Genesis 6:5

"The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time."  Genesis 6:5

That's pretty harsh, that these men never had a thought that wasn't evil.  That doesn't sound like a place you would want to live.  From the previous verse, we know that even the children of God's followers were leading others further astray.  There might be people that we describe this way now, but in general I don't think we would describe our society as a whole this way.  This is a world I don't even want to imagine living in.  A place where no one had a good intention or thought.  It's no wonder God said he wasn't going to deal with man forever.  How disappointed he must have been with his creation.

Genesis 6:4

"The Nephilim were on the earth in those days - and also afterward - when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them.  They were the heroes of old, men of renown."  Genesis 6:4

There are several different possible translations of the word "Nephilim."  Many translations just transliterate as if this is the name of a people.  The Qbible translates it as "giants" but it also could mean "bully" or "tyrant."  In his book Old Testament Synonyms (page 54) Robert Baker Girdlestone points out that the word is derived from the form of "to fall" implying that these are men that used their power to cause other to fall.  From that "tyrants" actually seems like the closest translation to the truth.  Especially with the last sentence that these were "the heroes of old, men of renown."  So the children of the followers of God that married outside of their faith were the powerful men of their time that used their power to lead others further astray.

Genesis 6:3

"Then the Lord said, 'My spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.'"  Genesis 6:3

According to the Qbible "mortal" can be translated as "flesh" and "to go astray or sin."  So it's not because of man's flesh and blood body that God will not always deal with man, but the fact that man has strayed and sinned.  Because of this God is numbering man's days to 120 years. 

Was God to end the world in 120 years?  Or is that the new life span?  Obviously God didn't end the world 120 years after that, otherwise we all wouldn't be here.

Genesis 6:2

"The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose."  Genesis 6:2

According to the Qbible sons doesn't have to literally mean sons, but could include a member of a group like a nation or followers of an ideal.  In this instance it could be as Ligonier Ministries suggests that the sons of God are of Seth's line, followers of God and the daughters of men are of Cain's line.  If two fleshes become one in marriage then it's going to be difficult to stay faithful if your other half doesn't believe.  That's a major reason it is wise to marry within your own religion.

Genesis 6:1

"When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them."  Genesis 6:1

It's interesting that it specifies when mankind began to have daughters.

Genesis 5:32

"After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth."  Genesis 5:32

Instead of just mentioning one of Noah's sons the Bible tells us the names of three of his sons and then stops there.  It looks as if he only had the three sons.  It doesn't tell us how close in age these boys were or if they were triplets only that Noah had them all by the time he was 500.

Shem means name, Ham means hot, and Japheth means opened.

Genesis 5:31

"Altogether, Lamech lived 777 years, and then he died."  Genesis 5:31

So far Lamech died at the youngest age.  He still definitely lived a long life.  It makes me wonder at his character.  Was he a tired world wear man that had lost hope or did he still cling to his hope even as he neared the end of his life?  He must have had a good example in his grandfather Enoch, but did he follow that example or did he feel like God had forsaken them?

Genesis 5:30

"After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters."  Genesis 5:30

Now we're back to the pattern.  So the important thing to note for this story is that Lamech was the father of Noah.  Noah is the one we need to be paying attention to.

Genesis 5:29

"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 had cursed.'"  Genesis 5:29

Now Lamech gives us a reason for naming his son Noah which means rest.  So life was hard and Lamech was tired and longed for rest.  Doesn't sound too different from today.

Genesis 5:28

"When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son."  Genesis 5:28

Another break in pattern.  Instead of giving the name of the son, it just says Lamech had one.  Breaks in pattern always indicate that there's something noteworthy to pay attention to.

Genesis 5:27

"Altogether, Methuselah lived 969 years, and then he died."  Genesis 5:27

The son of Enoch, the man who walked with God, has the longest life span.  Hopefully he followed in his father's footsteps.

Genesis 5:26

"And after he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah live 782 years and had other sons and daughters."  Genesis 5:26

So now we're 9 generations away from creation.  It only takes one generation to see the world change.  How much had the world changed from what God had originally created?

Genesis 5:25

"When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech."  Genesis 5:25

According to the Qbible Lamech means powerful.

Genesis 5:24

"Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away."  Genesis 5:24

So Enoch did not die, but instead God took him from this world.  That Enoch walked with God is reminiscent of God walking through the Garden of Eden before the fall.  It's like Enoch had the relationship with God that God had wanted with Adam and Eve - that he wants with all of mankind.  What a legacy to leave behind.  Until the end of days, Enoch will always be known as the man that walked with God.

Genesis 5:23

"Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years."  Genesis 5:23

Another deviation from the previous entries in the genealogy.  The men before ended with "and then he died," but Enoch does not have this included.

Genesis 5:22

"And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters."  Genesis 5:22

This is something different. Enoch walked with God.  According to the Qbible "walk" can be translated as more than just "walking" but also as just "moving, coming, going, or continuously conversing."  So as Enoch lived it was in continual conversation with God.

Genesis 5:21

"When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah."

According to the Qbible Methuselah means "man of the dart."

Genesis 5:20

"Altogether, Jared lived 962 years, and then he died."  Genesis 5:20

How many generations below could he have known?

Genesis 5:19

"And after he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters."  Genesis 5:19

By now, if each man lived a millenia and had even waited to start having kids until he was in his sixties and kept at it even if only for a 100 years, there could have been a lot of people on Earth at that point.  If Adam and each of his sons had 20 sons there could have been 60 million people in Enoch's generation alone.  The next generation would have been 1 billion and the next 25 billion.  There are over 7 billion people in the world now.  If livescience is right that the Earth can only support 10 billion people max, then my guess is either they didn't have that many kids each and just like today there were people that didn't have kids.

Genesis 5:18

"When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch."  Genesis 5:18

According to the Qbible Enoch means dedicated.  So it sounds as if he was a dedication, I would think to God, but it really doesn't specify.

Genesis 5:17

" Altogether, Mahalalel lived 895 years, and then he died."  Genesis 5:17

Can you imagine living almost a millennium?  Now we think 70 is old.

Genesis 5:16

"And after he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters."  Genesis 5:16

None of these men had only 1 or 2 kids.  If they lived that long, how many did they have?

Genesis 5:15

"When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared."  Genesis 5:15

According to the Qbible Jared means descendant.  It also notes that the word used that is translated as "became the father of" could also be translated to "show lineage" which doesn't necessarily mean that these men mentioned in this genealogy were direct descendants of each other.  It's possible that there are gaps in the line. 

It makes you wonder if that is the case, how did they decide who to include and who to skip.  Is it just a case of this guy did something memorable in our history or was an important figure that everyone knew who they were so we all remembered their names but not the ones in between?  Like if someone were to ask me about the royal line of England.  I could probably list a few and know who was descended from who, but not be able to list every generation.

Or this could be a literal genealogy where "became the father of" means "became the father of."  Does it really matter now if there were gaps or not?

Genesis 5:14

"Altogether, Kenan lived 910 years and then he died."  Genesis 5:14

So Kenan actually lived longer than his father Enosh by 5 years.

Genesis 5:13

"And after he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had others sons and daughters."  Genesis 5:13

Again Mahalalel is the only son mentioned by name.

Genesis 5:12

"When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel."  Genesis 5:12

That's quite a name.  It almost looks like someone was stuttering, but according the Qbible it actually means "praise of God."  That means that Kenan, the great grandson of Adam, knew of God and thought he was worthy enough to name his son in honor of him.

Genesis 5:11

"Altogether, Enosh lived 905 years, and then he died."  Genesis 5:11

So far each son has lived a few years less than his father.  Adam was 930.  Seth 912, and Enosh 905.  Is this the result of the original sin, the life spans getting shorter?  Or is this just coincidence?

Genesis 5:10

"And after he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters."  Genesis 5:10

I wonder if Kenan was his first born or if he had other children before.

Genesis 5:9

"When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan."  Genesis 5:9

According to the Qbible Kenan means possession.  It seems like an odd name to give your son.  Maybe it's not meaning possession the way we think of it - as a thing, something to be owned.  Perhaps instead it's more like claiming kinship, saying, "this is my son and I'm proud of that."  The Bible doesn't tell us anything about the character of Enosh or Kenan.  All we know is that they were descendants of Adam and they lived really long lives.

Genesis 5:8

"Altogether, Seth lived 912 years, and then he died."  Genesis 5:8

So total Seth lived total 912 years.  That's a long life.  Like Adam, he could have had many, many more children after Enosh before he died.