5:17 And all the days of Mahalaleel Initiated, dedicated. Lamech 182 777 874 1651 /
were eight hundred ninety and five Noah 500 1056 2006 /
years: and he died. /
5:18 And Jared lived a hundred sixty Hebrews 11:3-6 Through faith we under- "walked" (halak) ** no physical death, translated at 365 /
and two years, and he begat Enoch: stand that the worlds were framed by To walk, to travel with, to comm- Notes: Methuselah died in the year of /
5:19 And Jared lived after he begat the word of God, so that things which unicate with, to go along with. the flood. Only Noah was born /
Enoch eight hundred years, and are seen were not made of things after the death of Adam. /
begat sons and daughters: which do appear. "and was not" (ayin) /
5:20 And all the days of Jared were By faith Abel offered unto God a To be nothing, to not exist. "walked with the God" /
nine hundred sixty and two years: more excellent sacrifice than Cain, Notice that this phrase is repeated /
and he died. by which he obtained witness that he "took" (laqach) for emphasis. Probably it is not /
5:21 And Enoch lived sixty and five was righteous, God testifying of his To take, to fetch, to seize. intended to portray that Enoch liter- /
years, and begat Methuselah: gifts: and by it he being dead yet ally walked with the Lord as Adam and /
5:22 And Enoch walked with God after speaketh. "Methuselah" (methuwshelach) Eve did in the garden. For Enoch had /
he begat Methuselah three hundred By faith Enoch was translated that Man of a dart, judgment. also inherited the sin nature from /
years, and begat sons and he should not see death; and was not Adam as had all the others before him. /
daughters: found, because God had translated Enoch's walk was a walk of faith in /
5:23 And all the days of Enoch were him: for before his translation he "Lamech" (lemek) which he diligently desired to do as /
three hundred sixty and five had this testimony, that he pleased Strong, conqueror. the Lord would have him to do. /
years: God. /
5:24 And Enoch walked with God: and But without faith it is impossible "for God took him" /
he was not; for God took him. to please him: for he that cometh to "Noah" (noach) Some scholars have proposed that it /
5:25 And methuselah lived a hundred God must believe that he is, and that Rest. does not say that Enoch was trans- /
eighty and seven years, and begat he is a rewarder of them that dilig- ported to heaven. That possibly it /
Lamech: ently seek him. "comfort" (nacham) means that the Lord took him immedia- /
5:26 And Methuselah lived after he Jude 14-15 And Enoch also, the seventh A sigh, to ease onself, to tely and spared him the pains of a /
begat Lamech seven hundred eighty from Adam, prophesied of these, comfort, to repent onself slow natural death. But this is not /
and two years, and begat sons and saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with how the writer of Hebrews understood /
daughters: ten thousands of his saints, "work and toil" (masaeh itstsabown) this passage. It meant "that he /
5:27 And all the days of Methuselah To execute judgment upon all, and An action, labour; should not see death" for "that he /
were nine hundred sixty and nine to convince all that are ungodly pain, sorrow, toil. pleased God" And how do we please /
years: and he died. among them of all their ungodly deeds God? "If you love me keep my comma- /
5:28 And Lamech lived a hundred which they have ungodly committed, "cursed" (arar) ndments." The true believer has the /
eighty and two years, and begat a and of all their hard speeeches which A bitter curse. desire to keep the commandments of /
son: ungodly sinners have spoken against God as the foremost thought in his /
5:29 And he called his name Noah, him. "Shem" (shem) mind. And the basis for this desire /
saying, This same shall comfort us Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being Name, renown. is through faith that the Lord is /
concerning our work and toil of warned of God of things not seen as the righteous eternal supreme Being /
our hands, because of the ground yet, moved with fear, prepared an Ark "Ham" (cham) that the Scriptures say He is. /
which the Lord hath cursed. to the saving of his house; by the Hot, warm. /
5:30 And Lamech lived after he begat which he condemned the world, and "he had this testimony" /
Noah five hundred ninety and five became heir of the righteousness "Japheth" (yepheth) The writer of Jude further informs /
years, and begat sons and which is by faith. Expansion, enlarged. us that Enoch was a prophet. That /
daughters: he spoke words concerning the judg- /
5:31 And all the days of Lamech were ment of the Lord. The Words from /
seven hundred and seventy years Jude seem to parallel what is writ- /
and he died. ten in one of the three apocryphal /
5:32 And Noah was five hundred years books purportedly written by Enoch. /
old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and These books are very interesting, /
Japheth. but appear to many scholars to cont- /
ain some fictional material. The /
Arabs have a tradition that Enoch /
invented writing and that he did /
leave writings. /
/
MATTERS OF CONTENTION MATTERS OF CONTENTION /
/
"All the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years:" "blessed them" /
Scholars and skeptics have long pondered and debated over the listings Accepting that the ancients lived a much longer life span, and being of /
of the ages of the patriarchs prior to the flood. The most skeptical a inquiring mind, to what can we attribute this longevity? /
would of course say that it is just another Biblical "myth". But they /
must contend with the many other writings and traditions that agree that Genetic purity: Many scholars have proposed that the Creator had given /
early man lived a longer lifespan. The Persians, Egyptians, Hindus, Adam a perfect body and wonderful genetic structure. That the offspring of /
Greeks and many others had traditions of a longer life. Flavius Josephus, Adam and Eve would inherit this wonderful quality and the result would be /
the Jewish historian had this to say in his "Antiquities of the Jews" that there would be few things to deterioriate the body structure. Harmful /
gene mutations would require a number of generations to occur and multiply. /
"Now I have for witnesses to what I have said, all those that have written /
Antiquities, both among the Greeks and barbarians; for even Manetho, who Environmental purity: Unless the Creator purposely created harmful bact- /
wrote the Egyptian History, and Berosus, who collected the Chaldean Monum- eria and other harmful elements, they would not be present. It would also /
ents, and Mochus, and Hestiaeus, and besides these, Hieronymus the Egypt- take many generations for good organisms to mutate into less desirable /
ian, and those who composed the Phoenician History, agree to what I here organisms that would attack the body. We have examples of this in the world /
say: Hesiod also, and Hecataeus, Hellanicus, and Acusilsua; and, besides today when some plants and animals been have transported to a new and /
these, Ephorus and Nicolaus relate that the ancients lived a thousand distant continent. In some cases they have left behind their enemies and /
years." there are few enemies in the new territory. In such a case the transported /
plants or animals have thrived wonderfully in their new home. Sometimes to /
Many scholars have proposed that possibly the calender was considerably the point that the transported items multiply excessively and become severe /
different in those days. Some have proposed a 28 or 30 day year to corr- pests or weeds. /
espond to the lunar cycle. But then if Enoch and Mahalaleel had sons at /
age 65, they would in actually be less than six of our years old, this Food Types and purity: A similar principal applies to the food that early /
seems unlikely. The majority of findings in the middle east indicate that man ate. The Bible indicates that they were primarily vegetarians and of /
many of the ancient societies used a 360 day calendar for their year. This course they ate all natural foods with little processing. Therefore it is /
we have inherited in our mathematics with the 360 degree circle. proposed that their diet was more conducive to a long healthy life and was /
devoid of the many unhealthful chemicals, concentrates and other unhealthy /
Some scholars have proposed that instead these are "dynasties" of a constituents that our foods now contains. As modern medical scientists are /
family line of kings and that only the names of the most prominent are continuously informing us, the proper food significantly decreases bodily /
given. Since other ancient written records have listed ten different diseases and deterioration. /
names, that possibly there was a symbolic tradition connected with the /
number ten. However, the considerable overlap of the lives of the patria- Atmospheric differences: Of course their atmosphere would have few of the /
rchs does not seem to be consistent with the concept of "dynasties" unless undesirable chemicals that our modern processing puts into the atmosphere. /
they ruled over entirely separate territories and peoples. And this would Many scientists point out that this would be only of minor importance. The /
not be consistent with a continuous family blood line which seems to be the early chapters of the book of Genesis describe an atmosphere that seems to /
intent for providing the genealogy. differ considerably from that of today. Those who propose the "vapor /
canopy model" believe that there was a warmer, more humid, more uniform /
Also scholars have proposed that the listing cannot be complete, that atmosphere with the heavy vapor canopy providing a filtering effect. They /
there must have been large gaps in the listing. That the origin of man in propose that as the ozone layer does today, the vapor layer would filter /
the area appears to have been long before the 4004 B.C. which has been out the harmful radiation from space, and to a much greater extent. That /
calculated from the Biblical text. That some writings and traditions would a heavy vapor layer would filter out a very significant portion of the /
place the origin of man to be many thousands of years before. That archa- radiation that cause tissue and gene deterioration and mutation. /
eological evidence indicates that intelligent man had been on the earth for /
many tens of thousands of years. While others would point out that the Some scientists have proposed a theory that there has been a very sign- /
archaeological exidence is rather incomplete, difficult to interpret and ificant increase of radiation since the early days. That this increase of /
difficult to reliably date. That many have interpreted the evidence as radiation was due to a near celestial event, a super-nova. That this near /
would seem to best support their strongly held preconceptions. nova star continues to bombard the earth with a significantly greater level /
of radiation. They theorize that this factor alone is the major cause of /
the decreased lifespan of today as compared to that of earlier man. /
