Genesis 5:1-32

This is one of those chapters that I usually don't like because it is just "this guy lived so many years and begat that guy, and that guy lives these many years and begat the other guy" and so on. It seems not like much to learn on this. Let's see what is going on though. Moses wrote it for a reason beyond making the connection between the Hebrews and Adam. This little Genealogy is actually an introduction to Noah's story. The flood was a fact by the time Moses is writing this and many civilizations accounted for it. He is introducing us to the family of mankind before the flood. Seth, the guy that looked just like Adam, was born when Adam was 130 years old (we saw that yesterday.) Adam dies in this chapter here, at age 930.

Do you remember when the Lord told him that the day he ate of the fruit he would surely die and the snake told Eve it was not true? Peter said:

"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." 2 Peter 3:8

In the Book of Abraham we read this explanation of facsimile number 1 by the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr.:

"Kolob, signifying the first creation, nearest to the celestial, or the residence of God. First in government, the last pertaining to the measurement of time. The measurement according to celestial time, which celestial time signifies one day to a cubit. One day in Kolob is equal to a thousand years according to the measurement of this earth, which is called by the Egyptians Jah-oh-eh."

So, if one day for the Lord is 1,000 for us, then Adam died at about 10:30 p.m. of the day he ate of that fruit in a 24 hour day count starting the day the moment he ate of it (if we were in Kolob.) They don't say when Eve actually died but since the last son of Adam that we hear about was Seth (and they probably had more but Seth was very important) then we know Eve was around at least until after 3 a.m. The Lord was not telling a lie. Adam died the day he ate of the fruit.

But that is not the only interesting thing we learn. By the time Adam died Noah had already been born in preparation for the flood. Adam survived all these direct descendants: Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch (this is the Enoch we talk about whose city was Zion and they are with God), Methuselah, Lamech, Noah (well, he died when Noah was young and we can tell the exact age of Noah if we want to.)

The way Moses did it is by overlapping the age and the birth and death of the patriarchs. He tells that one patriarch had a child (the other patriarch) at a certain age and then tells when the father of that child died. This makes a perfect overlapping and we can tell with certainty that the flood happened in the year 1656 from the time Adam's years start counting. When I was in my mission I decided to make a chart and a family tree for these guys and it was fun to see all this.

As for one the one who lived the longest, it was not Adam of course, it was the son of Enoch (who stayed behind when Zion and all were taken up to the sky): Methuselah - he lived to be 969 years old. He is important because according to the Prophet Joseph Smith, this guy and Abraham were the ones who found the planet Kolob. Kolob is proof that of the whole Universe and beyond, God resides not too far from us. It also proves that the creation was talking about our known Universe, actually our sun and moon and the stars we see. This earth is bound to be the celestial residence of all the gods generated by the generations of Adam through the atonement, through us following the rules and reaping the blessings of obedience.

I think what is good for us is to know that the promises of the Lord are sure even the bad stuff like "you will surely die" if you eat of the fruit that is the middle of the garden of your life. It is also true that this whole world and the stars and the seasons, will bring people here and take them back to the dust one day, like it did with the patriarchs before and after the flood, like it does with the ones we love and the strangers out there. It is true that we have a purpose, that this is a special planet among many, and that our life, as long as it seems, is but minutes to the Lord. All that matters so much to us daily in the end is easy for the Lord to forgive, forget and make it right. Like they say, in the end it is going to be OK, no matter how hard things look like. If we but learned this lesson alone we would be a lot happier. I think the Lord sent prophets and patriarchs to this earth from the beginning so we would never forget that truth: that we are here that we may have joy, that we may also have immortality and life eternal.