared lived after his begetting Enoch, eight hundred years, and he begot sons and daughters. 20 And all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty and two years, and he died. 21 And Enoch lived an hundred and sixty and five years, and begat Mathusala. 22 And Enoch was well-pleasing to God after his begetting Mathusala, two hundred years, and he begot sons and daughters. 23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty and five years.

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM OF CONSTANTINOPLE. (Gen. 5:9-23) Let us now return to our subject, let us see the succession of succeeding generations. It is probable that by advancing step by step we will find a greater treasure of abundant and ineffable riches. And, says the Scripture, Enos, son of Seth, having lived a hundred and ninety-five arts, begat Cainan; and Cainan begot Malaleel; and Malaléel begot Jared; and Jared begot Enoch. Enoch lived one hundred and sixty-five years and begat Mathusala. Now, says the Scripture, Enoch was pleasing to God, and lived, after begetting Mathusala, two hundred years, and he begotten. sons and daughters. And all the days of Enoch's life were three hundred and sixty-five years old. Enoch was pleasing to God, and he no longer appeared because God took him away. (Gen. V, 7, 24.) Was not I right in saying that in advancing step by step, we would find in these names a spiritual treasure, ineffable? Consider here, my beloved, and the virtue of the righteous man, and the excess of the goodness of God, and the diligent care of the Holy Scripture. Enoch, says the text, lived a hundred and sixty-five years and begat Mathusala, and, says the Scripture, Enoch was pleasing to God, after begetting Mathusala.

Let all listen, and men and women, that all learn the virtue of the righteous man, and let no one imagine that marriage is an impediment to those who wish to make themselves agreeable to God; for Divine Scripture proposes to instruct us here when it tells us on two occasions: Begot Mathusala, and then was agreeable when it takes up this detail and says to us: And it was agreeable to God after having begotten him. It is so that no one sees marriage as an obstacle to virtue. If we have temperance, nor the education of children, nor marriage, nor anything, will be an obstacle to becoming pleasing to God. See, indeed, this man of the same nature as us; he had not received the law, he had not been instructed by Scripture, he had no guide to lead him to wisdom. Well! he has found in himself, in the resources of his will, what to make himself agreeable to God, so that he is alive, still alive today, that he has never experienced death. If marriage, my beloved, or the education of children was an impediment to virtue, the Creator of all things would not have made marriage one of the states of our life, to injure us in our first interests, to make us lose what is most necessary to us; but, not only does marriage not oppose any obstacle to the wisdom which God commands, not only does it not hinder us in anything if we wish to practice temperance; but, on the contrary, it is a great consolation, it is a brake which represses the insensate ardor of nature, which prevents like the turbidity of the waves which torment us, it is a means for us to happily sail our boat. to the port, and that is why divine grace has given men this consolation. And he did not practice virtue for a few days; he lived, says the Scripture, two hundred years. After the transgression of Adam, there was a man capable of rising to the highest peak of virtue, of repairing the fault of our first father, by the special favor he enjoyed with God. See here as the divine goodness overflows! As soon as God found a man who could repair the sin of Adam, God, to show by the reality that he did not want to strike the human race with death, because of the disobedience of the past, when he condemned this disobedience, take Enoch and remove him alive. Enoch, Scripture says, was pleasing to God, and he did not appear, because God took him away. Do you see the wisdom of the Lord? he removes it alive, it does not give it immortality, for fear of weakening the fear of sin; but he leaves in the midst of men this fear in all his strength. It is for this reason that he revokes, so to speak, in an obscure and latent manner, the sentence against Adam. He does not do it visibly, because fear must serve to correct us. That's why, as Enoch was quite nice to him, he took it off. Now, if curiosity dares to ask questions: And where did he remove it? is he still alive today? I answer the curiosity that this complacency for human thought is unsuitable, that one must not explore so curiously the actions of God, that one must believe in the word. When God pronounces, there must be no contradiction; what God reveals by his words deserves, though invisible, more faith than all the objects subject to our gaze; Scripture says that God took him away, that God lifted him alive, that he did not suffer death, that, by the particular favor he enjoyed with God, he became superior to the decree against all men. Where did God remove him? what is Enoch doing today? Scripture did not say it. [Homilies on Genesis]

THEODORET OF CYRUS. Why did people of old live for such a long time? So that the race would grow in numbers thanks to the longer lifespan. This is also the reason they had many wives. Indeed, from the flood up to the time of the patriarchs, they had long lives, but when they had populated the world, the number of their years was shortened. [Question 49 on Genesis]

5:24 And Enoch was well-pleasing to God, and was not found, because God translated him.

ALCUIN OF YORK. (Gen. 5:24). WHY WILL THE SAME ENOCH DIE (REV. 11:3)? — Answer. So that he should pay the debt of human nature, and that no one should be able to do what Christ refused to do, that is, not to die. [Question 18]

WHY HAS ENOCH BEEN PRESERVED FROM DEATH FOR SO LONG? — Answer. In order to show what all men would have been capable of if they had not sinned. (Bed. Hexm. I, PL 91, col. 49.) [Questions and Answers on Genesi, 17]

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO. For Enoch and Elijah were not reduced to the weakness of old age by their long life. But yet I do not believe that they were then changed into that spiritual kind of body, such as is promised in the resurrection, and which the Lord was the first to receive; only they probably do not need those aliments, which by their use minister refreshment to the body; but ever since their translation they so live, as to enjoy such a sufficiency as was provided during the forty days in which Elijah lived on the cruse of water and the cake, without substantial food; (1 Kings 19:8) or else, if there be any need of such sustenance, they are, it may be, sustained in Paradise in some such way as Adam was, before he brought on himself expulsion therefrom by sinning. And he, as I suppose, was supplied with sustenance against decay from the fruit of the various trees, and from the tree of life with security against old age. [On Merit and the Forgiveness of Sins, 1.3 NPNF s.1 v.5]

JOHN OF DAMASCUS. But Enoch and Elijah the Thesbite shall be sent and shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, that is, the synagogue to our Lord Jesus Christ and the preaching of the apostles: and they will be destroyed by the Antichrist. And the Lord shall come out of heaven, just as the holy apostles beheld Him going into heaven, perfect God and perfect man, with glory and power, and will destroy the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction, with the breath of His mouth. [Orthodox Faith 4.28 NPNF s.2 v.9]

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM OF CONSTANTINOPLE. Enoch was pleasing to the Lord. And he did not practice virtue for a few days; he lived, says the Scripture, two hundred years. After the transgression of Adam, there was a man capable of rising to the highest peak of virtue, of repairing the fault of our first father, by the special favor he enjoyed with God. See here as the divine goodness overflows! As soon as God found a man who could repair the sin of Adam, God, to show by the reality that he did not want to strike the human race with death, because of the disobedience of the past, when he condemned this disobedience, take Enoch and remove him alive. Enoch, Scripture says, was pleasing to God, and he did not appear, because God took him away. Do you see the wisdom of the Lord? he removes it alive, it does not give it immortality, for fear of weakening the fear of sin; but he leaves in the midst of men this fear in all his strength. It is for this reason that he revokes, so to speak, in an obscure and latent manner, the sentence against Adam. He does not do it visibly, because fear must serve to correct us. That's why, as Enoch was quite nice to him, he took it off. Now, if curiosity dares to ask questions: And where did he remove it? is he still alive today? I answer the curiosity that this complacency for human thought is unsuitable, that one must not explore so curiously the actions of God, that one must believe in the word. When God pronounces, there must be no contradiction; what God reveals by his words deserves, though invisible, more faith than all the objects subject to our gaze; Scripture says that God took him away, that God lifted him alive, that he did not suffer death, that, by the particular favor he enjoyed with God, he became superior to the decree against all men. Where did God remove him? what is Enoch doing today? Scripture did not say it. [Homilies on Genesis]

5:25-32 And Mathusala lived an hundred and sixty and seven years, and begot Lamech. 26 And Mathusala lived after his begetting Lamech eight hundred and two years, and begot sons and daughters. 27 And all the days of Mathusala which he lived, were nine hundred and sixty and nine years, and he died. 28 And Lamech lived an hundred and eighty and eight years, and begot a son. 29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This one will cause us to cease from our works, and from the toils of our hands, and from the earth, which the Lord God has cursed. 30 And Lamech lived after his begetting Noah, five hundred and sixty and five years, and begot sons and daughters. 31 And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and fifty-three years, and he died. 32 And Noe was five hundred years old, and he begot three sons, Sem, Cham, and Japheth

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO. (Gen. 5:25-27). THE LENGTH OF THE LIFE OF METHUSELAH. — They often wondered how Methuselah, according to the calculation of his years, could live after the flood, if, as the Scripture says, all men perished except those who entered the ark (Cf. Gen. 7:21-22). In this respect it must be said that the question arises because of the poor preservation of the manuscripts, for not only the Hebrew manuscripts contain different numbers, but some manuscripts of the Septuagint, few but the best, say Methuselah died six years before the flood. [Questions on Genesis, 2]

EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA. (Gen. 5:32) And Noah, that just man, who was saved alone with his family when the whole world was destroyed, after the birth of his children, though he lived many years more, is not related to have begotten more children. [Demonstratio Evangelica 1.9]

JEROME OF STRIDON. 5:25 AND METHUSELAH LIVED FOR ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN YEARS AND BEGAT LAMECH. AND METHUSELAH LIVED AFTER BE HAD BEGOTTEN LAMECH 802 YEARS, AND BEGAT SONS AND DAUGHTERS. AND ALL THE DAYS OF METHUSELAH WHICH HE LIVED WERE 969 YEARS, AND HE DIED. — A famous question, agitated and discussed in all churches, arose from the fact that a careful calculation carries the death of Methuselah fifteen years after the flood. It was at the age of one hundred and sixty-seven that he begat Lamech, and it was at the age of one hundred and eighty-eight that Lamech in his turn begat Noah. Now the years of Methuselah's life, up to the days of Noah's birth, number 355. Then, in the 600th year of Noah's life, the Flood occurred. So by this means it is proved by the usual calculation done by portion after portion [of Scripture], that the Flood took place in the 955th year of Methuselah. Now since he is said above to have lived 969 years, there is no doubt that he continued to live fourteen years after the Flood. How, then, is it true that only eight lives were saved in the ark? Therefore, as in many other instances so also in this, it remains that there is a mistake in the number. However, both in the Hebrew books, and in those of the Samaritans, I have found it written thus: And Methuselah lived for 187 years and begat Lamech. And after he had begotten Lamech, Methuselah lived for 782 years and he begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died. And Lamech lived for 182 years, and begat Noah. Therefore from the day of Methuselah's birth to the day of Noah's birth there are 369 years; add to these Noah's 600 years, since the Flood occurred in the 600th year of his life; and so it turns out that Methuselah died in the 969th year of his life, in the year when the Flood began.

5:29 AND HE CALLED HIS NAME NOAH, SAYING, THIS ONE WILL MAKE US REST FROM OUR WORKS. Noah can be explained as meaning 'rest'. Therefore he was called 'rest', because in that man's days all former works ceased as a result of the Flood. [Hebrew Questions on Genesis]

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM OF CONSTANTINOPLE. (Gen. 5:25-29) You see the goodness of God: he finds a man of perfect virtue, and he does not rob him of the dignity he had given to the first man before his disobedience. God shows us that if the seduction of the devil had not prevailed in Adam against obedience, he would have honored him with an equal dignity, superior perhaps. Mathusala, having lived a hundred and eighty-seven years, begat Lamech; Lamech, having lived a hundred and eighty years, begot a son whom he called Noah, saying that He will make us rest from our labors, and from the fatigues of our hands, and will comfort us in the land which the Lord has cursed. (Gen. V, 25-29.) Now see in the name of the son of Lamech a new proof of the greatness of the mysteries, of the excellence of the prophecy, of the ineffable goodness of God. God, in his foreknowledge, foresaw things to come; when he saw that the malice of men was increasing day by day, he predicted, in the name of this child, the evils which were to melt down all the race of men, so that, corrected by terror, they might renounce their vices and embrace virtue; and see the patience of the Lord, who takes care that the prophecy precedes the event long beforehand, to show his mercy and to deprive of any excuse those who were reserved, in the future, for punishment.

(Gen. 5:32) But perhaps I will be told: where did Lamech receive such power of prophecy? Does Scripture tell us that his virtue was sublime, admirable? Stop being astonished, my beloved; in His wisdom, in His power, Our Lord often employs unworthy beings in the prediction of astonishing wonders, and this is what we see, not only in the Old Testament, but also in the New. Listen to the Evangelist, speaking of Caiaphas, the high priest of the Jews: but he did not say this of himself; but, being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus Christ should die for the nation of the Jews, and not only for that nation, but also to gather and reunite the nations that were scattered. (John, XI, 51.) You will find an example of the same kind about Balaam. Indeed, called to curse the people, not only does he not curse him, but he also predicts many amazing things, not only concerning the people, but also on the advent of our Savior. (Numbers XXIV.) Stop, then, from astonishing the name that Lamech gave to his child, but bring it all to the wisdom of God, who disposes all things. And he called her Noah. This name means: rest. So this universal destruction, which must come after so much. of years, it is called rest; This is how Job says: Death is a rest for man. (Job, III, 23.) Corruption is fatigue, work, excess of punishment; and that which stops it, and that which cuts it off, the disaster which was to make it disappear, is called repose; and he called her, says the text, the name of Noah. Then follows the explanation of the name: This one will make us rest from our labors, that is to say, will turn us away from our iniquity, and from the fatigues of our hands; it is the same thought: we will turn away, means the text, from our evil works. The Scripture, in fact, does not mean the actual pains of the hands, but the bad works, the criminal actions which increased the pains; and will comfort us in the land that the Lord has cursed, that is, free us from all the evils that press us, from the hardships and miseries that we endure in cultivating the land that has incurred (132) the curse, because of the disobedience of the first man. . Make a remark here, my beloved; this little child grows up little by little, and he is, for all those who see him, an opportunity to educate himself, for soon each of those who inquired about the name of the child must have known, on hearing the explanation from this name, the universal destruction that was to happen. Suppose that an inspired man had only announced it in advance, the prediction would have been soon forgotten, all would not have known the terrible punishment; but behold, he whom every eye can see, announces in due course, and well before the time, the anger of the indignant God. And now that we know exactly how long, by the name alone, the son who bore this name continued to warn all men to renounce sin and to embrace virtue, To escape from wrath, Scripture says: Noah, being five hundred years old, begot three sons. (Gen. V, 32.) You see again another righteous with a wife and sons; who has surrendered, by doing good, quite agreeable to God; who, doing the opposite of all others, has chosen the path of virtue; and neither marriage nor the education of children have been an obstacle to him. And now what must be admired is the ineffable patience of God and the prodigious corruption of the men of this time. This is, indeed, for five hundred years, a screaming righteous, whose only name proclaims the universal flood, which will come to punish the excess of human malice, and, despite this warning, they have not given up their iniquities. However, the God of mercy, even after such an eloquent prophecy, after so many years, does not yet send punishment; he adds to his patience, he adds a few more years to his sweetness that supports evil. It is because he did not create the human race to punish him, but, on the contrary, to fill him with innumerable goods, which he would see us enjoy. This is why you see God everywhere hesitating, adding delays to delays, delaying punishment. [Homilies on Genesis]

THEOPHILUS OF ANTIOCH. And this Noah had three sons, whose names were Shem, and Ham, and Japhet; and these had three wives, one wife each; each man and his wife. This man some have called a eunuch. [To Autolycus 3.19]