February 3, 2017
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Life Goes On And On!

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Faithful Lord, when all else fails I have You with me. I give You praise that I have Your strength and presence.

Read Genesis 5:1–32

[1] This is the written account of Adam’s family line. When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. [2] He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created. [3] When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. [4] After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. [5] Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died. [6] When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh. [7] After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. [8] Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died. [9] When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. [10] After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. [11] Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died. [12] When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel. [13] After he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. [14] Altogether, Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died. [15] When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared. [16] After he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. [17] Altogether, Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years, and then he died. [18] When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. [19] After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. [20] Altogether, Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died. [21] When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. [22] After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. [23] Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. [24] Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. [25] When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. [26] After he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. [27] Altogether, Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died. [28] When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. [29] He named him Noah and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed.” [30] After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. [31] Altogether, Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died. [32] After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflect

“When we come to the New Testament and the teachings of Jesus, we really begin to understand how precious is the individual in the sight of God” (A. Leonard Griffith).

Genealogies in the Old Testament are often included to indicate on the one hand continuity and, on the other hand, the passage of time. Writers were not too concerned about details, often missing generations and using symbolic numbers, but they did want readers to know that those at the start of the list and those at the end were linked together. Here the emphasis is on the fact that these are all human beings created by God, in his likeness, males and females—although the writer focuses almost entirely on the males! The numbers here seem to be large, maybe incredibly large, although things do change. A hundred years ago life expectancy in the USA was less than 50. Since I was young it has increased from under 70 to over 80 and the number of people reaching 100 has rocketed in a way that would have seemed unbelievable to my grandparents. We don’t have enough evidence to know whether the numbers in this chapter reflect longer lives in the times between creation and flood, or are composed in a different way—for example by describing someone’s age at death as the sum of the ages of their children (or sons), or eldest son and eldest grandson—or are exaggerations. The actual numbers were not the major concern of the writers. The other important thing to note is that people matter. We don’t know whether Enoch’s faithfulness to God is mentioned because it was so unusual in these times, but we do know that each one mentioned, including those who are not known in any other context, is known to God and has the potential of living a significant life in the same way as Noah did.

Apply

What lessons for life can you learn from Enoch (21–23)?

Closing prayer

Lord God, help me to recognize, as I look over past and future generations, that all are created in Your likeness and all have the potential to serve You and humankind.

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