Genesis 5:4

4 And the days of Adam after that he begat Seth were made eight hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:4 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 5:4

And the days of Adam, after he had begotten Seth, were
eight hundred years
The Septuagint version is seven hundred; for having added one hundred years more the should be, to the years of his life before the birth of Seth, here they are taken away to make the number of his years complete: and he begat sons and daughters;
not only after the birth of Seth, but before, though we have no account of any, unless of Cain's wife; but what their number was is not certain, either before or after; some say he had thirty children, besides Cain, Abel, and Seth; and others a hundred ^F3. Josephus says the number of children, according to the old tradition, was thirty three sons and twenty three daughters. ^F4 (These families had at least five children, for one son is named as well as other sons and daughters. Therefore there must be at least three sons and two daughters in each family. For a family to have at least three sons and two daughters, according to the laws of chance, a family must on the average have nine children for this to be a near certainty. Hence the families listed in this chapter must have been large by today's standards. Given their long life, this is not at all unusual. However even today, the Old Order Mennonites of Waterloo County in Ontario and Lancaster County in Pennsylvannia, have many families this large. Ed.)

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 74. 2.
F4 Joseph. Antiqu. l. 1. c. 1. footnote on point 3.

Genesis 5:4 In-Context

2 God formed them male and female, and blessed them, and called the name of them Adam, in the day in which they were formed. (God formed them male and female, and blessed them, and called their name Man, on the day when they were formed.)

3 Forsooth Adam lived an hundred years and thirty, and begat a son to his image and likeness, and called his name Seth. (And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and then begat a son in his image and likeness, and called his name Seth.)

4 And the days of Adam after that he begat Seth were made eight hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters.

5 And all the time in which Adam lived was made nine hundred years and thirty, and he was dead. (And all the time in which Adam lived was nine hundred and thirty years, and then he died.)

6 And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and (then) begat Enos.