There is a great difference between the records of Genesis 4 and 5. Genesis 4 tells us that certain people lived, but it does not tell us how many years they lived. In a sense, the people named in Genesis 4 had no living in the eyes of God. Their lives were vanity. However, Genesis 4 tells us of many of the things that they invented — religion, city planning, city building, farming, music, and weapons. That chapter also speaks of the evil things that the people did. How strange that Genesis 5 tells us nothing of the deeds and activities of the people. Those men lived for such a long time, in most cases for more than nine hundred years. What did they do? Although I have spent considerable time studying this chapter, all I could learn was that the people lived, begat, lived, begat, and died.
Our profession is unique — it is living and begetting. The things mentioned in Genesis 4 are vanity, but there is no vanity found in Genesis 5. If you read Genesis 5 along with Luke 3, you will see that the genealogy in Genesis 5 eventually brought forth the Lord Jesus. When Genesis 5 and Luke 3 are put together, we see that all the dear ones in Genesis 5 were not living in vanity. They were living and begetting in a most meaningful way to bring forth Christ.
