After the chaotic effects of the fall, leading up to Lamech’s violence and arrogance, it is as if the human story can begin again through the birth of Seth: “This is the written account of Adam’s family line” (Genesis 5:1). Some of the key words in Genesis 5:1–2 echo those in Genesis 1–2: “Adam” (man), “created”, “in the likeness of God”, “male and female”, and “blessed”.

Genesis 5 presents a long genealogy, or family line, and this may seem tedious and unnecessary. To ancient audiences, however, genealogies like this were of great value: they not only provided a memorable record of history, but also enabled individuals and communities to understand and appreciate their identity. People knew who they were by knowing the lineage they belonged to.

This list, the first of several in Genesis, covers 10 generations from Adam to Noah. If we compare this list with similar lists from after Noah’s time, we might observe something interesting. If we compare the average lifespans of the men in this list with the lifespans of Noah’s descendants, from Shem to Abraham (11:10–31), it seems those who lived before Noah lived much longer than those who came after.

This may suggest that the effects of mortality are slowly setting in, humans having been deprived of immortality by being denied access to the tree of life in the garden of Eden. The lifespans of the earliest generations after Adam are relatively lengthy—on average, each man lives around 800 years. Human lifespans will later decline precipitously from Shem’s 600 years (11:11) to Nahor’s 148 years (v. 24). Moses’ contribution to the book of Psalms concludes that humans live, on average, only 70 to 80 years (Psalm 90:10)—though some, like Moses himself, lived a little longer.

The picture presented in Genesis 5 is that of a human race flourishing on the earth, which is what God had always intended. People are experiencing great fertility; we hear repeatedly of descendants of Adam who “became the father of . . . and had other sons and daughters”. Though deprived of immortality, the early generations also enjoyed remarkable longevity. But another repeated phrase in the text, “then he died”, reminds us that the world has been fatally undermined by sin.