Generations of Adam

Biblical longevity
Name	Age	LXX
Methuselah	969	969
Jared	962	962
Noah	950	950
Adam	930	930
Seth	912	912
Kenan	910	910
Enos	905	905
Mahalalel	895	895
Lamech	777	753
Shem	600	600
Eber	464	404
Cainan	—	460
Arpachshad	438	465
Salah	433	466
Enoch	365	365
Peleg	239	339
Reu	239	339
Serug	230	330
Job	210?	210?
Terah	205	205
Isaac	180	180
Abraham	175	175
Nahor	148	304
Jacob	147	147
Esau	147?	147?
Ishmael	137	137
Levi	137	137
Amram	137	137
Kohath	133	133
Laban	130+	130+
Deborah	130+	130+
Sarah	127	127
Miriam	125+	125+
Aaron	123	123
Rebecca	120+	120+
Moses	120	120
Joseph	110	110
Joshua	110	110

"Generations of Adam" is a concept in Genesis 5:1 in the Hebrew Bible. It is typically taken as name of Adam's line of descent going through Seth. Another view equates the generations of Adam with material about a second line of descent starting with Cain in Genesis 4, while Genesis 5 is taken as the "generations of Noah".

Seth and Cain

Both the Cainite and the Sethite lines begin with Adam and end with the name Lamech. The Lamech descended from Cain is described as the father of Yaval and Yuval (from his first wife Ada) and Tuval Kayin and Na'ama (from his second wife, Tzelah). The Lamech at descended from Seth is described as the father of Noah.

Sethite	Cainite
Seth	Cain
Enos	Enoch
Cainan	Irad
Mahalaleel	Mehujael
Jared	Methusael
Enoch	Lamech
Methuselah	Tubal-Cain
Lamech	--
Noah	--

The Sethite line also gives ages at fatherhood and at death. In the Masoretic text, ages at death range from 365 (Enoch) to 969 (Methuselah), placing the text in the category of longevity narratives. The Septuagint and Samaritan Pentateuch differ somewhat in the ages given; in the Septuagint, the age at fatherhood is often 100 years later than that in the Masoretic text, extending the genealogy by several centuries.

The second-century BC Book of Jubilees, regarded as non-canonical except by Coptic Christianity, gives the wives' names for the Sethite line:

Husband	Wife
Seth	Azura
Enos	Noam
Cainan	Mualaleth
Mahalaleel	Dinah
Jared	Baraka
Enoch	Edna
Methuselah	Edna
Lamech	Betenos
Noah	Emzara

Interpretations

The word "generations", toldoth, appears 11 times in Genesis, providing a natural division of the book into nine to twelve narratives. Though the term is often taken as referring forward in the text, so that the "generations of Adam" refers to material in Genesis 5:2-6:8, Henry M. Morris proposed a detailed system in which the term is a delimiter that generally refers backward, where the "book of generations of Adam" is literally the prior text, Genesis 2:4b-4:26, handed down from the patriarchs to Moses. With the generations of Ishmael and Esau being exceptions as interpolations in material attributed to their brothers Isaac and Jacob respectively, this assigns each division to an author appropriate to it.

Because Methuselah has the oldest age appearing in the bible, the name "Methuselah" has become a general reference to longevity.

The enigmatic description given to Enoch is that he "walked with God, and was not", suggesting bodily translation to heaven and leading to speculation and lore such as the second-century BC Book of Enoch, which is canonical in Coptic Christianity.

Name	Etymological translation
Adam	"Man", masculine of adamah, "earth", "ground".
Seth	"Appointed one" (Genesis 4:25), from shith.
Enos	"Mortal frailty", from anash, "sick", "frail", "mournful", "melancholy", "wicked". By analogy to anashim (cf. ben Yehuda, Aramaic Enosh in Daniel), may denote "peoples", alluding to the spreading forth of the population in his day.
Cainan	"Smith"; or "habitation", "possession", "lot", from primitive root qen, "birdsnest".
Mahalaleel	"God be praised", from primitive root "shining forth" and El, "God".
Jared	"Descent", from primitive verb "come down", "prostrate", perhaps alluding to the Watchers that wrongfully descended from heaven among men in his day and led them astray in the Book of Enoch.
Enoch	"Dedication", "discipling", "teaching", from primitive root "train up".
Methuselah	"When he dies, judgment", from muth, "death", and shelach, "send forth", "rest"; or "man of the dart", "spear", "sword", from math, "man", and shelach, "sword"; or "man sent forth"; or "from him sent forth", from me-otho, "from him".
Lamech	"Conqueror", from melekh, "king"; "captive", "slave", "pauper", by relationship to same root.
Noah	"Rest", "comfort", from primitive root nuch, "rest".

Comparisons

Seth to Cain

Form critics consider the two lines as corruptions of one tradition. Both the similarities and the differences between lines are significant and do not admit simple explanation:

Sethite line	Cainite line
Seth	Yahweh
Enos (mortal)	Adam (mankind)
Cainan	Cain
Mehalaleel	Enoch (or Mehujael?)
Jared	Irad
Enoch	Mehujael (or Enoch?)
Methuselah	"Methuselah" (per Septuagint)
Lamech	Lamech

Seth to Sumer

Both the Sethite line and the antediluvian Sumerian king list have ten names prior to a flood and speak of exceptional longevity that significantly diminishes after the flood. However, tentative homologies between the names on the two lists, besides possibly Adapa and Adam, are matters of dispute.

References

• Genesis Patriarchs - FamilyPedia Genealogy of Adam

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original article was at Generations of Adam. The list of authors can be seen in the page history.