NOTES for Gen 5:1-24

What are the genealogies in the first chapters of Genesis? Where are they from, and what are they for? Their origin remains unclear to this day. Only one thing is clear: the sacred writer borrowed them from some ancient source that has not reached us. They make no claim to any historical specificity or reliability.

Still, even if they were one hundred percent reliable, what would the names listed in these genealogical records tell us today? Of course, in general these genealogies reflect historical reality: the earth really was inhabited by clans and tribes. Peoples, cities, and states appeared later. But is this the only reason the sacred writer gives these long genealogies? Or is the point something else?

The genealogical tree of the Book of Genesis begins with the first human being, Adam. And the author of the book immediately emphasizes that Adam, created in the image of God, brought into the world offspring who were like not God, but himself. This is the essence of fallen humanity: after the fall, the human being, like all other animals, began to beget offspring not according to the image of God, but according to the image and likeness of himself, of his own fallen nature.

And this nature demanded what was its own, which was not very different from what is its own among the higher apes. And human society, as most sociologists acknowledge, began to resemble a pack of animals, and far from comparatively peaceful animals such as apes. The history of fallen humanity had begun.