Who was Enosh in the Bible?

Enosh, first mentioned in Genesis 4:26, was the grandson of Adam and Eve and the son of Seth. He is a noteworthy patriarch in the genealogy leading to Noah: “When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh. After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. . . . When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters” (Genesis 5:6–10).

Enosh lived for 905 years, a typical lifespan for the pre-flood patriarchs. Enosh is also listed in 1 Chronicles 1:1 as part of the historical records from Adam to Abraham (see 1 Chronicles 1:1–27) and as an ancestor of Jesus in Luke’s genealogy (Luke 3:38). He is not to be confused with Enoch, who was the great-great-grandson of Enosh and the man who “walked faithfully with God” and never died “because God took him away” (Genesis 5:22–24).

The Hebrew name Enosh means “humanity,” “man,” or “mortal.” After the death of Abel and God’s banishment of Cain, Adam and Eve gave birth to Seth (Genesis 4:25). Enosh was the first in the ancestral line that was destroyed by the murder of Abel but restored by the birth of Seth. Thus, Enosh (“humanity”) can be seen as representing the new lineage of humankind (or the new Adam, whose name also means “man”) that would arise after the flood.

Scripture identifies the period following Enosh’s birth as the time when people “first began to worship the Lord by name” (Genesis 4:26, NLT). Here, the English word “Lord” is a translation of the Hebrew term Yahweh, which was God’s proper name, given to the people of Israel through Moses: “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations” (Exodus 3:15, NLT).

Enosh’s lifetime represents the dawn of the people of God—an era in which worship and recognition of God took shape and intensified. During this critical phase in the development of spiritual devotion and religious practices, public worship at specific times likely became common, and God-fearing people distinguished themselves from the wicked.

Although sin had entered the world, a growing number of faithful followers still sought fellowship with God and “call[ed] on the name of the Lord” (Genesis 4:26). This act of calling on the name of the Lord repeats throughout Genesis and is characteristic of the worship of Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 12:8; 13:4; 21:33; 26:25). Knowing the Lord and calling on His name portray a close and familiar relationship with Yahweh (see Psalm 116:17; Zephaniah 3:9; Zechariah 13:9).

The role of Enosh in the Bible, although brief, underscores the continuity of faith since the beginning of human life and the establishment of early civilizations’ communion with their God and Creator.