Jared
Pronounced JAIR-ud
- Meaning
- "Descent; He who descended; Rose"
- Origin
- Hebrew
Jared means "descent" or "he who descended" in Hebrew. He was the sixth generation from Adam, the son of Mahalaleel and father of Enoch — the man who "walked with God" and was taken to heaven without dying. Jared lived to the remarkable age of 962 years, making him the second-longest-lived person in the Bible after Methuselah. His long life spanned a period of enormous change — from the early generations after Adam to the era just before the Flood. The significance of Jared's name — "descent" — has been interpreted in several ways. Some scholars see it as referring to the descent of the Watchers in the Book of Enoch tradition. Others connect it simply to geographical descent, as his family may have moved to lower elevation regions. Jared's greatest legacy is his son Enoch, whose extraordinary walk with God produced the seventh generation from Adam — a number of divine completion. Being the father of the man who walked closest to God is no small spiritual heritage.
Spiritual meaning
Jared's greatest contribution was raising a son who walked with God so closely that heaven couldn't wait. His life reminds us that our deepest legacy is the faith we nurture in the next generation.
Related verses (KJV)
"And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch: And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters."
Genesis 5:18-19 (KJV)
"And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died."
Genesis 5:20 (KJV)