Genesis 5:21-23 "And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:" "And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:" "And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:"
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 (Amos 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.
He had lived only 365 years, which, as men's ages were then, was only in middle life! God often takes those soonest whom he loves best; the time they lose on earth, is gained in heaven, to their unspeakable advantage.
Genesis 5:24 "And Enoch walked with God: and he [was] not; for God took him."
“Walked with God … was not; for God took him”: Enoch is the only break in the chapter from the incessant comment, “and he died” (4:17-18; 1 Chron. 1:3; Luke 3:37; Heb. 11:5; Jude 14). Only one other man is said to have enjoyed this intimacy of relationship in walking with God, and that was Noah (6:9).
Enoch experienced being taken to heaven, while still alive, by God, as did Elijah later (2 Kings 2:1-12).
Enoch's translation stands about half way between Adam and the flood, in the 987th year after the creation of Adam. Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, and Jared were still alive. His son, Methuselah and his grandson Lamech were also living; the latter being 113 years old. Noah was not yet born, and Adam was already dead.
Genesis 5:25-27 "And Methuselah lived a hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech: " "And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters:" "And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died."
The shortest life was followed by the longest life, Methuselah begetting, at the advanced age of 187, Lamech, which means “strong or young man or the powerful”, continuing after his son’s birth 782 years.
And at last succumbing to the stroke of death in the 969th year of his age, which, according to the Bible, was the year of the Flood.
Methuselah signifies, 'he dies, there is a dart,' 'a sending forth,' namely, speaking of the deluge, which came the year that Methuselah died. He lived 969 years, the longest that any man ever lived on earth; but even the longest living person must die at last.
Genesis 5:28-29 "And Lamech lived a hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:" "And he called his name Noah, saying, This [same] shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed."
That the patriarchs of the old world felt the ills of this earthly life in all their severity. This was attested by Lamech (Genesis 5:28-29), when he gave his son, who was born 69 years after Enoch's translation, the name of Noah, saying, "This same shall comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed."
Genesis 5:30-31 "And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:" "And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died."
In Enoch, the seventh from Adam through Seth, godliness attained its highest point; whilst ungodliness culminated in Lamech, the seventh from Adam through Cain, who made his sword his god.
I find it interesting, that God chose a man also named Lamech, to have a son through whom Hope would be restored.
Genesis 5:32 "And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth."
“Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth”: Japheth was the oldest (10:21), Ham the youngest (9:24). Shem is mentioned first because it was through him that God’s Messiah would come.
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