The genealogy recorded in this chapter includes the first ten generations of mankind, from Adam to Noah. According to Luke 3:23-38, human genealogy began with God and issued in Jesus Christ.

The history in the entire Old Testament is the Triune God’s preparation for the carrying out of His eternal economy. This preparation was initiated in a man, Adam (1:1—11:26), and eventually issued in three persons, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with Joseph (11:27—50:26), who resulted in one people, Israel (Exo. — Mal.). The thirty-nine books of the Old Testament reveal the preparation for bringing forth Christ, the God-man, the complete God mingled with the perfect man (Matt. 1), for the producing of the Body of Christ (Eph. chs. 1—4), the organism of the processed and consummated Triune God (Eph. 4:4-6). The Body of Christ will consummate in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:1-23) as the eternal enlargement of Christ (cf. John 3:30; 1 Cor. 12:12), the eternal mingling of the Triune God with the tripartite man and the mutual dwelling of God and man (Rev. 21:3, 22) for the expression of the processed and consummated Triune God in His nature and glory (10-11, Rev. 21:18, 21, 23) in the redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite man for eternity.

Lit., In the day.

See note Gen. 1:26^3d, par. 1.

See note Gen. 1:26⁴.

This genealogy does not record the deeds and activities of the people; it records only that they lived and begot. Man’s living and begetting were for man’s multiplication (Gen. 1:28*a) to fulfill God’s eternal purpose through mankind. Likewise, in the spiritual sense the believers today should live and beget (1 Cor. 4:15) for God’s multiplication (John 1:12-13) to fulfill God’s purpose through the church.

See note Rom. 5:12^4d.

Meaning when he is dead, it will be sent. This name has a prophetic significance. By naming his son Methuselah, Enoch prophesied of the coming of the flood in the year that Methuselah died, which was Noah’s six hundredth year (Gen. 7:6; 5:25-29a). Enoch had received the revelation from God that He would judge the entire ungodly generation of mankind (cf. Jude 1:14-15). This motivated Enoch not to follow the current of the age but to walk with God (vv. 22, 24) and thus live a godly and holy life (cf. 2 Pet. 3:10-12).

To walk with God is to take Him as our center and everything, to do things not according to our own concept and desire but according to His revelation and leading, and to do everything with Him. This implies the denying of our self and everything that is of our self (Matt. 16:24-25) that we may be one with Him.

Enoch was the first person to be raptured. By this he escaped death, the ultimate issue of man’s fall (Heb. 11:5). This first mentioning of the rapture establishes the principle of the rapture: our being raptured depends on our being mature in the divine life by our walking with God. Enoch walked with God day and night for three hundred years. According to Heb. 11:5-6, he did this by faith, believing that God is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. After three hundred years of seeking God and walking with Him, Enoch was taken by God, thus obtaining the reward of not seeing death.

Meaning rest or comfort.

Or, comfort us in our work.