Gen. 5:28-32; 7:1-6, From Adam to the Flood

I want to share some background work I am doing in preparation for an Old Testament Survey class.  This may seem to be a bit academic.  But the goal is to enhance our understanding of the OT, and to encourage reading and study in the OT.  If that goal is reached, then the Spirit will have much to use in the area of application.  But I don’t really think Scripture must ever be merely “academic.”  We may see some things that will hit home for us, encouraging or admonishing us.

We are going to begin with an exercise in dating of important figures in the OT, dates depending on the Biblical record in Gen. 5, with Gen. 7:6 identifying the year of the flood.  In the chart below, the years are the time since the creation of Adam.  For each man there are three dates: his birth, the birth of his firstborn (not necessarily the oldest but the one with authority), and his death.  Thus, for example, Adam gave birth to Seth in the year 130 (after creation) and died in the year 930.  Enoch was born in the year 722, gave birth to Methuseleh in the year 787, and was taken to be with the Lord in 987.

0 Adam
130	Seth
930	235	Enosh
	1042	325	Cainan
		1140	395	Mahalelel
			1245	460	Jared
				1290	722	Enoch
					1422	787	Methuseleh
						987	974	Lamech
								1156	Noah
							1656	1651	1656	Flood

Here are a few observations from this chart.

·       For perspective, Adam was alive until the time of Enoch.  Seth, the son of Adam and Eve, was alive when Lamech, the father of Noah, was born.

·       This is the line of godly people, as indicated in Gen. 4:26: Then men began to call on the name of the LORD.  Thus, while Methuseleh died in the year of the flood, he did not die in the flood.

·       While the world was becoming increasingly evil, the indication is that Lamech, the father of Noah, was a godly man.  He gave his son the name “Noah,” meaning rest, because he believed this one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD has cursed (Gen. 5:29).

·       Abel and Enoch are mentioned in Heb. 11, referring to those who waited for the promise of the Savior (Gen.3:15) but who obtained a good testimony through faith, but did not receive the promise (Heb. 11:39-40).  In other words, they were men of faith; but they died before the Savior came.