And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:
Lamech lived 595 years after Noah was born and fathered other sons and daughters, for a total of 777 years, as one of the nine generations before the Flood who lived nearly a thousand years. That great length of life reflected original physical perfection and great vital force transmitted from Adam and Eve, who had eaten of the life-giving tree of life. Because men lived for centuries, many generations overlapped by hundreds of years, so what God taught Adam could be passed directly through Methuselah and Shem to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. With vigorous minds and strong memories they kept increasing in knowledge all their lives and handed on what they were told unimpaired even without books or written records. That long life, strength, and wisdom was given so men would serve God, but they gave loose rein to iniquity, so the Lord destroyed that long-lived race by a flood.
Longevity Before the Flood
Genesis 5:30 records that Lamech lived 595 years after Noah was born and fathered other sons and daughters, for a total lifespan of 777 years. It stands as one of the nine generations from Adam to Noah who lived between nine hundred and a thousand years, nearly a thousand years, with few exceptions. It gives one example of the protracted lives of the antediluvians before the Flood.
Those nine pre-Flood generations averaged 912 years of life, compared with 332 years for the nine generations after the Flood. After Noah's time human life spans began to grow shorter, tapering to between one and two hundred years by the time of the Egyptian bondage. They fell to seventy years or threescore years and ten in the time of Moses and David about halfway from Adam to the present day, to about thirty-five years at present, to thirty years in Europe and the United States, and to twenty years in great cities.
The Genesis record gives the length of each patriarch's life and states that each died, without describing prolonged illness or suffering. This stands in contrast to the sickness and mortality prevalent in the present generation.
This longevity reflects original physical perfection and great vital force, said to be ten times what the race now possesses. It came because the life-giving power of the tree of life, which had power to perpetuate life so that as long as Adam and Eve ate of it they could not die, was transmitted to them from Adam and Eve. In Noah's day only a few generations had passed since Adam lost access to that tree that would prolong life, so the race still kept much of its early vigor.
The cutting down of human life shows woeful physical deterioration from that original state, done by awful violations of God's laws of health and life, after which the average length of life decreased. No age at death is given for the sons and daughters Lamech fathered, for with one or two exceptions Hebrew historians never mention how old women were when they died.
Overlapping Generations Shared Knowledge
Lamech's 595 years after Noah's birth belong to an age when seven generations stood on the earth together for hundreds of years, their lives overlapping by centuries. Adam was still alive when Methuselah was 243 years old, and Methuselah was still alive when Shem the son of Noah was 98. Shem lived 150 years after the birth of Abraham and 50 years after the birth of Isaac, while Abraham lived until Jacob and Esau were 15 and Isaac lived until they were 120. What God taught Adam could therefore be handed on by direct communication through Adam to Methuselah to Shem to Abraham and Isaac to Jacob the father of the tribes of Israel.
Because men lived for centuries their mental powers developed early and kept increasing in knowledge and wisdom throughout their lives. With great physical and mental vigor they possessed strong memories able to grasp and retain what was told them and to hand it on unimpaired to their children even without books or written records. Adam, formed in God's image and instructed by God in all wisdom concerning the material world and the history of creation, himself witnessed the events of nine centuries and imparted his knowledge to his descendants. Each generation thus had the advantage of consulting together and profiting from the knowledge and experience of all the generations alive with them.
The years after Noah's birth place Lamech in the generations leading up to the Flood. Noah warned the old world, and Methuselah and his descendants lived while the ark was being built, received Noah's instruction, and helped build it. At that time Seth, Enoch, Noah, Methuselah and others kept the knowledge of God continually before the world.
Blessing Misused Toward Judgment
In Noah's day human life was still measured by centuries, for only a few generations had passed since Adam lost access to the tree that would prolong life, so the race still kept much of its early vigor and rare power to plan and execute. That long life, with strength and stature and wisdom and skill for cunning and wonderful works, was given so that men would serve God and make His name a praise in the earth and answer the purpose for which He gave them life.
They failed to do this and gave loose rein to iniquity, even while Seth and Enoch and Noah and Methuselah and others kept the knowledge of God continually before the world. The people despised the truth then as truth is despised now, and the imaginations of their hearts were evil and only evil continually. Secret societies were formed to work in darkness to do violence. Their guilt was in proportion to their skill and mental ability. The Lord therefore destroyed that long-lived race by a flood.
Lamech lived 595 years after Noah was born and fathered other sons and daughters, for a total of 777 years, as one of the nine generations before the Flood who lived nearly a thousand years. That great length of life reflected original physical perfection and great vital force transmitted from Adam and Eve, who had eaten of the life-giving tree of life. Because men lived for centuries, many generations overlapped by hundreds of years, so what God taught Adam could be passed directly through Methuselah and Shem to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. With vigorous minds and strong memories they kept increasing in knowledge all their lives and handed on what they were told unimpaired even without books or written records. That long life, strength, and wisdom was given so men would serve God, but they gave loose rein to iniquity, so the Lord destroyed that long-lived race by a flood.
Longevity Before the Flood
Genesis 5:30 records that Lamech lived 595 years after Noah was born and fathered other sons and daughters, for a total lifespan of 777 years. It stands as one of the nine generations from Adam to Noah who lived between nine hundred and a thousand years, nearly a thousand years, with few exceptions. It gives one example of the protracted lives of the antediluvians before the Flood.
Those nine pre-Flood generations averaged 912 years of life, compared with 332 years for the nine generations after the Flood. After Noah's time human life spans began to grow shorter, tapering to between one and two hundred years by the time of the Egyptian bondage. They fell to seventy years or threescore years and ten in the time of Moses and David about halfway from Adam to the present day, to about thirty-five years at present, to thirty years in Europe and the United States, and to twenty years in great cities.
The Genesis record gives the length of each patriarch's life and states that each died, without describing prolonged illness or suffering. This stands in contrast to the sickness and mortality prevalent in the present generation.
This longevity reflects original physical perfection and great vital force, said to be ten times what the race now possesses. It came because the life-giving power of the tree of life, which had power to perpetuate life so that as long as Adam and Eve ate of it they could not die, was transmitted to them from Adam and Eve. In Noah's day only a few generations had passed since Adam lost access to that tree that would prolong life, so the race still kept much of its early vigor.
The cutting down of human life shows woeful physical deterioration from that original state, done by awful violations of God's laws of health and life, after which the average length of life decreased. No age at death is given for the sons and daughters Lamech fathered, for with one or two exceptions Hebrew historians never mention how old women were when they died.
Overlapping Generations Shared Knowledge
Lamech's 595 years after Noah's birth belong to an age when seven generations stood on the earth together for hundreds of years, their lives overlapping by centuries. Adam was still alive when Methuselah was 243 years old, and Methuselah was still alive when Shem the son of Noah was 98. Shem lived 150 years after the birth of Abraham and 50 years after the birth of Isaac, while Abraham lived until Jacob and Esau were 15 and Isaac lived until they were 120. What God taught Adam could therefore be handed on by direct communication through Adam to Methuselah to Shem to Abraham and Isaac to Jacob the father of the tribes of Israel.
Because men lived for centuries their mental powers developed early and kept increasing in knowledge and wisdom throughout their lives. With great physical and mental vigor they possessed strong memories able to grasp and retain what was told them and to hand it on unimpaired to their children even without books or written records. Adam, formed in God's image and instructed by God in all wisdom concerning the material world and the history of creation, himself witnessed the events of nine centuries and imparted his knowledge to his descendants. Each generation thus had the advantage of consulting together and profiting from the knowledge and experience of all the generations alive with them.
The years after Noah's birth place Lamech in the generations leading up to the Flood. Noah warned the old world, and Methuselah and his descendants lived while the ark was being built, received Noah's instruction, and helped build it. At that time Seth, Enoch, Noah, Methuselah and others kept the knowledge of God continually before the world.
Blessing Misused Toward Judgment
In Noah's day human life was still measured by centuries, for only a few generations had passed since Adam lost access to the tree that would prolong life, so the race still kept much of its early vigor and rare power to plan and execute. That long life, with strength and stature and wisdom and skill for cunning and wonderful works, was given so that men would serve God and make His name a praise in the earth and answer the purpose for which He gave them life.
They failed to do this and gave loose rein to iniquity, even while Seth and Enoch and Noah and Methuselah and others kept the knowledge of God continually before the world. The people despised the truth then as truth is despised now, and the imaginations of their hearts were evil and only evil continually. Secret societies were formed to work in darkness to do violence. Their guilt was in proportion to their skill and mental ability. The Lord therefore destroyed that long-lived race by a flood.