Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Genesis
Book: Genesis
Chapter: 5
Overview:
Adam and
Seth.
(1-5) The patriarchs from
Seth to
Enoch.
(6-20)
Enoch.
(21-24) Methuselah to
Noah.
(25-32)
1-5 Adam was made in the image of
God; but when fallen he begat
a son in his own image, sinful and defiled, frail, wretched, and
mortal, like himself. Not only a
Man like himself, consisting of
body and soul, but a sinner like himself. This was the reverse
of that Divine likeness in which
Adam was made; having lost it,
he could not convey it to his seed.
Adam lived, in all, 930
years; and then died, according to the sentence passed upon him,
"To
Dust thou shalt return." Though he did not die in the
Day he
ate forbidden
Fruit, yet in that very
Day he became mortal. Then
he began to die; his whole
Life after was but a reprieve, a
forfeited, condemned
Life; it was a wasting, dying
Life.
Man's
Life is but dying
By Degrees.
6-20 Concerning each of these, except
Enoch, it is said, "and
he died." It is
Well to observe the deaths of others. They all
lived very long; not one of them died till he had seen almost
eight hundred years, and some of them lived much longer; a great
while for an immortal soul to be a prisoner in a
House of
Clay.
The present
Life surely was not to them such a
Burden as it
commonly is now, else they would have been weary of it. Nor was
the future
Life So clearly revealed then, as it now under the
Gospel, else they would have been urgent to remove to it. All
the patriarchs that lived before the
Flood, except
Noah, were
born before
Adam died. From him they might receive a full
account of the
Creation, the fall, the promise, and the Divine
precepts about religious
Worship and a religious
Life. Thus
God
kept up in his
Church the knowledge of his will.
21-24 Enoch was the seventh from
Adam.
Godliness is walking
with
God: which shows reconciliation to
God, for two cannot walk
together except they be agreed, Am 3:3. It includes all the
parts of a godly, righteous, and sober
Life. To walk with
God,
is to set
God always before us, to act as always under his
Eye.
It is constantly to care, in all things to please
God, and in
nothing to offend him. It is to be followers of him as dear
children. The Holy
Spirit, instead of saying,
Enoch lived, says,
Enoch walked with
God. This was his constant care and work;
while others lived to themselves and the world, he lived to
God.
It was the joy of his
Life.
Enoch was removed to a better world.
As he did not live like the
Rest of mankind,
So he did not leave
the world
By Death as they did. He was not found, because
God
had translated him, Heb 11:5. He had lived but 365 years,
which, as men's ages were then, was but the midst of a
Man's
days.
God often takes those soonest whom he loves best; the time
they lose
On Earth, is gained in
Heaven, to their unspeakable
advantage. See how
Enoch's removal is expressed: he was not, for
God took him. He was not any longer in this world; he was
changed, as the saints shall be, who are alive at
Christ's
second coming. Those who begin to walk with
God when young, may
expect to walk with him long, comfortably, and usefully. The
true
Christian's steady walk in
Holiness, through many a
Year,
till
God takes him, will best recommend that religion which many
oppose and many abuse. And walking with
God Well agrees with the
cares, comforts, and duties of
Life.
25-32 Methuselah signifies, 'he dies, there is a
Dart,' 'a
sending forth,' namely, of the
Deluge, which came the
Year that
Methuselah died. He lived 969 years, the longest that any
Man
ever lived
On Earth; but the longest
Liver must die at last.
Noah signifies
Rest; his parents gave him that name, with a
prospect of his being a great blessing to his
Generation.
Observe his
Father's complaint of the calamitous state of human
Life,
By the entrance of
Sin, and the
Curse of
Sin. Our whole
Life is spent in labour, and our time filled up with continual
toil.
God having cursed the ground, it is as much as some can
do, with the utmost care and pains, to get a hard livelihood out
of it.
Lamech hoped for relief
By the
Birth of this son, "This same shall
comfort us." It signifies not only that desire and expectation
which parents generally have about their children, that they
will be comforts to them and helpers, though they often prove
otherwise; but it signifies also a prospect of something more.
Is
Christ ours? Is
Heaven ours? We need better comforters under
our toil and sorrow, than the dearest relations and the most
promising offspring; may we seek and find comforts in
Christ.