Genesis 5:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Adding these figures yields a total of 1,287 years. Moreover, beyond this genealogy, we include an additional 969 years leading up to the Flood (Gen. 5:26-32; Gen. 7:6). Thus, from creation to the Flood, a total of 2,256 years passed, based on the chronology found in the Greek and Church Slavonic versions of the Bible, corroborated by ancient Samaritan texts and the writings of Josephus. It is noted that the Greek chronology of the antediluvian era suggests an additional 600 years compared to the Hebrew version, where the first six patriarchs are recorded as fathers a century earlier than in the Hebrew account. While the reasons for this discrepancy may be challenging to clarify, it does not impede the pure teaching of the salvific doctrine in the Scriptures.

The extraordinary lifespans of the patriarchs before and during the early post-Flood period, up until Abraham, have raised questions by some who find it difficult to believe that individuals could live to ages of 900, 800, 700, or even 600 years. Some surmise that Moses, influenced by the ancient Egyptians who changed a year into a month, might have intended to represent the years of the patriarchs as monthly years instead. However, this hypothesis lacks support in Moses's narrative. In fact, he distinctly differentiates a year from a month of 30 days, indicating in his account of the Flood, “In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, … on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up” (Gen. 7:11). Furthermore, it would be inaccurate to reduce the year of Moses’s account to only three months before the Flood and eight months afterward. Moses’s narrative implies a duration of approximately twelve months for the entirety of the Flood year. He records that the Flood began on the 17th day of the second month in Noah's 600th year and concluded on the 27th day of the second month in Noah's 601st year (Gen. 8:13-14). Between the start and finish of the Flood, he recounts a span of 150 days (or five months) of continual flooding, followed by decreasing water levels noted on the 17th day of the seventh month and the first day of the tenth month, culminating in the earth’s liberation from water at the start of the first month. Conjecturing that the patriarchs’ years were equivalent to our months leads to illogical scenarios, such as Arphaxad, who lived 500 years, supposedly fathering Salah at the age of 12 or Terah, the father of Abraham, having Isaac in the sixth year of his life. Another inconsistency arises with Jacob, who, at 130 years old, lamented to Pharaoh that his days were not as lengthy as those of his ancestors (Gen. 47:9). This complaint would hold no weight if Jacob's forebears lived only for months rather than years. In that case, Jacob would have outlived both his immediate ancestors and the pre-Flood patriarchs.

The remarkable lifespans of the patriarchs reveal a clear manifestation of God's Providence: the more extended their lives, the more they multiplied and gained wisdom, becoming capable leaders for younger generations—a necessity in humanity's early, primitive state. This also ensured the integrity of divine revelation and the preservation of holy traditions among true worshippers of God. In an era void of the written Word, the patriarchs served as living testimonies of God's revelations. It was possible for one individual to hear and share the same divinely revealed truths and teachings for centuries. For instance, Noah, who lived around 600 years before the Flood, could have conversed with Maleel, who in turn might have spoken with Adam. Methuselah, who passed away during the Flood, could have relayed to his peers the teachings he received from Enos, son of Seth. Consequently, both later revelations from God and original truths known to Adam in Paradise could persist in their original form into the post-Flood world.

Additionally, God’s special Providence, alongside natural factors, likely contributed to the patriarchs' extended lifespans. The richness of the natural world, less tainted by sin, a simple lifestyle closely tied to nature, and the pristine state of the human body—fewer ancestors meant less genetic deterioration—were all circumstances favoring the longer life of individuals in those early times.

Among the genealogies of the pre-Flood patriarchs, each one is marked by their birthtime, the continuation of life until their son's birth, and a record of their complete lives, concluding with the phrase “and he died.” This pattern underscores an unchanging truth: while death reigns, new generations continually renew humanity's existence. The lineage that prepared for the holy seed, meant for the spiritual renewal of mankind, did not perish. However, the judgment delivered to Adam—“For dust you are, and to dust you shall return”—applies to individuals, even those who “have not sinned in the likeness of Adam’s transgression” (Rom. 5:14).

Yet, there was one exceptional figure amid all patriarchs: Enoch, of whom it is written, “And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (Gen. 5:24). This phrase indicates that Enoch was in profound spiritual fellowship with God, drawing near to Him through faith and love, earning God’s unique favor, reminiscent of the divine encounters Adam experienced in Paradise. When it states he “was not found,” it means he was no longer present, for God had transformed him. As the Apostle notes, “By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, and was not found, because God had taken him” (Heb. 11:5), receiving him into glory without experiencing death or illness.

This miraculous event serves to inspire faith in the face of death and corruption and to affirm the hope of immortality among believers. The son of Sirach notes that Enoch "was taken as a pattern of repentance for his contemporaries” (Sir. 44:15), highlighting how his life demonstrated the great reward for living in repentance and striving against sin, urging others to embrace such a life. Enoch served as a prophet, preaching repentance alongside living out the call to holiness. The apostle Jude cites his prophetic message: “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints to execute judgment” against the wicked for their deeds (Jude 1:14-15). While there exists an apocryphal text attributed to Enoch filled with fanciful notions, the genuine prophetic words relayed by Jude likely reached through oral tradition rather than through that source, which mingles truths with falsehoods.