From Brigham Young University's Maxwell Institute, this is the Maxwell Institute podcast, Faith, Illuminating Scholarship.

In 26, we are releasing a series called Old Testament Reflections. Each week, a scholar offers a short reflection on the Come Follow Me reading. Today's reflection, walk with God, abide in spirit.

Reflections on Genesis chapter 5 and Moses chapter 6 is written and read by Rosalind F. Welch.

Note, this is a choose-your-own-adventure post.

If you're in the mood for some practical application, take ending one.

If you're a game for some abstract theology, take ending two.

To read Genesis 5 alongside Moses 6, Joseph Smith's revelatory revision and interpretation of the same biblical text, is a study in contrast.

The text from Genesis, a lineage of ten generations from Adam to Noah, is terse, formulaic, archaic, and enigmatic.

The text from the Book of Moses is expansive, creative, and explanatory.

This is not, of course, to say that the Genesis text isn't rich with meaning. In the book of Genesis, genealogies like the one in Chapter 5 are, quote,

carefully placed compositional units that mark off one

large narrative segment from another. Here, the genealogies signposts the period from the flood

back to the creation, which is recapped in the first verse. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him,

male and female created he them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam, or

humankind. The ten subsequent genealogical entries follow a four-step pattern, each step echoing

some aspect of the creation story.

First, the father's begetting and naming of a son in his own likeness and after his image

recalls God's creation and naming of humanity.

Second, the father's subsequent lifespan reflects God's first blessing on the human family.

Third, the note of additional sons and daughters fulfills God's command that Adam and Eve

multiply and fill the earth.

And finally, the statement of death confirms God's decree that humankind must surely die.

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