And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.
Gen 5:5
And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died
The life and death of Adam
I.
THE SUBJECT OF THIS BRIEF NARRATION. Adam, the first of men. Here it may be profitable to notice him most attentively.
1. As a compound being, formed of different component parts.
(1) Composed of matter, or earth, as to his body.
(2) Composed of pure spirit, called The Breath of Life, as to his soul.
2. As to the common head of mankind; both our natural and moral head.
(1) He is our natural head, or common parent; for Adam must have been the father, as Eve was the mother, of all living (Gen 3:20). This renders the blood of all mankind the same (Act 17:26); and our interests the same; for all mankind are brethren. Being thus united, we should live in unity (Psa 133:1).
(2) He was our moral head, or representative. He acted for us, and his conduct affected the state of all his posterity.
3. As the chief of sinners.
4. As a subject of Gods redeeming mercy.
5. As a figure or type of Christ.
II. HIS LIFE. He lived nine hundred and thirty years. His life may be considered–
1. In its origin. Divine (Luk 3:38).
2. In its progress, as singularly diversified.
3. In its duration, as graciously protracted. From the protracted life of Adam learn the great end for which our lives are continued; that we may glorify God by getting and doing good.
III. HIS DEATH; HE DIED. His death may be considered–
1. As a dissolution of first principles. He died; he was not annihilated, but merely dissolved. His body returned to dust, his soul to God Ecc 12:7).
2. As the fruit of sin.
3. As a release from the vanity and evils of this world.
4. As a certain indication of our own. (Sketches of Sermons.)
Preparation for death
A man, who lived in forgetfulness of God and of his soul, went one day into a church while the chapter which has furnished us with our text was being read there. When he heard that long and monotonous catalogue of the names and ages of the patriarchs, his first inclination was to smile; he said to himself that there might have been chosen for the reading a less dry and a more edifying subject. He remained, however, and continued to listen, compelled to attention in spite of himself. Soon a thought struck him. He could not long listen with indifference to that solemn refrain, which came back always the same after these lives, so lengthened, of the patriarchs, And he died. That is, he said to himself, what all these men had to pass through who lived so long on earth; they have all finished by dying. What happened to the patriarchs, happens also to all men without exception. All finish with death. What happens to all men must, therefore, happen to myself. I also shall finish with death. How am I prepared to receive that death which every day advances towards me, and from which no power in the world can shield me? What will be its consequences in my case? Will they be happy or unhappy? Will it be a heaven? Will it be a hell? Solemn question, which I have lost sight of till the present, but which I can no longer let remain unsolved. And from that moment he became as serious as he had hitherto been careless, with regard to his eternal interests.
I. The first way of acting with regard to death, is NOT TO THINK ABOUT IT AT ALL; that is the way of men of the world. They can so occupy themselves with the things of this life, that they forget, in some sort, that this life is to have an end.
1. Such a young man thus forgets death in the stupefaction of pleasures.
2. Another young man is thus brought to forget death in the preoccupation of work.
3. The old man himself often comes to conceal from himself the death which is already so near him. He can no longer work; he can no longer deliver himself up to the noisy pleasures of youth, but he can still procure distractions for himself, which beguile his ennui, and remove from him the thought of death; he can stir throw the dice, or hold the cards, and the game will make him forget the flight of time. Or in the moments of idleness; say, when he is thrown back upon his own reflections, he will transport himself in idea into the past; he will turn over in his memory, and with inward satisfaction, too, the scenes of his youth and of his riper age, and that preoccupation with the past will hinder him from thinking about the future. And, in a word, there are many means of diverting ones thoughts, and deceiving ones self with regard to death; but is such conduct wise and reasonable? is it really for our interest?
II. A second manner of acting with regard to death consists in PERSUADING ONES SELF THAT EVERYTHING ENDS AT DEATH; this is the way of infidels. The men whom I have in view do not at all divert their thoughts from the necessity which is laid upon them to die; they do not fear (at least, to judge from their pretensions), to look in the face the thought of death; they speak voluntarily and coolly of it; they believe that they possess the secret of not fearing it. They mock the people simple enough to trouble themselves with what is to follow death. As regards themselves–more enlightened and freed from those vulgar prejudices–they are convinced that what is called our soul is but a result of physical organization, and that, in consequence, it cannot survive the dissolution of the body; that judgment to come, heaven, hell, and life eternal, are so many idle fancies of weak minds. By means of such a conviction they pretend to live tranquilly, and not to fear death. Annihilation is a sad prospect; there is in the thought of annihilation something which horrifies our nature, and which we cannot look at without shuddering. What strange consolation to oppose to the trials of life is the future expected by the infidel! There is another existence after this, and the infidels themselves are forced, sooner or later, to do homage to that truth. At the approach of death they see the fragile stage of their infidelity fall in pieces like a house of cards at the breath of a child; and the anguish of their conscience becomes then an argument, tardy but terrible, in favour of a life to come. It is not, then, in the ranks of infidels that we shall find the best way of preparing for death.
III. A third way of conducting ones self with regard to death consists in MAKING AN EFFORT TO MERIT BY ONES WORKS FUTURE HAPPINESS; it is the Way with self-righteous men. If, then, a man observed the law of God perfectly, he could wait fearlessly for death, assured beforehand that the consequences will be happy in his case; he could present himself with confidence at the judgment of God, and ask from Him eternal life as a recompense which he has merited. But, as there is not a single man that has perfectly observed the law of God, there is not one who can procure for himself by that means a solid peace in view of death.
IV. But that peace which we seek in vain in ourselves, might it not be found in CONFIDENCE IN THE GOODNESS OF GOD? It is there at least that many persons seek it. Here again, we are forced to overthrow that pretended peace as dangerous and illusive. No! it is in vain that you pretend to found your peace in presence of death on the goodness of God, while leaving in the shade His justice. The goodness of God, separated from His justice, is but a frail reed, which will pierce the hand of the imprudent one who rests on it.
V. We shall need, you see, in order to our being able to die tranquilly, A MEANS OF PREPARING FOR DEATH THAT WOULD SATISFY THE JUSTICE OF GOD, AT THE SAME TIME THAT IT WOULD DO HOMAGE TO HIS GOODNESS. It would be necessary that at the very time when His goodness displayed itself in the pardon of the sinner, His justice should preserve its rights in the punishment of the sin. If there existed a System founded on truth, and satisfying that double condition, it would assuredly be the best means, or rather the only means, of preparing us to die tranquilly. Now, that system exists, that means is found, and you have already named it in your thought; it is faith in Jesus Christ. After all human systems have been tried in succession, and been found false and powerless, how joyfully the means which God Himself has proposed, and which is the only one that can give peace to our hearts, is returned to; that system, simple as well as Divine, which is summed up in the words, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved! Faith in Christ presents the secret of satisfying at once the justice of God and His goodness. The Cross of Christ unites what an eternal abyss seemed to separate. (A. Monod, D. D.)
Adam dies
Then he died! He by whom death came in at last fell under it. He returned to dust. His sin found him out, after a long pursuit of nine hundred and thirty years, and laid him low. The first Adam dies! The tallest, goodliest palm tree of the primeval paradise is laid low. The first Adam dies; neither in life nor in death transmitting to us aught of blessing. He dies as our forerunner; he who led the way to the tomb. The first Adam dies, and we die in him; but the second Adam dies, and we live in Him! The first Adams grave proclaims only death; the second Adams grave announces life–I am the resurrection and the life. We look into the grave of the one, and we see only darkness, corruption, and death; we look into the grave of the other, and we find there only light, incorruption, and life. We look into the grave of the one, and we find that he is still there, his dust still mingling with its fellow dust about it; we look into the grave of the other, and find that He is not there, He is risen–risen as our forerunner into the heavenly paradise, the home of the risen and redeemed. We look into the grave of the first Adam, and see in him the first fruits of them that have died, the millions that have gone down to that prison house whose gates he opened; we look into the tomb of the second Adam, and we see in Him the first fruits of them that are to rise, the first fruits of that bright multitude, that glorified band, who are to come forth from that cell, triumphing over death, and rising to the immortal life; not through the tree which grew in the earthly paradise, but through Him whom that tree prefigured–through Him who was dead and is alive, and who liveth for evermore, and who has the keys of hell and death. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
And he died
It is said that the striking thing in this chapter is the painful repetition of the words, and he died. In a popular magazine some years ago there appeared an article, An Hour Among the Tombstones, in which the writer gives the following:–In memory of Richard B–, who died August 1, 18–. He was for many years an inhabitant of this parish. Was he? Well most people are inhabitants of some parish; and if they live long enough, and are not over fidgety, of the same parish for many years. That is little enough to say of Richard B–. But what sort of an inhabitant was he? Cross and surly, miserly and close-fisted, selfish and ungodly; or, a good man, fearing his God, and blessing his neighbour? Good stone mason, come hither. You have written too much or too little. Either cut out what is on yonder stone, or else cut in something more creditable to him who was for many years an inhabitant of this parish.
The dissolution of past ages a memento for posterity
One Guerricus, hearing these words read in the Church, out of the Book of Genesis: And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died; all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died; and all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years, and he died; and all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years, and he died, etc.,–hearing, I say, these words read, the very conceit of death wrought so strongly upon him, and made so deep an impression in his mind, that he retired from the world and gave himself wholly to devotion, that so he might die the death of the godly, and arrive more safely at the haven of felicity, which is nowhere to be found in this world. And thus should we do when we look back to the many ages that are past before us, but thus we do not: like those that go the Indies, we look not on the many that have been swallowed up by the waves, but on some few that have got by the voyage: we regard not the millions that are dead before us, but have our eyes set on the lesser number that survive with us; and hence it comes to pass that our passage out of this world is so little minded. (J. Spencer.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
The long lives of men in ancient times, here noted, are also mentioned by heathen authors; and it was wisely so ordered by God, both for the more plentiful increase of mankind in the first age of the world, and for the more effectual propagation of true religion and other useful knowledge to the world. And many natural reasons might be given why their lives were then longer than afterwards.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. all the days . . . Adam livedThemost striking feature in this catalogue is the longevity of Adam andhis immediate descendants. Ten are enumerated (Ge5:5-32) in direct succession whose lives far exceed the ordinarylimits with which we are familiarthe shortest being three hundredsixty-five, [Ge 5:23] and thelongest nine hundred sixty-nine years [Ge5:27]. It is useless to inquire whether and what secondary causesmay have contributed to this protracted longevityvigorousconstitutions, the nature of their diet, the temperature andsalubrity of the climate; or, finallyas this list comprises onlythe true worshippers of Godwhether their great age might be owingto the better government of their passions and the quiet, even tenorof their lives. Since we cannot obtain satisfactory evidence on thesepoints, it is wise to resolve the fact into the sovereign will ofGod. We can, however, trace some of the important uses to which, inthe early economy of Providence, it was subservient. It was the chiefmeans of reserving a knowledge of God, of the great truths ofreligion, as well as the influence of genuine piety. So that, astheir knowledge was obtained by tradition, they would be in acondition to preserve it in the greatest purity.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years,…. Not lunar years, as Varro d, but solar years, which consisted of three hundred and sixty five days and odd hours, and such were in use among the Egyptians in the times of Moses; and of these must be the age of Adam, and of his posterity in this chapter, and of other patriarchs in this book; or otherwise, some must be said to beget children at an age unfit for it, particularly Enoch, who must beget a son in the sixth year of his age; and the lives of some of them must be very short, even shorter than ours, as Abraham and others; and the time between the creation and the deluge could not be two hundred years: but this long life of the antediluvians, according to the Scripture account, is confirmed by the testimony of many Heathen writers, who affirm that the ancients lived a thousand years, as many of them did, pretty near, though not quite, they using a round number to express their longevity by; for the proof of this Josephus e appeals to the testimonies of Manetho the Egyptian, and Berosus the Chaldean, and Mochus and Hestiaeus; besides Jerom the Egyptian, and the Phoenician writers; also Hesiod, Hecataeus, Hellanicus, Acusilaus, Ephorus and Nicolaus. And though the length of time they lived may in some measure be accounted for by natural things as means, such as their healthful constitution, simple diet, the goodness of the fruits of the earth, the temperate air and climate they lived in, their sobriety, temperance, labour and exercise; yet no doubt it was so ordered in Providence for the multiplication of mankind, for the cultivation of arts and sciences, and for the spread of true religion in the world, and the easier handing down to posterity such things as were useful, both for the good of the souls and bodies of men. Maimonides f is of opinion, that only those individual persons mentioned in Scripture lived so long, not men in common; and which was owing to their diet and temperance, and exact manner of living, or to a miracle; but there is no reason to believe that they were the only temperate persons, or that any miracle should be wrought particularly on their account for prolonging their lives, and not others. But though they lived so long, it is said of them all, as here of the first man,
and he died, according to the sentence of the law in Gen 2:17 and though he died not immediately upon his transgression of the law, yet he was from thence forward under the sentence of death, and liable to it; yea, death seized upon him, and was working in him, till it brought him to the dust of it; his life, though so long protracted, was a dying life, and at last he submitted to the stroke of death, as all his posterity ever since have, one or two excepted, and all must; for “it is appointed unto men once to die”. Heb 9:27. The Arabic g writers relate, that Adam when he was near death called to him Seth, Enos, Kainan, and Mahalaleel, and ordered them by his will, when he was dead, to embalm his body with myrrh, frankincense, and cassia, and lay it in the hidden cave, the cave of Machpelah, where the Jews h say he was buried, and where Abraham, Sarah, c. were buried and that if they should remove from the neighbourhood of paradise, and from the mountain where they dwelt, they should take his body with them, and bury it in the middle or the earth. They are very particular as to the time of his death. They say i it was on a Friday, the fourteenth of Nisan, which answers to part of March and part of April, A. M. nine hundred and thirty, in the ninth hour of that day. The Jews are divided about the funeral of him; some say Seth buried him; others, Enoch; and others, God himself k: the primitive Christian fathers will have it that he was buried at Golgotha, on Mount Calvary, where Christ suffered.
d Apud Lactant. Institut. l. 2. c. 13. e Antiqu. l. 1. c. 3. sect. 9. f More Nevochim, par. 2. p. 47. g Patricides, p. 5. Elmacinus, p. 6. apud Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. l. 1. c. 8. p. 216, 217. h Pirke Eliezer, c. 20. Juchasin, fol. 5. 1. i Patricides & Elamacinus, apud Hottinger. ib. k Juchasin, ut supra. (fol. 5. 1.)
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
5. And he died. This clause, which records the death of each patriarch, is by no means superfluous. For it warns us that death was not in vain denounced against men; and that we are now exposed to the curse to which man was doomed, unless we obtain deliverance elsewhere. In the meantime, we must reflect upon our lamentable condition; namely, that the image of God being destroyed, or, at least, obliterated in us, we scarcely retain the faint shadow of a life, from which we are hastening to death. And it is useful, in a picture of so many ages, to behold, at one glance, the continual course and tenor of divine vengeance; because otherwise, we imagine that God is in some way forgetful; and to nothing are we more prone than to dream of immortality on earth, unless death is frequently brought before our eyes.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5) The days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years.The numbers in the Bible are involved in great difficulty, owing to the Hebrew method of numeration being to attach numerical values to letters, and add them together; and as the words thus formed are unmeaning, they easily become corrupted. Hence there is a great discrepancy in the numbers as specified by the three main authorities, the Hebrew text making the length of time from the expulsion from Paradise to the flood 1656 years, the Samaritan text only 1307, and the LXX. 2262, while in almost all cases they agree in the duration of the lives of the several patriarchs. There is, however, an appearance of untrustworthiness about the calculations in the LXX., while the Samaritan transcript must rank as of almost equal authority with the Hebrew text itself. St. Jerome, however, says that the best Samaritan MSS. in his days agreed with the Hebrew, but none such have come down to us.
Not only is there no doubt that the Bible represents human life as vastly prolonged before the flood, while afterwards it grew rapidly briefer, but it teaches us that in the Messianic age life is to be prolonged again, so that a century shall be the duration of childhood, and a grown mans ordinary age shall be as the age of a tree (Isa. Ixv. 20, 22). On the other hand, we may accept the assertion of physiologists that such as man is now, a period of from 120 to 150 years is the utmost possible duration of human life, and that no strength of constitution, nor temperance, nor vegetable diet could add many years to this limit. Hence many have supposed that in the early Biblical genealogies races or dynasties were meant, or that at a time when there were only engraved cylinders or marks scratched on stones or impressed on bricks as modes of writing, a few names only were selected, each one of whom, by the length of years assigned to him, represented an indefinitely protracted period. In proof that there was something artificial in these genealogies, they point to the fact that the tldth of Adam are arranged in ten generations, and that the same number of generations composes the tldth of Shem (Gen. 11:10-26).; while in our Lords genealogy names are confessedly omitted in order to produce three series, each of fourteen names. It is also undeniable that in Hebrew genealogies it was the rule to omit names. Thus the genealogy of Moses contains only four individuals: Levi, Kohath, Amram, Moses (1Ch. 6:1-3); while for the same period there are eleven descents given in the genealogy of Jehoshuah (1Ch. 7:23-27). All this is sufficient to convince every thoughtful person that we must not use these genealogies for chronological purposes. They were not drawn up with any such intention, but to trace the line of primogeniture, and show whose was the birthright. But the longevity of the antediluvian race does not depend upon these genealogies alone, but is part of the very substance of the narrative. It has too the evidence in its favour of all ancient tradition; but it is one of the mysteries of the Bible. We learn, however, from Gen. 6:3 that it did not prove a blessing, and we possibly are to understand that a change took place at the time of the flood in mans physical constitution, by which the duration of his fife was gradually limited to 120 years.
We ought to add that modern scholarship has proved the identity of the names of the numbers up to ten in the three great families of human speech. Above ten they have nothing in common. It seems, therefore, to follow that primval man before the confusion of tongues had no power of expressing large numbers. Hence in these lists the generations are limited to ten, and hence too the need of caution in dealing with the mystery which underlies the protracted duration of the lives of the patriarchs.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Nine hundred and thirty years Widespread heathen traditions preserve the memory of the antediluvian longevity . Persian annals relate that the first Persian kings reigned from five hundred to one thousand years . The Arcadians had traditions that their first kings lived three hundred years . Berosus, the Chaldean historian, states that there were ten antediluvian patriarchs, and preserves the tradition of their great longevity .
Josephus states ( Antiq., 1. 3, 9) that “all who have written antiquities, both among the Greeks and barbarians,” are witnesses of this fact; and he mentions, among others, Manetho, Hieronymus the Egyptian, Berosus the Chaldean, Hesiod the Greek poet, and Hecataeus and Hellanicus, the earliest Greek historians. The works that he mentions exist now only in fragments, so that most of his statements cannot be verified; but it is not likely that he would thus have appealed to these authorities when extant unless they had corroborated the Scripture narrative.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 5:5. And all the dayswere nine hundred and thirty years Nothing is more remarkable than the longevity of those who lived before the flood: a matter which has exercised the thoughts and employed the pens of many: some wholly denying the fact, and insisting that not solar, but lunar years are meant; an absurdity which carries its own conviction, because thus the lives of this first generation would scarcely equal ours, while they must have themselves begotten children at the age of childhood. Others have been very solicitous to account for the fact itself; a matter, in my judgment, of little moment, and perhaps impossible to be attained satisfactorily. However, calm and settled seasons, strong original stamina, and temperate living, have with good shew of reason been urged. Perhaps we shall find nothing more rational on the subject than what Josephus offers: “They were beloved of God, and newly formed by that God himself: and because their food was then fitter for the prolongation of life, they might well live so great a number of years.” Josephus adds, that he has for witnesses to this truth all who have written antiquities, both among Greeks and Barbarians: who all agree in relating that the ancients lived a thousand, or near a thousand years.
And he died Thus our great progenitor left the world! after having seen his issue in the ninth generation (for he died in the 56th year of Lamech’s life) and having felt the direful effects of his apostacy from God. For, besides the griefs he bore, says Calmet, for his personal transgression, he had the mortification to see an early rupture in his family, by the hatred and malice of Cain, which ended in the foul and unnatural murder of his brother. He was witness to the beginnings of that universal corruption which at last brought on the deluge: and when he beheld himself the source of those growing evils, whereof he saw no end, he might probably think more favourably of the sentence of his Creator dooming him to the dust; and however nature might shrink at the execution, reason, rectified by grace, would justify the wisdom and goodness of Providence, in putting a period to a calamitous life, which he had long since forfeited: a life which he would resign with more cheerfulness, while he viewed, with full faith and hope, that promise of a future Deliverer, which alone could sustain the souls of the faithful.
But before we leave the history of Adam, we must take a view of him as typical of the great Messiah. St. Luke informs us, ch. Gen 24:27. that our Lord, “beginning at Moses, and all the Prophets, expounded in all the scriptures,” to the two disciples going to Emmaus, “the things concerning himself.” The scriptures are full of Christ: the eye therefore of our readers must be continually kept fixed upon him, who is the author and the great subject of all the oracles of God. Innumerable passages of scripture, especially through the writings of St. Paul, justify our considering Adam as typifying in various respects the great Saviour of the world, if we view him as the first man, the first father, the first lord, or the first husband.*
* See M’Ewen on the Types.
Adam was the first man in the world of nature, who being formed out of the dust of the ground, by the immediate hand of his Creator, was without father, and without mother, and in a sense peculiar to himself, is called the son of God. Luk 3:38. He was also a creature perfectly new, to whom there was nothing like, and nothing equal, among all the visible works of God; for his person consisting of a visible body, and an invisible soul, was made after the image and in the likeness of God, which chiefly consists in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. Now, it certainly is not difficult to perceive that all these characters exactly agree to the second Man, who is the First-born among many brethren in the world of grace,without father as man,without mother as God. His body was formed (not indeed of the dust of the ground, but in a manner equally unexampled and miraculous) of the virgin’s substance, by the immediate power of God; and so soon as a reasonable soul was united to it in the womb of the virgin, both were, at that very moment, assumed into the Divine Person of the Son; wherefore, in all propriety, that holy Thing which was born of her, was called the Son of God; Luk 1:35 or, to use the expression of an Old Testament Prophet, was “a new thing created in the earth.” Jer 31:22. In the man Christ Jesus is found more of the divine likeness than all the saints, than all the holy angels can dare to boast. “For which of them have been called at any time the Brightness of the Father’s Glory, and the express Image of his Person? or to which of them has he said, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?” Heb 3:5. Though in shadowing forth the constitution of Immanuel’s person, all similitudes must be infinitely defective; yet the union of Adam’s soul and body is perhaps the best natural emblem of it we can expect to find. Nor does it seem unlawful for us to assist our conception of this high mystery by this natural union, inasmuch as the Holy Ghost himself, in the scriptures of the New Testament, seems to allude unto it when he calls his humanity the flesh, and his divinity the spirit. In the former he was manifested, in the latter he was justified. 1Ti 3:16. In the one he was put to death, and by the other he was quickened. If the constitution of the first Adam’s person was an incomprehensible mystery in nature, the constitution of the second Adam’s person is no less an incomprehensible mystery of grace.
As Adam was the first man that God created, so he was the first father and progenitor of all other men, who are every one born in his image as they come into the world of nature, and breathe the vital air. Just so, from Jesus Christ, the everlasting Father, all who come into the world of grace derive their spiritual being; his image they bear, 1Co 15:49 and from him “the whole family in heaven and earth is named:” though here also there is a considerable disparity betwixt the earthly man and the heavenly Adam. The first man is not the immediate, but the remote father of our flesh; for “one generation goes, and another comes:” but Jesus Christ is the immediate father of all his saints, who in every age receive from him the light of life, as the silver moon receives her light immediately from the sun, the glorious fountain of the day. “The first Adam,” as Moses relates, “was made a living soul,” 1Co 15:45 that he might convey a natural life to them who had not received it: but “the second Adam,” as the apostle declares, “was made a quickening spirit,” to impart a spiritual life to them who, having lost it, were dead in trespasses and sins: and at the resurrection of the just to quicken also their mortal bodies. For “as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
Once more: Adam was the first lord and king of the world. “Being made a little lower than the angels, he was crowned with glory and honour. He had dominion over the works of God’s hands; and all things were put under his feet: all sheep and oxen, the beasts of the field, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.” Psa 8:5-8. But, alas! the dominion of this lord of the inferior creation was short-lived; for “being in honour, he continued not.” Psa 49:12. Nevertheless, in the person of Jesus Christ, God-man, the primaeval sovereignty of the human nature is most amply restored; for he is made “Head over all things unto his body the church,” both in the heights and depths. Eph 1:22. The jurisdiction of Adam, though wide, was not universal; but the kingdom of Jesus Christ ruleth over all. He can, if he please, extinguish the stars and the sun, which shine by his permission; and “of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.” Isa 9:7.
Let us, lastly, come to the marriage of our great progenitor. God saw it was not good for man to be alone: Gen 2:18 he casts him into a deep sleep, and, by his creative power, out of his side forms a woman. Having healed the breach, he presents the newly-formed creature to her husband, who, being awaked, knew what was done unto him, and with wonder acknowledged this last and best gift of heaven to be bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh. “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave unto his wife.” Gen 2:24. Now, may I be allowed to allegorize this real history? Does not the apostle seem to say, that this is spoken of Christ and the Church? Eph 5:32. Let us modestly pursue the allegory a little. The second Adam, that he might give life and being to his beloved spouse, the church, the mother of all that are truly living, was content to sleep the sleep of death. This sleep of death was not the effect of nature, for he died not of old age or sickness; but he voluntarily delivered up himself to be crucified and slain. His side was opened with a spear, and from the gaping wound came water and blood, “that he might, sanctify and cleanse, and present to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.” Eph 5:26-27. By this sleep of death into which he was cast, he becomes at once her husband and her father; for she is a part of himself, of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Eph 5:30. When he awaked at his resurrection, his wounds were healed; he found himself a glorious conqueror; he saw of the travail of his soul, and was satisfied. He acknowledges the relation, and betroths her to himself for ever in loving-kindness, in mercies, and in faithfulness.
For ever blessed be the glorious name of God, that what the first Adam did not keep, the second hath amply restored to us: “For as in Adam sin hath reigned unto death, so grace hath reigned through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord:” Rom 5:21. “who is not only come, that we might have life, but that we might have it more abundantly.” Joh 10:10.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 5:5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.
Ver. 5. Nine hundred and thirty years. ] Till the fifty-sixth year of the patriarch Lamech. In all which time he doubtless instructed his good nephews in all those great things which himself had learned from God’s mouth, and “proved” in his own experience “what that good, and holy, and acceptable will of God was”. Rom 12:2 Moreover, out of his mouth, as out of a fountain, flowed whatsoever profitable doctrine, discipline, skill, and wisdom is in the world.
And he died.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
am 930, bc 3074
nine: Gen 5:8, Gen 5:11, Gen 5:14, Gen 5:17-32, Deu 30:20, Psa 90:10
and he died: Gen 5:8, Gen 5:11, Gen 5:14-32, Gen 3:19, 2Sa 14:14, Job 30:23, Psa 49:7-10, Psa 89:48, Ecc 9:5, Ecc 9:8, Ecc 12:5, Ecc 12:7, Eze 18:4, Rom 5:12-14, 1Co 15:21, 1Co 15:22, Heb 9:27
Reciprocal: Gen 5:20 – he died Gen 5:27 – he died Gen 5:31 – he died Gen 9:29 – nine Ecc 6:6 – though Isa 65:22 – for as Rom 5:14 – death
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 5:5. All the days of Adam were nine hundred and thirty years The long lives of men in ancient times, here recorded, are also mentioned by heathen authors. And it was wisely so ordered, both for the greater increase of mankind, and the more speedy replenishing of the earth in the first ages of the world, and for the more effectual preservation and propagation of true religion and other useful knowledge, which, before the invention of letters, could only be conveyed by the channel of tradition.