Who was Kenan?

The story of Kenan

Kenan is one of the patriarchs who lived before the Flood, listed in the line from Adam through Seth to Noah. The KJV spells his name Kenan in 1 Chronicles but Cainan in Genesis and Luke. He is the son of Enosh and the grandson of Seth, and so a great-grandson of Adam (Genesis 5:6; Genesis 5:9).

Genesis records that Enosh was ninety years old when Kenan was born (Genesis 5:9). When Kenan was seventy he became the father of Mahalaleel. He lived another 840 years after that and had other sons and daughters (Genesis 5:12-13).

He died at the age of 910 (Genesis 5:14). Through Mahalaleel his line runs to Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech and Noah, so Noah is his descendant five generations later (Genesis 5:15-29). Because all people after the Flood descend from Noah, the genealogies make Kenan an ancestor of all humanity, not of Israel in particular.

The Chronicler lists him in the opening line of his genealogy: Adam, Sheth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalaleel, Jered (1 Chronicles 1:1-2). Luke includes him as Cainan, son of Enos, in the ancestry of Jesus traced back to Adam (Luke 3:37-38).

Name origin

Hebrew

Role

Antediluvian patriarch

First mention

1 Chronicles 1:2

Appearances in the Bible

1 mentions

Questions about Kenan