Ten Generations

The Genealogy of Adam

Last time, we moved at a rapid pace to look at everyone from Seth to Jered (and Methuselah for good measure). That accounts for seven of the ten generations in The Genealogy of Adam. The others, of course, are the unique Enoch (whom we’ll talk about soon) and also Lemekh and Noah, where the “generations” begin to open out once more into narrative as we start the run-up to the Flood.

This time, I want to start with a quick summary of the information we get simply from looking at the standard pattern, repeated (with some extra information) even in the paragraphs about Enoch and Lemekh.

Notice, too, that there is a 10^th paragraph for Noah himself that alters the pattern. He will live n years, repeating the first half of the first verse of the pattern, but will then father three sons, not one — after which the genealogy is interrupted. Spoiler: It (or another just like it) will return in Genesis 11. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s look at our list: