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The three-year Lectionary that many Catholics and Protestants hear in public worship gives us a great variety of Holy Scripture.
Yet, it doesn’t tell the whole story.
My series Forbidden Bible Verses — ones the Lectionary editors and their clergy omit — examines the passages we do not hear in church. These missing verses are also Essential Bible Verses, ones we should study with care and attention. Often, we find that they carry difficult messages and warnings.
Today’s reading is from the English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK) with commentary by Matthew Henry and John MacArthur.
6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father[a] of Enosh. 7 After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. 8 Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.
9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. 10 After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. 11 Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died.
12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel. 13 After he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. 14 Altogether, Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died.
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I have made a huge mistake over the past several weeks.
I will blame it on having been going back and forth to hospital during that time. That said, I should have been much more careful.
Everything I have written about during that time is actually in the Lectionary!
My sincerest apologies to my regular readers — especially to Pooka who has been amazed that these are not in the Lectionary. Well, friend, they are there, and I have prefaced the entries as being part of the Creation Story.
Again, I am very sorry.
Let me recap from the end of Genesis 4 into Genesis 5 (emphases mine):
25 Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth,[h] saying, ‘God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.’ 26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.
At that time people began to call on[i] the name of the Lord.
From Adam to Noah
5 This is the written account of Adam’s family line.
When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them ‘Mankind’[a] when they were created.
3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. 4 After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 5 Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.
Picking up the narrative with today’s verses, when Seth, which means settled, had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh, or Enos (verse 6), which is another name for ‘man’.
Matthew Henry explains:
To Seth was born a son called Enos, that general name for all men, which bespeaks the weakness, frailty, and misery, of man’s state. The best men are most sensible of these, both in themselves and their children. We are never so settled but we must remind ourselves that we are frail.
After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters (verse 7). Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, then he died (verse 8).
That, as we have discovered, was the normal lifespan for that era.
John MacArthur says:
And then, verse 6. And Seth lived a hundred and five years and became the father of Enosh. Same pattern. Then Seth lived eight hundred and seven years after he became the father of Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.
When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan (verse 9). After he fathered Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters (verse 10). Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, then he died (verse 11).
Henry points out:
It is implied in the numbering of the years of their life that their life, when those years were numbered and finished, came to an end; and yet it is still repeated, and he died, to show that death passed upon all men without exception, and that it is good for us particularly to observe and improve the deaths of others for our own edification.
When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel (verse 12). After he fathered Mahalalel, he lived for 840 years and had other sons and daughters (verse 13). Altogether, Kenan lived a total of 910 years, then he died (verse 14).
Henry says:
That which is especially observable is that they all lived very long; not one of them died till he had seen the revolution of almost eight hundred years, and some of them lived much longer, a great while for an immortal soul to be imprisoned in a house of clay. The present life surely was not to them such a burden as commonly it is now, else they would have been weary of it; nor was the future life so clearly revealed then as it is now under the gospel, else they would have been impatient to remove to it: long life to the pious patriarchs was a blessing and made them blessings.
The family tree continues next week.
Next time — Genesis 5:15-24
Churchmouse Campanologist 