Genealogy: Adam to Noah (5)

2. Genealogy: Adam to Noah (5)The Priestly source contributed the genealogies of chapters 5 and 11 to the Primeval Story. The genealogy of Genesis 5 contains ten generations between Adam and Noah, and the genealogy of Genesis 11:10-27 contains ten generations between Shem and Abraham. These two genealogies are essentially alike in that they are linear, going directly from one generation to a single offspring in the next. Both genealogies have a similar pattern (though chapter 11:10-27 omits the last sentence, "He died"):

    Two descendants are of special interest in chapter 5, Enoch and Methuselah. Enoch is said to have "walked with the gods" and then mysteriously "was no more because God took him" (5:24). Because he did not die, Enoch became associated with a large body of post-biblical apocalyptic literature that supposedly was revealed to him in heaven. Methuselah lived longer than any other person, reputedly 969 years.

 The Priestly genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11 provide the framework for the Primeval Story; see Table 1.C. The Priestly genealogy of chapter 5 has notable similarities to the Yahwist genealogy of chapter 4, as if they were different versions of the same underlying tradition; see Table 1.D for a comparison of the Genesis 4 and 5 genealogies.

After X had lived M years he sired Y. X lived N years after he had sired him and he sired other sons and daughters. All the days of X were O years. He died.