Genesis 5

Introduction:

Genesis 5 may look like just a list of names, but it tells a powerful story — a story of life, death, and faith.

Over and over we read the words “and he died,” reminding us that sin brings death just as God said.

Yet in the middle of it all stands Enoch — a man who walked with God and did not see death.

This chapter reminds us that even in a dying world, there is hope for those who walk by faith and find their comfort in God.

1. (V1) Genealogy

Adam through Seth to Noah

The genealogy is not complete, as the Bible makes it clear that Adam had sons and daughters

Not all his kids are listed in the genealogy

The purpose of the genealogy is to show the connection from Adam to Jesus

Adam: First human, establishing humanity

Noah: Preserved humanity through the flood

Abraham: Father of the Israelite nation

Isaac Son of Abraham

Jacob Son of Isaac, father of the twelve tribes

Judah One of Jacob's sons, ancestor of David

Matthew's Genealogy: Begins with Abraham and emphasizes Jesus as the "son of David," highlighting his royal lineage.

1.2 (V5) Adam dies

a) Adam lived 930 years

Longevity of ancient people. Apparently the environment before the flood enabled people to live longer.

 It is more likely that people did live much longer in the era before the flood.

This is because the degenerative effects of the fall on the human gene pool had not yet accumulated greatly and because the environment in the pre-flood world was so different, with the blanket of water vapors surrounding the earth (Genesis 1:6-8).

In the post-flood world, lifespans quickly came down to the lifespans we are familiar with today.

b) The consequence of sin was separation a spiritual death but now we a see the first death of natural causes

Living to be 930 years old, you wonder if Adam the consequence of death was on him mind

Adam and many others died as the result of sin

We say that death is a natural thing, but it really isn’t

The repeated phrase “and he died” echoes the consequence of sin from Genesis 3.

Every generation, no matter how long they lived, faced the same end—death.

Teaching point: Sin brings death.

This chapter shows the truth of God’s Word: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God didn’t forsake the human race, but rather He had a plan of restoration through Jesus Christ

Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,”

1.3 (V22) After he begot Methuselah

It seems Enoch began to walk with God in a special way after the birth of Methuselah.

The name Methuselah means, when he is dead, it shall come. 

1.4 (V24)Enoch walked with God

a) Enoch walked with God for 300 years

Despite the evil times, he walked with God

Hebrews 11:5 tells us the foundation of Enoch’s walk with God: 

His testimony pleased God

Walk is the biblical expression for fellowship and obedience that results in divine favor

It involves friendship, intimacy, love, and love, its personal between you and God

You can’t walk with God or please God apart from faith.

It was by faith Abel offered his sacrifice to God

He was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 

b) God took Enoch and he did not see death

Some see Enoch’s pre-flood rapture a picture of the church being taken to Heaven before God sends tribulation on the earth according to 1 Thes 4:13-5:11

Only two men have ever been taken by God, without dying, Elijah and Enoch

Hebrews 11:5 “By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”

c) Enoch had a special awareness from God that judgment was coming, and this was one of the things that got him closer in his walk with God.

Jude 14 “Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints”

2.2 (V29) This one will comfort us concerning our work and toil

Its believed that Noah was born about 14 years after the death of Seth

Lemech’s great concern was that mankind find comfort and rest in the midst of a wicked world

Life was difficult

Lemech named his son Noah, which sounds like the Hebrew word Comfort

Application: But we know there is no substitute for Jesus

People look for comfort in all the wrong places

Substances, relationships, careers, money, materialism, and sports

3. (V1) Men began to multiply

a) Considering how many years the average life span was in those times, you can imagine how many children they could have

3.1 (V2) The sons of God saw the daughters of men

a) Sons of God

 The first theory:

Many have believed the sons of God were those from the line of Seth, and the daughters of men were from the line of Cain, and this describes an intermarriage between the godly and the ungodly, something God specifically prohibits (Deuteronomy 7:1-4, 2 Corinthians 6:14).

2. The second theory:

 It is more accurate to see the sons of God as either demons (angels in rebellion against God) or uniquely demon-possessed men, and the daughters of men as human women.

The phrase sons of God refers to angelic creatures when it is used three other times in the Old Testament (Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7).

The translators of the Septuagint translated sons of God as angels.

Those ancient Jewish translators clearly thought sons of God referred to angelic beings, not to people descended from Seth.

Jude 1:6 tells us of the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own habitation.

Jude explains (Jude 1:7) they sinned in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh.

Here in Genesis 6, as in Sodom and Gomorrah, there was an unnatural sexual union.

b) There is an objection to this theory:

Some would object to this theory and they would make their case using Matthew 22:30,

Where Jesus said angels neither marry nor are given in marriage.

However, Jesus never said angels were sexless, and He also spoke of faithful angelic beings (the angels of God in heaven), not rebellious ones.

3.2 (V3) My Spirit shall not strive with man forever

Strive means to pursue

120 years probably refers to the years until the flood would come

a) There will be the time when the widow of God’s patience will run out

Judgement day will come

Eventually the warnings run out and the flood comes

2 Thessalonians 2:7 “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.”

3.3 (V4) There were giants on the earth

The word giants mean fallen one

3.4 (V5-7)The Lord was sorry that man on the earth

a) Human sin pained God

End with God’s grace