This [is] the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
Ver. 1. This is the book of the generations.] Sepher, a a ciphering of their names, acts, and accidents; that we might know, first, who were Christ's progenitors; secondly, by whom the Church was continued; thirdly, how long the old world lasted, viz., one thousand six hundred and fifty-six years. b Whence some have grounded a conjecture, that the year of Christ one thousand six hundred and fifty-six will bring forth some strange alteration in the world. Others think the world will be then at an end, and they base this on this chronogram, MunDi ConfLagratIo .
In the likeness of God made he him.] This is much inculcated, that it may be much observed, and we much humbled, that have parted with so fair a patrimony; striving as much as may be to recover it in Christ, who being “the express image of his Father's person,” c is both apt and able to renew that lost image of God in us, by his merit and Spirit, by his value and virtue.
a ספד
b Alsted, Chron ., p. 494.
c απαυγασμα και χαρακτηρ. Heb 1:3