Generations of Adam

From CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science

The generations of Adam are the first ten major generations listed in Genesis 5 . This chapter of Genesis is significant for two reasons. While the first reason often becomes a target for skeptics of the Bible, the second suffers from lack of appreciation, mainly because few people bother to learn (or to teach properly) the true meanings of proper names, especially names of Biblical personages. In point of fact, Genesis chapter 5 not only sets forth a chronology of the First Age of Man,^[1] but also sets forth a direct comment on the human condition and a prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

The Synoptic Table

Name	Born	Age of parenthood	Life span	Died	Name means	Authority
Adam	4 Ethanim 1 AM26 September 4003 BC 4 Ethanim 1 AM	130 yr	930 yr11,502.495 mon 339,675.432 da	Tammuz 930 AMJuly 3073 BC Tammuz 687 He Tammuz 930 AM	man	Genesis 5:3-5
Seth	Tammuz 130 AMJuly 3873 BC Tammuz 130 AM	105 yr	912 yr11,279.866 mon 333,101.069 da	Tammuz 1042 AMJuly 2961 BC Tammuz 799 He Tammuz 1042 AM	placed, appointed	Genesis 5:6-8
Enos	Tammuz 235 AMJuly 3768 BC Tammuz 235 AM	90 yr	905 yr11,193.288 mon 330,544.372 da	Tammuz 1140 AMJuly 2863 BC Av 897 He Tammuz 1140 AM	mortal man, sick, frail, miserable	Genesis 5:9-11
Cainan	Tammuz 325 AMJuly 3678 BC Tammuz 82 He Tammuz 325 AM	70 yr	910 yr11,255.129 mon 332,370.584 da	Tammuz 1235 AMJuly 2768 BC Av 992 He Tammuz 1235 AM	sorrow, dirge, elegy	Genesis 5:12-14
Mahalaleel	Tammuz 395 AMJuly 3608 BC Tammuz 152 He Tammuz 395 AM	65 yr	895 yr11,069.605 mon 326,891.948 da	Tammuz 1290 AMJuly 2713 BC Av 1047 He Tammuz 1290 AM	Blessed God	Genesis 5:15-17
Jared	Tammuz 460 AMJuly 3543 BC Tammuz 217 He Tammuz 460 AM	162 yr	962 yr11,898.279 mon 351,363.189 da	Tammuz 1422 AMJuly 2581 BC Tammuz 1179 He Tammuz 1422 AM	shall come down	Genesis 5:18-20
Enoch	Tammuz 622 AMJuly 3381 BC Av 379 He Tammuz 622 AM	65 yr	365 yr4,514.42 mon 133,313.476 da	Tammuz 987 AMJuly 3016 BC Tammuz 744 He Tammuz 987 AM^[2]	teaching, commencement	Genesis 5:21-24
Methuselah	Tammuz 687 AMJuly 3316 BC Av 444 He Tammuz 687 AM	187 yr	969 yr11,984.857 mon 353,919.886 da	Bul 1656 AMNovember 2348 BC Cheshvan 1413 He Bul 1656 AM	his death shall bring	Genesis 5:25-27
Lamech	Tammuz 874 AMJuly 3129 BC Av 631 He Tammuz 874 AM	182 yr	777 yr9,610.149 mon 283,793.345 da	Tammuz 1651 AMJuly 2352 BC Av 1408 He Tammuz 1651 AM	lament, despairing	Genesis 5:28-31
Noah	Tammuz 1056 AMJuly 2947 BC Av 813 He Tammuz 1056 AM	500 yr	950 yr11,749.86 mon 346,980.28 da	Tammuz 2006 AMJuly 1997 BC Tammuz 1763 He Tammuz 2006 AM	rest	Genesis 5:32

The Chronology

Genesis 5 follows a virtually unbroken pattern: "When Person A had lived X number of years, he begat Person B. And after he begat Person B he lived Y number of years and begat sons and daughters. Altogether the years of Person A were X + Y number of years, and then he died."

From the death years quoted above, one can readily see that Methuselah died in the very year of the global flood. The meaning of his name, "his death shall bring," suggests that he died shortly before, or on the day that, Noah received his orders to enter the Ark.^[3]

More to the point, this genealogical record combines with:

Further genealogies up to and through the line of Abraham,
The length of the Sojourn in Egypt,
The time span given from the Exodus of Israel to the groundbreaking of the Temple of Jerusalem,
The interlocking histories of the Divided Kingdoms Northern and Southern, and
Recorded history from Nebuchadnezzar II to the present day, to give an accurate derivative age of the earth.

Skeptics frequently attack these numbers, and especially the life spans, as physically impossible. In so doing, however, they make the same mistake that the uniformitarians make: they assume without warrant that present-day conditions applied six thousand years ago. Multiple flood models suggest that conditions on the antediluvian earth were vastly different from modern conditions. (The canopy theory, for example, calls for a water-vapor canopy that covered the earth and might have shielded it from ionizing radiation.) In any case, the Bible records show that mankind's life span dropped by more than ninety percent in roughly the same number of generations that had passed before the global flood.^[4]

Meaning of the Names

Bible characters, by and large, did not receive their names entirely by accident, or because the person's parents thought those names would sound attractive. The Bible is replete with demonstrations that Bible characters received their names to serve a symbolic purpose, and often God Himself dictated that purpose.

The names of the ten members of the Generations of Adam illustrate this point. Most laypeople do not appreciate this fact, unless they own Bibles having good marginalia, and have the presence of mind to consult them. In this case, the names of the ten listed patriarchs, when one translates them properly and sets them down in birth order, make a paragraph that could read: "Man is appointed mortal, frail, and unto sorrow. The Blessed God shall come down to teach. His death shall bring to the despairing rest."^[3]

Jesus Christ, of course, is the Blessed God. Moreover, He did come down to teach. And upon His death—as He Himself assured His disciples—the Holy Spirit came to man to bring him comfort.