Genesis 5:1-32
The Men Who Did Not Age . . .
Part I
There is a chapter in the Bible where mankind did not age . . . As We Age. I know. . . I tricked you to get to this article, and I admit it, for you see I just left off the phrase ‘as we age.’ But I do not think that is tricking you, for there is truth in the title. Many, however, will be offended that I used that word, you know that word, that word that the twisted minds say that I cannot use: man/men. I am a woman, I know that you knew that 🙂 because my name is at the top of the heading on this article on this website. I am not afraid nor will I be intimated to not mention these terrible words; I use the words ‘men,’ and ‘man’ because the word of God uses those words, it describes the condition of all of humanity. In this, I am truly saddened that many women do not feel that they are in any way a part of humanity, this is sad! Now that I have gotten the sarcasm out of my system (wow — that felt good for those who are emoticons challenged, I am joshing, :S is sarcasm) let me get on with this article titled The Men Who Did Not Age . . . As We Age.
Chapter 5 of the book of Genesis at first
appears to be a never ending catalogue of meaningless strange sounding names, and a census of fictional (NOT!) characters. I realize that many readers will just quickly move through these names, however, I find it most necessary to at least show you this Chapter. Most readers (whether Christian or not) do not like reading a list of names, probably because they have been instructed that there is nothing here to see — as the traffic police say — Move on, there’s nothing here to see, move on! I say, however, that there is much to see here, and there is much to learn here. Nothing, and I mean nothing in Scripture is without purpose. Sometimes, we are so narrow minded that we do not understand His purposes, but nevertheless, there is a purpose to every word, every name, every number, and every period and comma. The Bible is literal, and symbolical, and supernatural — all in one book. The Bible is its own dictionary and its own thesaurus.
I will note for you a quick reference for my statement that the Bible is its own dictionary and its own thesaurus. (Romans 7:7 and 8) The word is ‘concupiscence.’ Let’s see how easy it is to follow the meaning. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. (Romans 7:8) What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. (Romans 7:7) The Bible supplies the meaning and synonyms, all you have to do is read the verses that are before or after the word in question, and you will have the meaning. Concupiscence means lust and one of the many outcomes of lust is covetousness. Wasn’t that easier than picking up a separate book for information. Isn’t the King James Bible great? Many (I cannot say ALL for I do not know, but many) of the Bibles other than the KJV remove the word concupiscence maybe because it is sooo hard to read, and sooo hard to understand what this big word means. This is called dumbing down readers. Just this subject alone of the Bible being its own dictionary and thesaurus can be a huge volume. Now, let’s move on the Genesis, Chapter 5.
Genesis 5:1-32
ADAM – Genesis 5:1-5
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; (Genesis 5:1) Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. (Genesis 5:2) And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: (Genesis 5:3) And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: (Genesis 5:4) And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died. (Genesis 5:5)
SETH – Genesis 5:6-8
And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos: (Genesis 5:6)
And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters: (Genesis 5:7)
And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.(Genesis 5:8)
ENOS – Genesis 5:9-11
And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan: (Genesis 5:9)
And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters: (Genesis 5:10)
And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died. (Genesis 5:11)
CAINAN – Genesis 5:12-14
And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel: (Genesis 5:12)
And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters: (Genesis 5:13)
And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died. (Genesis 5:14)
MAHALALEEL – Genesis 5:15-17
And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared: (Genesis 5:15)
And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters: (Genesis 5:16)
And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died. (Genesis 5:17)
JARED – Genesis 5:18-20
And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch: (Genesis 5:18)
And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: (Genesis 5:19)
And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died. (Genesis 5:20)
ENOCH- Genesis 5:21-24
And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: (Genesis 5:21)
And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: (Genesis 5:22)
And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: (Genesis 5:23)
And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. (Genesis 5:24)
METHUSELAH – Genesis 5:25 – 27
And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech: (Genesis 5:25)
And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters: (Genesis 5:26)
And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died. (Genesis 5:27)
LAMECH – Genesis 5:28 – 31
And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: (Genesis 5:28)
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. (Genesis 5:29)
And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:(Genesis 5:30)
And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died. (Genesis 5:31)
NOAH – Genesis 5:32
And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Genesis 5:27)
NOAH – Genesis 9:28-29
And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. (Genesis 9:28) And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died. (Genesis 9:29)
Understanding that you speed read, and probably just glanced at the bold headings (and I don’t blame you) it is now time to address some of the issues that you probably have with this chapter. Writing for this type of website is challenging because I do not know who will be reading (if any); the scoffer, or the believer? The challenge, however, is for me (the writer) to just write and leave everything in the hands of the Holy Spirit of God to lead wherever and whoever He desires.
The first issue would probably be the extended periods of time that these men lived. To the scoffer I say, Why scoff? You believe in extended life as you most probably desire to live a long life, do you not? If there was no possibility of living a long life then you would not desire to do so. Cryonics is a very active sought after process for many who desire an extended life. There is also extremely active research being accomplished by DNA-based cosmeceutical companies geared in the development of age extension. So scoffers do not scoff at extended age!
Our limited minds cannot conceive the vigor and strength in which these men lived throughout their long lives. The antediluvian world was not the same world as we know it today. There, of course, are many unknown factors of the Antediluvian Age. The atmosphere most probably was different, cloud cover most probably different, as Scripture informs us — And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. (Genesis 2:5) But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. (Genesis 2:6) Scripture doesn’t stop here in the Old Testament in Genesis, but we learn more of the events of the flood through Hebrews 11:7. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. The antediluvians had never experienced either rain or flooding. Either one of these ideas are quite possible since a mist continually rose up from the earth and watered all life. For a mist to rise continually from the ground would, of course, affect the environment and the atmosphere. There may have been one land mass, not continents, I do not know. The diet of the antediluvian’s was not the food that we consume today. The water and food sources were far purer than what we have. And to add to this difference, their DNA was also purer, so DNA does change, and can change, and is changing. We look on those ancient peoples as being of the same make up as we are, and living in the same environment as we live in, and having the same food sources as we have. Disease and sickness may not have existed during this age, these are all unknown factors. Disease and sickness has only been recorded and documented within life after the age of the antediluvians. We cannot envision a purer or a society physically better existing before our own age — the Age of the Aging!
What determined the length of age? That is an easy one. Sin determined the age of mankind. In Biblical history men continued to live long lives up until the period of Abraham who died at the age of 175. At one time in the history of the world if a man lived to be 50 that was considered extraordinary. Man wishes for long life, and both science and medicine is geared to give man more time on earth, however, man wants life on his own terms and not God’s terms. Everyone would love to live longer and longer, but with sin and godlessness growing around us day by day corrupting both young and old, it would be difficult indeed to live a godly life among the dregs of society. As mankind sinned more and more his life expectancy shortened. When the smell of putrid sin permeates our planet God must judge. Our sin is so great that sexual sins, murders, heinous crimes are committed on a daily basis even by the young — how great will our judgment be! It is more than environment or the corruption of our food chain that has placed age limitations on humanity, it is humanity itself that has corrupted our own environment and our own food chain.
God set the years of mankind as documented in Psalm 90:10, The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Threescore years and ten is 70 years, and fourscore years is 80 years. Our years are measured
For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. (Psalm 90:9)
The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. (Psalm 90:10)
Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.(Psalm 90:11)
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)
LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. (Psalm 39:4)
Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. (Psalm 39:5)
For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. (Psalm 90:4)
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (2 Peter 3:8)
As the sin of mankind became unbearable for our Creator He simply shortened our life span so that we would have less time to sin, and therefore, less time to invent more ways to sin. Notwithstanding, God in His grace and mercy has provided a way for man to live forever. And here is the irony, mankind will do practically everything and anything to live longer, that is almost everything and almost anything, all except one thing! That is to acknowledge their Creator as their Savior, because man will not admit to their need of a Savior unless that savior is of his own ilk. Man wants eternal life, but of his own making, of his own ideas, of his own requirements; that is why mankind established religion because he did not want God setting any requirement for salvation, and thus to acquire eternal life it must come only by God and through God. Yes, you want eternal life, but you want it your way. Who do you think you are, Frank Sinatra? It’s your way or no way! Guess what, it’s NO WAY!
This is God’s way and His only way:
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3)
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: (John 11:25)
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. (1 John 5:10)
And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. (1 John 5:11)
He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. (John 17:3) (1 John 5:12)
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.(John 6:47)
© Copyright 2017, Mary Haigh
Article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.
All Scripture references are from the Authorized King James Bible. (KJV)