And all the days—were nine hundred and thirty years— Nothing is more remarkable than the longevity of those who lived before the flood: a matter which has exercised the thoughts and employed the pens of many: some wholly denying the fact, and insisting that not solar, but lunar years are meant; an absurdity which carries its own conviction, because thus the lives of this first generation would scarcely equal ours, while they must have themselves begotten children at the age of childhood. Others have been very solicitous to account for the fact itself; a matter, in my judgment, of little moment, and perhaps impossible to be attained satisfactorily. However, calm and settled seasons, strong original stamina, and temperate living, have with good shew of reason been urged. Perhaps we shall find nothing more rational on the subject than what Josephus offers: "They were beloved of God, and newly formed by that God himself: and because their food was then fitter for the prolongation of life, they might well live so great a number of years." Josephus adds, that he has for witnesses to this truth all who have written antiquities, both among Greeks and Barbarians: who all agree in relating that the ancients lived a thousand, or near a thousand years.
And he died— Thus our great progenitor left the world! after having seen his issue in the ninth generation (for he died in the 56th year of Lamech's life) and having felt the direful effects of his apostacy from God. For, besides the griefs he bore, says Calmet, for his personal transgression, he had the mortification to see an early rupture in his family, by the hatred and malice of Cain, which ended in the foul and unnatural murder of his brother. He was witness to the beginnings of that universal corruption which at last brought on the deluge: and when he beheld himself the source of those growing evils, whereof he saw no end, he might probably think more favourably of the sentence of his Creator dooming him to the dust; and however nature might shrink at the execution, reason, rectified by grace, would justify the wisdom and goodness of Providence, in putting a period to a calamitous life, which he had long since forfeited: a life which he would resign with more cheerfulness, while he viewed, with full faith and hope, that promise of a future Deliverer, which alone could sustain the souls of the faithful.
But before we leave the history of Adam, we must take a view of him as typical of the great Messiah. St. Luke informs us, ch. Genesis 24:27. that our Lord, "beginning at Moses, and all the Prophets, expounded in all the scriptures," to the two disciples going to Emmaus, "the things concerning himself." The scriptures are full of Christ: the eye therefore of our readers must be continually kept fixed upon him, who is the author and the great subject of all the oracles of God. Innumerable passages of scripture, especially through the writings of St. Paul, justify our considering Adam as typifying in various respects the great Saviour of the world, if we view him as the first man, the first father, the first lord, or the first husband.*
* See M'Ewen on the Types.
Adam was the first man in the world of nature, who being formed out of the dust of the ground, by the immediate hand of his Creator, was without father, and without mother, and in a sense peculiar to himself, is called the son of God. Luke 3:38. He was also a creature perfectly new, to whom there was nothing like, and nothing equal, among all the visible works of God; for his person consisting of a visible body, and an invisible soul, was made after the image and in the likeness of God, which chiefly consists in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. Now, it certainly is not difficult to perceive that all these characters exactly agree to the second Man, who is the First-born among many brethren in the world of grace,—without father as man,—without mother as God. His body was formed (not indeed of the dust of the ground, but in a manner equally unexampled and miraculous) of the virgin's substance, by the immediate power of God; and so soon as a reasonable soul was united to it in the womb of the virgin, both were, at that very moment, assumed into the Divine Person of the Son; wherefore, in all propriety, that holy Thing which was born of her, was called the Son of God; Luke 1:35 or, to use the expression of an Old Testament Prophet, was "a new thing created in the earth." Jeremiah 31:22. In the man Christ Jesus is found more of the divine likeness than all the saints, than all the holy angels can dare to boast. "For which of them have been called at any time the Brightness of the Father's Glory, and the express Image of his Person? or to which of them has he said, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?" Hebrews 3:5. Though in shadowing forth the constitution of Immanuel's person, all similitudes must be infinitely defective; yet the union of Adam's soul and body is perhaps the best natural emblem of it we can expect to find. Nor does it seem unlawful for us to assist our conception of this high mystery by this natural union, inasmuch as the Holy Ghost himself, in the scriptures of the New Testament, seems to allude unto it when he calls his humanity the flesh, and his divinity the spirit. In the former he was manifested, in the latter he was justified. 1 Timothy 3:16. In the one he was put to death, and by the other he was quickened. If the constitution of the first Adam's person was an incomprehensible mystery in nature, the constitution of the second Adam's person is no less an incomprehensible mystery of grace.
As Adam was the first man that God created, so he was the first father and progenitor of all other men, who are every one born in his image as they come into the world of nature, and breathe the vital air. Just so, from Jesus Christ, the everlasting Father, all who come into the world of grace derive their spiritual being; his image they bear, 1 Corinthians 15:49 and from him "the whole family in heaven and earth is named:" though here also there is a considerable disparity betwixt the earthly man and the heavenly Adam. The first man is not the immediate, but the remote father of our flesh; for "one generation goes, and another comes:" but Jesus Christ is the immediate father of all his saints, who in every age receive from him the light of life, as the silver moon receives her light immediately from the sun, the glorious fountain of the day. "The first Adam," as Moses relates, "was made a living soul," 1 Corinthians 15:45 that he might convey a natural life to them who had not received it: but "the second Adam," as the apostle declares, "was made a quickening spirit," to impart a spiritual life to them who, having lost it, were dead in trespasses and sins: and at the resurrection of the just to quicken also their mortal bodies. For "as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive."
Once more: Adam was the first lord and king of the world. "Being made a little lower than the angels, he was crowned with glory and honour. He had dominion over the works of God's hands; and all things were put under his feet: all sheep and oxen, the beasts of the field, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." Psalms 8:5-8. But, alas! the dominion of this lord of the inferior creation was short-lived; for "being in honour, he continued not." Psalms 49:12. Nevertheless, in the person of Jesus Christ, God-man, the primaeval sovereignty of the human nature is most amply restored; for he is made "Head over all things unto his body the church," both in the heights and depths. Ephesians 1:22. The jurisdiction of Adam, though wide, was not universal; but the kingdom of Jesus Christ ruleth over all. He can, if he please, extinguish the stars and the sun, which shine by his permission; and "of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end." Isaiah 9:7.
Let us, lastly, come to the marriage of our great progenitor. God saw it was not good for man to be alone: Genesis 2:18 he casts him into a deep sleep, and, by his creative power, out of his side forms a woman. Having healed the breach, he presents the newly-formed creature to her husband, who, being awaked, knew what was done unto him, and with wonder acknowledged this last and best gift of heaven to be bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh. "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave unto his wife." Genesis 2:24. Now, may I be allowed to allegorize this real history? Does not the apostle seem to say, that this is spoken of Christ and the Church? Ephesians 5:32. Let us modestly pursue the allegory a little. The second Adam, that he might give life and being to his beloved spouse, the church, the mother of all that are truly living, was content to sleep the sleep of death. This sleep of death was not the effect of nature, for he died not of old age or sickness; but he voluntarily delivered up himself to be crucified and slain. His side was opened with a spear, and from the gaping wound came water and blood, "that he might, sanctify and cleanse, and present to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing." Ephesians 5:26-27. By this sleep of death into which he was cast, he becomes at once her husband and her father; for she is a part of himself, of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Ephesians 5:30. When he awaked at his resurrection, his wounds were healed; he found himself a glorious conqueror; he saw of the travail of his soul, and was satisfied. He acknowledges the relation, and betroths her to himself for ever in loving-kindness, in mercies, and in faithfulness.
For ever blessed be the glorious name of God, that what the first Adam did not keep, the second hath amply restored to us: "For as in Adam sin hath reigned unto death, so grace hath reigned through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord:" Romans 5:21. "who is not only come, that we might have life, but that we might have it more abundantly." John 10:10.