That is probably why in the Holy Scriptures Elijah and Enoch are presented together, as forerunners of the Lord's terrible second coming to earth (Revelation XI, cf. Matthew XVII; Mark IX; Luke IX). Such an understanding of Enoch's death, finally, fully corresponds to the context in which this death is presented as a reward to the righteous man for his piety; Since death is "the penalty of sin" (Romans VI:23 [379]), and Enoch has sufficiently atoned for his guilt by his "walking with God", he also transmigrates to the afterlife, without seeing the corruption of the flesh (Psalm XV:10 [66]), which has undergone an instantaneous transformation in the likeness of what awaits the apostle, according to the promise of the Apostle, and the bodies of believers who are contemporaries of the Lord's second glorious coming (1 Corinthians XV:20-23 [380]; 2 Corinthians V:4 [381]; 1 Thessalonians IV:17 [382]).

25. Methuselah lived a hundred and eighty-seven years and begat Lamech.

"Methuselah... begat Lamech..." From the genealogy of the Cainites, we already know that the name "Lamech" means "a fierce man, a man of war and destruction." It is only difficult to determine with certainty how the thought of the Sethites is symbolized by such a name, which seems to be inappropriate for them. Most likely, it should be seen as a trace of the warlike and God-hostile spirit of the Cainites, which from this generation began to be noticeably strongly felt among the Sethites.

26. After begat Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years and begat sons and daughters. 27. And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.

"And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years..." He is the most enduring of all the ten antediluvian patriarchs (and together with all the historically known men), whose years or ages have become proverbial (the years, the age of Methuselah).

28–32. Noah and three sons.

28. Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two (188) years, and begat a son, 29. and he called his name Noah, saying, "He will comfort us in our work and in the labor of our hands in tilling the land which the Lord (God) has cursed."

"And he called his name Noah, saying, He will comfort us in our work, and in the labor of our hands in tilling the land which the Lord has cursed." The last antediluvian patriarch was Lamech's son, Noah. The meaning of this name is interpreted in the biblical text itself, precisely in the sense of "rest, consolation" in labor and work on the cultivation of the land. It is believed that Lamech himself, who was not distinguished for his piety, in giving such a name to his son, united with him an ungodly thought, namely, he expressed the hope for the speedy destruction of the power of the divine curse over the earth, thanks to the cultural successes, the planter of which he imagined to see his newborn son. But, according to the interpretation of John Chrysostom, Lamech, like the high priest Caiaphas in the trial of Jesus Christ (John XI:40-52 [383]), expressed here another great idea against his will: placing the reference of the biblical text to the relaxation of vanity and work in connection with the words of the divine judgment after the Fall and with their explanations in the Apostle Paul (Genesis III:13; Romans VIII:20 [341]), The Fathers of the Church rightly see in the name of Noah a prophesied indication that through Noah and his descendants the power of the divine punishment for the Fall would be weakened, and after the storm of impiety (the violence of the giants, VI:4) and the threat of heavenly punishment for it (the flood under Noah), a new, relatively peaceful and calm course of social and religious life would begin.

30. And Lamech lived after the birth of Noah five hundred and ninety-five (565) years, and begat sons and daughters. 31. And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven (753) years; and he died. 32. Noah was five hundred years old, and begat Noah (three sons): Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

"Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begat three sons..." Noah lived most of his life in the antediluvian era and by the end of it he had already managed to have three sons; but the activity of the latter already belongs to the post-flood epoch, when, in the course of the narrative, we will also speak about them. As to why Noah, in comparison with the other patriarchs, had these children so late (Noah was already 500 years old), the best answer is that Noah's children would not have had time to become parents themselves before the time of the flood, or that they would have become so corrupt and depraved that they too would have had to share the sad fate of the entire primitive world.

Chapter 6.

1. The general corruption of mankind.

1. When men began to multiply on the earth, and daughters were born to them,

"When men began to multiply on the earth..." The context of the speech shows that here the whole is taken instead of the part—"Cainites" are denoted by the general concept of "people," an analogy to which we see elsewhere in Scripture.