V. PATRIARCHAL GENEALOGY FROM ADAM TO NOAH. (1) THIS IS THE BOOK OF THE GENERATIONS OF ADAM. — See on Genesis 2:4, and _Excursus_ on the Books of Generations. IN THE LIKENESS OF GOD. — Man is now a fallen being, but these words are repeated to show that the Divine likeness was not therefore lost,... [ Continue Reading ]
IN HIS OWN LIKENESS, AFTER HIS IMAGE. — That is, Adam handed down to his posterity that Divine likeness which he had himself received. SETH. — See on Genesis 4:25.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DAYS THAT ADAM LIVED WERE NINE HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS. — The numbers in the Bible are involved in great difficulty, owing to the Hebrew method of numeration being to attach numerical values to letters, and add them together; and as the words thus formed are unmeaning, they easily become corrup... [ Continue Reading ]
ENOS LIVED NINETY YEARS. — This proves that the years could not have been mere revolutions of the moon, as some have supposed. So Cainan was only seventy years of age at the birth of his son, and Mahalaleel sixty-five. In the LXX. no patriarch has a son until he is at least 162 years of age, so that... [ Continue Reading ]
JARED. — Heb., _Yered._ This name is supposed to mean the _descent,_ especially of water. Hence many have endeavoured to show that he is the Indian water-god _Varuna;_ but competent modern commentators regard all such Aryan expositions as exploded. Mr. Sayce tells us that the word in Assyrian means... [ Continue Reading ]
ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD. — This is translated in the LXX., “Enoch pleased God,” whence comes the “testimony” quoted in Hebrews 11:5. Really it gives the cause of which the Greek phrase is the effect; for it denotes a steady continuance in well-doing, and a life spent in the immediate presence of and i... [ Continue Reading ]
HE CALLED HIS NAME NOAH. — This is the first recorded instance, since the days of Eve, of a child being named at his birth, and in both cases the name ended in disappointment. Noah brought no rest, but in his days came the flood to punish human sin. We have already noticed that this longing of Lamec... [ Continue Reading ]
NOAH WAS FIVE HUNDRED YEARS OLD. — No reason is given why Noah had no son until he had attained to so ripe an age, nor, in fact, does it follow that he might not have had other sons, though unworthy of sharing his deliverance. It is remarkable also that neither of the three sons who were with him in... [ Continue Reading ]