Genesis 5: The First Family Tree

“This is the written account of Adam’s family line.” -Genesis 5:1

The first family tree strikes us as odd for one major reason–the people are really, really OLD. In fact, some of the names listed reach over 900 years of age, something unthinkable in modern times. The big question is whether these ages are to be taken literally or whether something else is at work.

If they are literal, then the early generations of the earth clearly held some amazing health advantage that no longer exists. people were have children after the age of 100! Who knows what level of knowledge or what inventions could have been developed by people living nearly a millennium?

One important reason for this chapter, however, is that it serves as a bridge from Adam to Noah. Adam was the first man. Noah will be the first man of the new beginning, the leader of the post-flood world.

We may find the family tree portions of the Bible dull at times, yet they each serve important functions. When we see them in this light, we find ourselves reading each name with new significance as we trace God’s work through redemptive history.

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Dillon Burroughs is the author and coauthor of numerous books and is handwriting a copy of all 31,173 verses of the Bible at HolyWritProject.com. Find out more about Dillon at Facebook.com/readdB or readdB.com.