And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters:
Genesis 5:10 records that Enos lived 815 years after fathering Cainan and fathered other sons and daughters, giving him a total of 905 years as one of the generations from Adam to Noah who lived nearly a thousand years. That protracted life was sustained by the life-giving power of the tree of life transmitted from Adam, by the early vigor of a race created with far greater vital force, and by a diet of vegetables, fruits and grains, so there was full health with no fevers, consumption or wasting disease until life at last grew weary and ceased. Because such very long lives overlapped for hundreds of years, what God taught Adam could be learned directly from him and passed by living memory from mouth to mouth through Methuselah and Shem to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That length of life and strength was given to serve God and make His name a praise, and righteous men such as Seth, Enoch, Noah and Methuselah kept His truth before the world, but the long-lived giants gave loose rein to iniquity and despised it until God destroyed that race by the Flood. After the Flood lifespans steadily shortened through successive generations as flesh was eaten of necessity and violations of the laws of life increased disease and mortality, tapering from an average of 912 years before the Flood to 332 years after, to seventy years in the time of Moses and David, and to about thirty-five years at present.
Long Life Before Flood
Enos lived 815 years after fathering Cainan and fathered other sons and daughters, giving him a total lifespan of 905 years, more than nine hundred years in all. It belongs to the genealogy from Adam to Noah, whose members with few exceptions lived nearly a thousand years, literally between nine hundred and a thousand years. The record gives the ages of men but with one or two exceptions never mentions how old the women were at death.
The verse belongs to nine pre-Flood generations whose average age was 912 years, showing the long life originally enjoyed, set against an average of 332 years for nine generations after the Flood. It marks the first stage in a steady decrease, tapering to between one and two hundred years by the time of the Egyptian vassalage. That decline continued to seventy years in Moses' and David's time about halfway from Adam to the present, and to about thirty-five years at present, thirty years in Europe and the United States and twenty years in great cities.
The verse belongs to the period from Adam to Noah, more than sixteen hundred years when human diet was vegetables, fruits, and grains, that which grew out of the ground. It shows remarkably good health in that time, with no mention of sickness and death of children, no feebleness in youth or middle age, and no fevers, dyspepsia, gout, consumption, or local diseases from the breakdown of some organs while others remain strong. All lived in full enjoyment of health nearly one thousand years until the springs of life at last grown weary stood still, with no long-drawn sufferings or excruciating agonies in death, so the record simply gives the measure of each life and its cessation.
The protracted life in the verse was lengthened by the life-giving power of the tree of life transmitted from Adam and Eve, which had power to perpetuate life so that as long as they ate of it they could not die. Human existence was still measured by centuries because only a few generations had passed since Adam had access to that tree, so the race still retained much of its early vigor with rare powers to plan and execute. The great longevity shows that the effects of corrupt appetites, passions, and violations of physical law were not strongly felt across the race until more than a thousand years after creation. After Noah lifespans steadily shortened through successive generations as disease and mortality increased through continued violations of the laws of life, in contrast to the widespread sickness and mortality of the present.
After the Flood Noah, who still lived 950 years, and his sons of necessity ate flesh as food, and from that point the race rapidly declined until the original curse with accumulated transgression and violation of natural law bowed man down to the present brief existence marked with disease, decrepitude, and imbecility. The great length of life proves the nobility of man as formed in the image of God and made lord over creation, physically and intellectually perfect as pronounced very good. The race was created with ten times more vital force than now possessed, which alone kept known violations of all the laws of health and life from extinguishing the race. The long life then compared with the short life now proves the race has fallen off in size and physical strength in proportion to the decline in years, while awful violations of God's laws of health and life cut the years to contemptible brevity.
Overlapping Lives and Purpose
Enos living 815 years after begetting Cainan is one link in a chain of very long lives that overlapped for hundreds of years, so that seven generations lived on the earth at the same time. Living centuries after Cainan's birth meant Enos and others could learn directly from Adam, who was formed in God's image, was taught by the Creator all wisdom about the material world and the history of creation, and himself witnessed nine centuries. The 815 years after Cainan was born are part of the long overlapping lives by which what God taught Adam was directly communicated to descendants, from Adam to Methuselah, from Methuselah to Shem, from Shem to Abraham and Isaac, and from Abraham and Isaac to Jacob, the father of the tribes of Israel.
Without books or written records, men of great physical and mental vigor had strong memories able to grasp and retain what was told them and transmit it unimpaired to posterity, while contemporaneous generations consulted together and each profited from the knowledge and experience of all, giving them greater advantages in merely human knowledge than modern men have. As one link in the long-lived godly line from Adam through Seth, living hundreds of years and begetting sons and daughters allowed truth to be cherished and passed by human lips from generation to generation. That living transmission preserved the knowledge of Abel, Seth, Enoch, and Noah that instructed Daniel and his companions and engraved the image of God upon the heart.
That long life and power was given to serve God, to make the Creator's name a praise in the earth and to answer the purpose for which life was given. The long-lived people included many giants, men of great stature and strength, renowned for wisdom and skillful in devising the most cunning and wonderful works, but they failed to serve God and their guilt in giving loose rein to iniquity was in proportion to their skill and mental ability. Enos belonged to the long-lived race before the Flood in which righteous men such as Seth, Enoch, Noah, Methuselah and others presented the truth and kept the knowledge of God continually before the world. The people despised that truth, the imaginations of their hearts were evil and only evil continually, secret societies were formed to work in darkness to do violence, and the Lord destroyed that long-lived race by a flood.
Genesis 5:10 records that Enos lived 815 years after fathering Cainan and fathered other sons and daughters, giving him a total of 905 years as one of the generations from Adam to Noah who lived nearly a thousand years. That protracted life was sustained by the life-giving power of the tree of life transmitted from Adam, by the early vigor of a race created with far greater vital force, and by a diet of vegetables, fruits and grains, so there was full health with no fevers, consumption or wasting disease until life at last grew weary and ceased. Because such very long lives overlapped for hundreds of years, what God taught Adam could be learned directly from him and passed by living memory from mouth to mouth through Methuselah and Shem to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That length of life and strength was given to serve God and make His name a praise, and righteous men such as Seth, Enoch, Noah and Methuselah kept His truth before the world, but the long-lived giants gave loose rein to iniquity and despised it until God destroyed that race by the Flood. After the Flood lifespans steadily shortened through successive generations as flesh was eaten of necessity and violations of the laws of life increased disease and mortality, tapering from an average of 912 years before the Flood to 332 years after, to seventy years in the time of Moses and David, and to about thirty-five years at present.
Long Life Before Flood
Enos lived 815 years after fathering Cainan and fathered other sons and daughters, giving him a total lifespan of 905 years, more than nine hundred years in all. It belongs to the genealogy from Adam to Noah, whose members with few exceptions lived nearly a thousand years, literally between nine hundred and a thousand years. The record gives the ages of men but with one or two exceptions never mentions how old the women were at death.
The verse belongs to nine pre-Flood generations whose average age was 912 years, showing the long life originally enjoyed, set against an average of 332 years for nine generations after the Flood. It marks the first stage in a steady decrease, tapering to between one and two hundred years by the time of the Egyptian vassalage. That decline continued to seventy years in Moses' and David's time about halfway from Adam to the present, and to about thirty-five years at present, thirty years in Europe and the United States and twenty years in great cities.
The verse belongs to the period from Adam to Noah, more than sixteen hundred years when human diet was vegetables, fruits, and grains, that which grew out of the ground. It shows remarkably good health in that time, with no mention of sickness and death of children, no feebleness in youth or middle age, and no fevers, dyspepsia, gout, consumption, or local diseases from the breakdown of some organs while others remain strong. All lived in full enjoyment of health nearly one thousand years until the springs of life at last grown weary stood still, with no long-drawn sufferings or excruciating agonies in death, so the record simply gives the measure of each life and its cessation.
The protracted life in the verse was lengthened by the life-giving power of the tree of life transmitted from Adam and Eve, which had power to perpetuate life so that as long as they ate of it they could not die. Human existence was still measured by centuries because only a few generations had passed since Adam had access to that tree, so the race still retained much of its early vigor with rare powers to plan and execute. The great longevity shows that the effects of corrupt appetites, passions, and violations of physical law were not strongly felt across the race until more than a thousand years after creation. After Noah lifespans steadily shortened through successive generations as disease and mortality increased through continued violations of the laws of life, in contrast to the widespread sickness and mortality of the present.
After the Flood Noah, who still lived 950 years, and his sons of necessity ate flesh as food, and from that point the race rapidly declined until the original curse with accumulated transgression and violation of natural law bowed man down to the present brief existence marked with disease, decrepitude, and imbecility. The great length of life proves the nobility of man as formed in the image of God and made lord over creation, physically and intellectually perfect as pronounced very good. The race was created with ten times more vital force than now possessed, which alone kept known violations of all the laws of health and life from extinguishing the race. The long life then compared with the short life now proves the race has fallen off in size and physical strength in proportion to the decline in years, while awful violations of God's laws of health and life cut the years to contemptible brevity.
Overlapping Lives and Purpose
Enos living 815 years after begetting Cainan is one link in a chain of very long lives that overlapped for hundreds of years, so that seven generations lived on the earth at the same time. Living centuries after Cainan's birth meant Enos and others could learn directly from Adam, who was formed in God's image, was taught by the Creator all wisdom about the material world and the history of creation, and himself witnessed nine centuries. The 815 years after Cainan was born are part of the long overlapping lives by which what God taught Adam was directly communicated to descendants, from Adam to Methuselah, from Methuselah to Shem, from Shem to Abraham and Isaac, and from Abraham and Isaac to Jacob, the father of the tribes of Israel.
Without books or written records, men of great physical and mental vigor had strong memories able to grasp and retain what was told them and transmit it unimpaired to posterity, while contemporaneous generations consulted together and each profited from the knowledge and experience of all, giving them greater advantages in merely human knowledge than modern men have. As one link in the long-lived godly line from Adam through Seth, living hundreds of years and begetting sons and daughters allowed truth to be cherished and passed by human lips from generation to generation. That living transmission preserved the knowledge of Abel, Seth, Enoch, and Noah that instructed Daniel and his companions and engraved the image of God upon the heart.
That long life and power was given to serve God, to make the Creator's name a praise in the earth and to answer the purpose for which life was given. The long-lived people included many giants, men of great stature and strength, renowned for wisdom and skillful in devising the most cunning and wonderful works, but they failed to serve God and their guilt in giving loose rein to iniquity was in proportion to their skill and mental ability. Enos belonged to the long-lived race before the Flood in which righteous men such as Seth, Enoch, Noah, Methuselah and others presented the truth and kept the knowledge of God continually before the world. The people despised that truth, the imaginations of their hearts were evil and only evil continually, secret societies were formed to work in darkness to do violence, and the Lord destroyed that long-lived race by a flood.