Context No. 2919 of 4322 · Genesis

Genesis 5:12-17: in context

12Kenan lived seventy years, then became the father of Mahalalel. 13Kenan lived after he became the father of Mahalalel eight hundred forty years, and became the father of other sons and daughters 14and all of the days of Kenan were nine hundred ten years, then he died. 15Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, then became the father of Jared. 16Mahalalel lived after he became the father of Jared eight hundred thirty years, and became the father of other sons and daughters. 17All of the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred ninety-five years, then he died.

This is a stretch of the genealogy from Adam. Kenan lived, became the father of Mahalalel, lived on and had more sons and daughters, and died. Mahalalel lived, became the father of Jared, had more children, and died. The rhythm is relentless: he lived, he fathered, and he died.

Each of these long-lived patriarchs gets the same brief summary, and the same three words close every entry: and he died. However many centuries a man lasted, eight hundred years, nine hundred years, the sentence ends the same way. The genealogy is quietly preaching the wage of sin, the death that entered with Adam and now falls on every generation without exception. And yet the line keeps going, son after son, life handed forward under the shadow of death, until out of this very line would come the one who at last breaks the refrain.

Do I live with honest awareness that "and he died" will one day close my entry too, and does that drive me to the one who conquered death?

Sources

Genesis 5:5: "All the days that Adam lived were nine hundred thirty years, then he died."
Romans 5:12: "Sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; so death passed to all men."
1 Corinthians 15:22: "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive."