The second half of the genealogy from Seth through Noah contains several interesting entries. It includes Methuselah, the oldest person mentioned in the Bible, who lives 969 years (Genesis 5:25–27). Ironically, he is the son of Enoch, who lives the shortest time on earth in this list, 365 years.

Enoch’s appearance is brief but outstanding, and the text implicitly and explicitly highlights his importance (vv. 18–24).

First, it records that Enoch is of the seventh generation of descendants from Adam through Seth. Thus he is the counterpart to Lamech in Cain’s line (4:17–24). But what a contrast he is!

Second, the text notes twice that “Enoch walked faithfully with God” (5:22, 24). This expression, which describes a person’s intimacy with God, rarely occurs in Scripture—being used elsewhere only for Noah (6:9), Abraham (24:40), and Isaac (48:15).

Third, Enoch has the unique distinction of being the only one not to experience death among those who lived before the flood: “He was no more, because God took him away” (5:24). While the others had been blessed with remarkable longevity, all of them eventually died. Enoch’s story was God’s way of teaching us that He still wanted humanity to transcend the power of death and live eternally in fellowship with Him. Another person whom God will later take directly into His presence, allowing him to bypass death, is Elijah (2 Kings 2:11).

The brief account of Enoch has long inspired the Jewish people. It has given rise to many traditions and writings associated with this remarkable ancient personality, including three books named 1, 2, and 3 Enoch. Despite their titles, these Jewish religious texts—which contain descriptions of the fall of angels and heaven, as well as apocryphal writing—are generally believed by scholars not to have been written by Enoch. 1 Enoch is one of the few non-biblical books quoted in the New Testament (Jude 14–15).

At the culmination of the pre-flood genealogy, we are introduced to Noah, the great hero of the flood (Genesis 5:28–32). His name sounds like the Hebrew word for “comfort”, and it foreshadows what Noah would signify to the human race as it faced near-extinction in its moment of greatest danger. Thus far, some of the key characters in Genesis have been named after specific events—for example, Eve (“living”, 3:20), Cain (“acquired”, 4:1), and Seth (“place” or “replace”, 4:25). In these cases, the focus was on present or past events. Here in Genesis 5:29, however, we have the first occasion of the “prophetic” naming of a child. Lamech speaks about his son Noah in light of the future: “He will comfort us in the labour and painful toil of our hands” (italics added).

Noah’s name may represent his father’s hope that the curse on Adam would be lifted one day. As we now know, Noah will go on to fulfil this hope, at least partially, when he becomes God’s instrument for the deliverance of humanity through the great flood.