“The Generations from Adam to Noah”
What is phase one? In Phase one, I'm coming up with the source text. I need to remind myself of this because I am including too many notes, or too many cross references. It's interesting to do because I want to get the feel of what it will look like to do cross references, notes, commentary and such; but for now it's probably a waste. The reason I feel like it's necessary is because there are eventually some wording changes based on the commentary. In this case I think it's okay to make wording changes in a phase 2 (where commentary is analyzed). So for Genesis 5 I will mainly stick to the source text with writing style changes. If some doctrinal point does come up I may put in a reference, but I think there's no point in just 'copying Rashi' although of course having Rashi's comments would be amazing. Do I need to license that?
In this chapter we will experiment with using numbers instead of words for numbers.
“Adam and his Generations”
1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made them in the image of God;
2 male and female, and blessed them; and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
3 And Adam lived 130, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
4 and the days of Adam after he begat Seth were 800; and he begat sons and daughters.
5 And all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.
“Seth, the Second Generation”
6 And Seth lived 105 years, and begat Enosh;
7 and Seth lived after he begat Enosh 807 years, and begat sons and daughters;
8 and all the days of Seth were 912 years; and he died.
“Enosh, the Third generation”
9 And Enosh lived 90, and begat Kenan.
10 and Enosh lived for 815 years after he begat Kenan, and begat sons and daughters;
11 and all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died.
“Kenan, the Fourth Generation”
12 And Kenan lived 70 years, and begat Mahalalel:
13 and Kenan lived after he begat Mahalalel 840 years, and begat sons and daughters:
14 and all the days of Kenan were 910 years: and he died.
“Mahalalel, the Fifth Generation”
15 And Mahalalel lived 65 years, and begat Jared:
16 and Mahalalel lived after he begat Jared 830 years, and begat sons and daughters:
17 and all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died.
“Jared, the Sixth Generation”
18 And Jared lived 162 years, and begat Enoch:
19 and Jared lived after he begat Enoch 800 years, and begat sons and daughters:
20 and all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.
“Enoch, the Seventh Generation”
21 And Enoch lived 65, and begat Methuselah:
22 and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah 300 years, and begat sons and daughters:
23 and all the days of Enoch were 365 years:
24 and Enoch walked with God – and he was not; for God took him.
“Methuselah, the Eighth Generation”
25 And Methuselah lived 187 years, and begat Lamech:
26 and Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech 782 years, and begat sons and daughters:
27 and all the days of Methuselah were 969 years: and he died.
“Lamech, the Ninth Generation”
28 And Lamech lived a 182 years, and begat[a] a son:
29 and he called him Noah[a], saying, “This one will comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands; from the ground which Yahweh has cursed.”
30 And Lamech lived after he begat Noah 595 years, and begat sons and daughters:
31 And all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.
[28] This 'begat' is different from before, in that it does not say the name of the child as in 5:21 “way-yō-w-leḏ eṯ- mə-ṯū-še-laḥ,” (and he begat Methuselah); rather it says “way-yō-w-leḏ bên.” This is to indicate that Noah was special and would provide sons.
[29] The name 'Noah' is the root of two other Hebrew words; 'to build' and 'to comfort'. Lamech states that Noah would comfort the people; which he did through the invention of farming tools. The second meaning of his name will be left as an exercise to the reader.
According to the Rashbam, the reason why he was named Noah and why Lamech was not regarded as a prohpet (in contrast to Peleg's father for example) is because Noah was the first of the generations born after the death of Adam, and therefore people had hoped he would be able to atone for the iniquity of Adam. Thus in naming his son after words akin to 'comforter' and 'builder' it was hoped (prayed) that he would ease their suffering from the curse and that he would be able to build a new relationship with God.
“Noah, the Tenth Generation”
32 And Noah was 500 years old; and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth[a].
[32] Japheth is the oldest but Shem is listed first because he was born circumcised. Japheth is listed last to show Ham that he had failed in his attempt; there would be many more descendants after Ham, but not in Ham's share.