Commentary on the Pentateuch, Commentary 1 · Chapter 5
CHAP. V. Verſe 1. This is the Book of the generations.
SEpher, foreigna ciphering up of their names, acts, and accidents; that we might know, firſt, who were Chriſts Progenitors; ſecondly, by whom the Church was continued; thirdly, how long the old World laſted, viz. one thouſand ſix hundred fifty and ſix yeers. Whence ſome have grounded a conjecture, that the yeer of Chriſt one thouſand ſix hundred fifty and ſix, will bring forth ſome ſtrange alteration in the world. Alſted. Chron. p. 494.Others, think the world will be then at an end, and they ground upon this Chron…gramme, MƲnDI Conf Lagrat Io. [In the likeneſs of God made he him.] This is much inculcated, that it may be much obſerved, and we much humbled, that have parted with ſo fair a patrimony; ſtriving as much as may be, foreign. Heb. 1.3.to recover it in Chriſt, who being the expreſs Image of his Fathers Perſon, is both apt and able to renew that loſt Image of God in us, by his Merit and Spirit, by his Value and Vertue.
Verſ. 2. Blunts Voyage, p. 122.Male and female, created he them.] The Jews at this day have baſe conceits of women: as that they have not ſo divine a ſoul, as men; that they are of a lower creation, made onelyonly for the propagation and pleaſure of man, &c. And therefore, they ſuffer them not to enter the Synagogue, but appoint them a gallery without. Matth, 22.Thus they err, not knowing the Scriptures. See the Notes on Chap. 2. v. 22.
Verſ. 3. Adam lived one hundred and thirty yeers, and begat] This was a great tryal to his faith, to wait ſo long for a better iſſue, when the Cainites ſpred amain, erected cities, and perhaps meditated Monarchies. [After his own image] Corruptus corruptum: For who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean, Job 14.4. John 3.ſaith Job? That which is of the fleſh is fleſh, ſaith our Saviour, and we can ſay no better of it. This is hard to perſwade men to; for each one is apt to think his own peny good ſilver: And a dead woman will have four to carry her forth, as the Proverb hath it. The Phariſee, bad enough, though he be, yet is very brag of his good eſtate to God-ward: And Novatus cryes out, Non habeo, Domine, quod mihi ignoſcas. How much better Saint Auguſtine, Ego admiſi, Domine, unde tu damnare potes me; ſed non amiſiſti, unde tu…ſalv…re potes me. One hath deſtroyed me, but of thee is my help; my ſafety here, and ſalvation hereafter. Lord I am Hell, but thou art Heaven, as that Martyr once ſaid, &c. B. Hooper. Pſal. 42.One depth calleth upon another; the depth of my miſery, the depth of thy mercy. Heaven denyes me, earth grones under me, Hell gapes for me: Help Lord, or thy ſervant periſheth, Pſal. 51 2.Waſh me throughly from mine iniquity, and purge me from my ſin; whether that imputed to me, inherent in me, or iſſuing from me.
V. 4. He begat ſons and daughters.] Philo and Epiphanius give him twelve ſons, Beda thirty ſons, and as many daughters.
Verſ. 5. Nine hundred and thirty yeers,] Till the fifty ſixt yeer of the Patriark Lamech. In all which time, he (doubtleſs) inſtructed his good nephews, in all thoſe great things, which himſelf had learned from Gods mouth, and proved in his own experience, what that good, and holy, and acceptable Will of God was. Moreover, out of his mouth, as out of a Fountain, Rom. 12.….flowed whatſoever profitable Doctrine, Diſcipline, Skill and Wiſdom, is in the world. [And he dyed.] This is not in vain ſo often iterated in this Chapter; for there is in us by nature, a ſecret conceit of immortality, and we can hardly be beaten out of it. That all muſt dye, every man will yield; but that he may live yet, a day longer at leaſt, there is none but hopeth. We can ſee death in other mens brows, but not in our own boſomes. It muſt make forcible entry, and break in violently: foreign, Matth. 24.51. 2 Cor. ….4.God muſt cut men in twain, and tear their ſouls from their bodies, ere they will yield to die. The beſt are too backward, and would not be unclothed, but clothed upon, if they might have their will. Moſes himſelf prayes, Pſal 9….12.Lord teach us ſo to number our days, that we may apply, (or, as the Hebrew hath it,) that we may cauſe our hearts to come to wiſdom: Cauſe them to come, wh…ther they will or no; for naturally they hang off, and would not come to any ſuch bargain. How needful is it therefore to be told us, that Adam died, that Seth, Enos and C…inan died, &c. That this may be, as a handwriting on the Wall, to tell us, That we muſt alſo dye, and come to judgment.
Verſ. 9. Enos begat Cainan.] Enoſh, that is, Sorry man begat Cainan; i. e. A man of ſorrows. Thus the Fathers, though long-lived, were not unmindful of their mortality and miſery.
Verſ. 20. Nine hundred ſixty and two yeers.] Rabbi Levi, citante Genebrardo, Genebr. Chron.long aevitatem patriarcharum opus providentiae, non naturae appellat. Their children alſo, that they waited ſo long for, were not more the iſſue of their bodies, then of their faith.
Verſ. 23. All the days of Enoch, were three hundred ſixty and five yeers.] So many yeers onelyonly lived Henoch, as there be days in the yeer. But what he wanted in the ſhortning of his time, was made up in his ſon Methuſelah the longeſt liver: Beſides that, God took him to a better place, tranſplanted him, as it were out of the Kitchin-garden into his heavenly Paradiſe; Cant 6.2. To gather Lillies, i. e. To tranſplant his people into Heaven.which was not more to his own benefit, then to the comfort of the other Patriarks, that ſurvived him, againſt the fear of death, and the croſſes of life: Sith in Henoch (what diſcouragement ſoever they had in Abels death) they had an ocular demonſtration, that there is a reward for the righteous, and that it is not altogether in vain to walk with God.
Verſ. 24. And Enoch walked with God.] And ſo condemned the World: Firſt, Heb. 11.by his life; ſecondly, at his death. By his life, in that he kept a conſtant counter-motion to the corrupt courſes of the times; not onelyonly not ſwimming down the ſtream with the wicked, but denouncing Gods ſevere judgment againſt them, even to the extream curſe of Anathema Maranatha, Jude 14.as Saint Jude tells us. Secondly, By his death he condemned them: In that ſo ſtrange a Teſtimony of Gods grace and glory, in his wonderful tranſlation, did not affect and move them to amend their evil manners. The Heathens had heard ſomewhat afar off, concerning this Candidate of Immortality, Alſted. Chron. p. 85.as the Ancients call him, and thence grounded their Apotheôſes. Eupolemon ſaith, That their Atlas was Henoch, as their Janus was N…ah. Gentes ſunt Ant…briſlus …um ſuis aſſeclis. Pa…aeus. Jac. Rev…i hiſt. Pontif. Rom. p 309.And how fitly are the Papiſts called Heathens by Saint John, Revel. 11.2. Sith beſides their Atlas of Rome, on whoſe ſhoulders the whole Church (that new heaven) muſt reſt; there was at Ruremund in Gilderland a play acted by the Jeſuites, Anno 1622, under the title of the Apotheoſis of Saint Ignatius.
Verſ. 27. And all the days of Methuſelah.] He lived longeſt of any, yet wanted thirty one yeers of a thouſand. Nemo patriarcharum mille annos complevit, qu…a numerus iſte typum babeat perfectionis. …ic nulla perfectio pietatis. Occolampad.Oecolampadius thinks there was a myſtery in this, that they all dyed ſhort of a thouſand, which is a type of perfection; To teach us, ſaith he, that live we never ſo long here, and grow we never ſo faſt in Grace, we cannot poſſibly be perfect, till we get to Heaven. Henoch lived long in a little time; and foreſeeing the flood, named his ſon Methuſelah; that is to ſay, He dyeth, and the dart (or flood) cometh. And ſo it fell out; for no ſooner was his head laid, but in came the flood. Iſai. 57.1.The righteous are taken away from the evil to come: And their death is a ſad preſage of an imminent calamity. Hippo could not be taken, whiles Auguſtine lived, nor Heidelberg while Paraeus. Semen ſanctum ſtatumen terrae, Iſai. 6.13. Junius.The holy Seed upholdeth the State. Tertul.Abſque ſtationibus non ſtaret mundus. The innocent ſhall deliver the Iland, and it is delivered by the pureneſs of thy hands alone, Job 22.30. When, one ſinner deſtroyeth much good, Eccleſ 9.18. Paulin. Nolan. in vita Ambroſ. De Fabio Cunctatore, Silius.Ambroſe is ſaid to have been the Walls of Italy. Stilico the Earl ſaid, That his death did threaten deſtruction to that Countrey.
Hic patria eſt, murique urbis ſtant pectore in uno.
Verſ. 29. This ſame ſhall comfort us.] Herein a figure of Chriſt. And Peter Martyr thinks that Lamech was in hope, that this ſon of his would have been the Chriſt: A pardonable error, proceeding from an earneſt deſire of ſeeing his day, whom their ſouls loved, and longed for: Saluting the promiſe afar off, foreign, Heb. 11.Heb. 11. and waiting for the conſolation of Iſrael, Luke 2.25.
Verſ. 32. And N…ah begat Sem, Ham, and Japheth.] Twenty yeers he had heard from God, That the world ſhould be deſtroyed, before he had any childe. Revel. 14.Here was the Faith and patience of this Saint. At length he hath Japheth firſt; though Shem be firſt named, becauſe he was in dignity preferred, before his brother, to be grandfather to the Meſſiah. Now any relation to Chriſt, ennobleth either place or perſon. If it were an honor to Mark to have been Barnabas his ſiſters ſon, what is it then to be allyed to the ſon of God? Mic. 5.2. Matth. 2.6.Bethlehem where he was born, though it were leaſt, ſaith Micah; yet it was not the leaſt, ſaith Matthew, among all the cities of Judah, becauſe out of it ſhould come Chriſt the Governor.