Ge. 5: Adam to Noah; and Enoch Disappears

We start out with the emphasis of how God created man in His image, blessed them, and called them man. Right after that, it talks about Adam having a son...you guessed it, "in his own image." This means more to me than, "Oh look, he's got his father's nose and sense of humor." If the same phrase (in his own image) is used to describe Seth, Son of Adam as Man, Son of God, then we all must be pretty important. We are like sons of God. We have the same value to God as a son should be beloved by his father. Image includes more than physical attributes. It's a love attribute.

Adam - DOB: 0 - 930
v
Seth - DOB: 130 - 1042
v
Enosh - DOB: 235 - 1140
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Kenan - DOB: 325 - 1235
v
Mahalel - DOB:395 - 1290
v
Jared - DOB: 460 - 1422
v
Enoch - DOB: 622 - 987
v
Methuselah - DOB: 677 - 1646
v
Lamech - DOB: 864 - 1641
v
Noah - DOB: 1046 -

Not much is said here about these fellows, other than, "dude lived X years, had dude Jr., and then lived Y more years. Altogether, dude lived X + Y years."

There are a couple exceptions. Verrrrry interesting exceptions. The most interesting by far is Enoch. Enoch gave birth to the apotheosis of age, the epitome of elderly, the original old man, Methuselah. So that's pretty cool in it's own right.

However, the word of God says "After he became the father of Methuselah, , Enoch walked with God 300 years, and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away." I guess that's the passage that blows my mind the most here.

At first glance, it doesn't really mean that much. When we say people die today, we say, "God took him," or "He is no more." But the passage, unlike those of the other bunch of men, does not say, "and then he died." No. Apparently, God just swung low, and gave Enoch a ride on the sweet chariot, taking him home. Enoch must have had some kind of crazy amount of faith, or found favor with God, that God wouldn't wait another minute to bring him into Heaven...or...wherever God dwelt.

I don't know what this means, only if I were a young Methusaleh (age 300) and saw my old man lift off like that, I would be dumbstruck. This occurence certainly isn't mentioned previously, so it would have been completely new.

To me, this reveals a part of God's nature in that He works outside the realm of death. He is not bound by life or death.

And Methuselah...969 years old. If a 969-year-old died today, he would have been born in 1038. I don't know. There's no significance to that year. It's just a long time ago.

Oh, and Lamech...I believe that's the same Lamech from chapter 4, bragging about how he killed or injured two people, and would be avenged 77 times, as opposed to Cain's 7 times, dies at age 777. Weird, man. God gave him 3 7s. I wonder if Lamech's Great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather Adam got wind of him talking about his son Cain. Or did Adam die before that clownery.

So, then he has a son, Noah. In regard to Noah, Lamech says, "He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed." I'm not exactly sure what this is all about, but I'm guessing it has something to do with Noah's name. So Noah is seen by Lamech as a comforter. Does it mean that after 182 years of labor, Lamech can kick back finally, and let Noah do all the work? Or is this kind of a backhanded swipe at God? "Ohhh, God cursed the ground, I'll show him, I'll make Noah do all the work now. Take that, O Lord." The way Lamech acted about Cain, it would seem he's swiping.

Then Noah has Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Questions for God:
1. What's the deal with Enoch?
2. Did those first men in the Bible really live that long? Like our years long?