Genesis Genealogical Info Chapter 5

Chapter: 5  has 32 verses

Author: J (According to Documentary Hypothesis) except for written by E (mentioned below).

Attributed Author: Traditionally Moses

Historical Context: J is attributed to an author that favors the kingdom of Judah. At the time of the writing, there are two regions known as the kingdom of Israel (E) and the kingdom of Judah (J). Probably written around 950 BCE

Theme: Adam’s Descendants

Content:

I got this chart from Wikipedia. It contains more information than in the text itself, but I find that the visual helps to understand why genealogical information was important. The generational view is pretty good too. I’ve come up with a format that might yield an easy way to understand who was born when and to what age

Format is as follows:

• [Years to Date] Ancestor [age @ death]
  • [age of death after descendant] -> [age of ancestor when descendant was born ] Descendant [age @ death]

• [0] Adam [930]
  • [800 years after Seth was born] -> Cain;  Adam -> Abel;  Adam ->  [130] Seth [912]
• [130] Seth [912]
  • [807 years after Enosh was born] -> [105] Enosh [905]
• [235] Enosh [905]
  • [850 years after Kenan was born] -> [90] Kenan [910]
• [325] Kenan [910]
  • [850 years after Mahalalel was born] -> [70] Mahalalel [895]
• [395] Mahalalel [895]
  • [830 years after Jared was born] -> [65] Jared [962]
• [460] Jared [962]
  • [800 years after Enoch was born]-> [162] Enoch [365  -“walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him.”]
• [622] Enoch [365]
  • [300 years after Methuselah was born] -> [65] Methuselah [969]
• [687] Methuselah [969]
  • [782 years after Lamech was born] -> [187] Lamech  [595]
• [874] Lamech [777]
  • [595 years after Noah was born] -> [182] Noah []
• [1056] Noah [950*]
  • [] -> [500] Shem []; Noah ->  Ham; Noah -> [] Japheth []
• After every Descendant the phrase “and had other sons and daughters.”

Scholarly Annotations:

• God is referred to LORD God in most translations. LORD in this case is the word YHWH so it reads as “YHWH God”
• The story has much in common with the Enûma Eliš which is the Babylonian Creation story.
• The word for Man is Adam; Eden means Delight
• The age of Noah is found in a later chapter; Genesis 9:29

TSA Annotations:

• Genealogical stuff has always been tedious to me.
• According to the math, Adam would have been alive to see up to Lamech.
• Some have tried to interpret the longevity of these biblical patriarchs as being pegged to a lunar calendar instead of a solar one. Which would make Methuselah about ~78 years old, which is still a healthy age and scientifically plausible. (dividing by 12.36 = 365/29.531; total days in a year divided by total days in a lunar cycle estimated up)
• Enoch is the most interesting character in this chapter. I find it quite funny that essentially because no one found the body and Enoch “walked with God” that the conclusion is that God “took him.” Where exactly, is neither specified or hinted at.

Misc and or Trivia: It’s important to note that as far as kingdoms go,  at the height of each, the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah combined are about the size of NJ.