Context No. 6 of 4322 · Genesis
Context · Reflection
Genesis 5:6-11: in context
6Seth lived one hundred five years, then became the father of Enosh. 7Seth lived after he became the father of Enosh eight hundred seven years, and became the father of other sons and daughters. 8All of the days of Seth were nine hundred twelve years, then he died. 9Enosh lived ninety years, and became the father of Kenan. 10Enosh lived after he became the father of Kenan eight hundred fifteen years, and became the father of other sons and daughters. 11All of the days of Enosh were nine hundred five years, then he died.
By Genesis 5 the story has already moved from the creation and the garden through the first murder, Cain killing Abel, to the slow spread of humanity. This chapter is the bridge, a genealogy that carries the line from Adam down to Noah. It is a list built on a template. For each name the same clauses repeat: he lived so many years, he fathered a son, he lived on and had other children, his days totaled a figure in the hundreds, and he died. Seth reaches 912 years, his son Enosh 905.
Other cultures kept lists like this. The Sumerian King List gives eight kings before the flood who reigned for tens of thousands of years, the first of them, Alulim of Eridu, for 28,800. Beside those numbers the ages in Genesis are almost restrained, and they differ in one way that matters. Every Sumerian entry ends in a longer reign. Every entry here ends in a grave. The refrain is not the length of the life but the last clause: then he died.
The genealogy moves the story forward one funeral at a time. When I picture my own life as a length of years, what am I leaving out by not writing the last clause?
Sources
- Genesis 5:1 and 4:26: the toledot heading these are the generations, and the naming of Enosh's day
- The Sumerian King List: eight kings before the flood reigning tens of thousands of years, the first, Alulim of Eridu, 28,800
- Genesis 3:19: the sentence of mortality that the refrain and he died carries out