17/02/19 Genesis 5:1-32 “God’s official genealogy of man
from Adam to Noah”
Genesis 5:1-2 – 1This [is] the book of the
generations of Adam (‘Adam). In the day that God created man (‘adam), in the likeness of God made he him; 2Male and female created
he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam (‘adam), in the day when they were created.
book – here it means a
genealogical register (from a root word meaning to count or number)
genealogies – genealogical
list of one’s descendants
day – day; time; year
This is the line of descent from Adam until
Noah, the time from creation until the flood. It commences with the creation of
Adam in the image of God as recorded in Genesis 1:26-28. Note that both man and
woman are called collectively Adam from the day they were created.
The genealogical register starts counting
the years from the time Adam (and Eve) were created. Starting with Adam, there
are 10 men in this genealogy, spanning 1656 years from the creation of Adam to
the start of the flood (according to the Hebrew text; the LXX has 2262 years
from Adam to the flood).
Adam sees his great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson
before he dies.
Then, after the flood, a brand-new genealogy
commences with Noah and his 3 sons.
Genesis 5:3 – And Adam lived an
hundred and thirty years, and begat [a son] in his own likeness, after
his image; and called his name Seth:
Seth (“substitute”) was born in the likeness
of Adam, especially in the context that Adam was created in the likeness of God
(Vs 1 above). In some way it appears that this is similar to Christians
conforming to the image of Christ. Note that Jesus is express image of the
Father:
Hebrews 1:3 – Who being the brightness of [his] glory,
and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of
his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand
of the Majesty on high;
And we are to be conformed to the image of
Christ.
Romans 8:29 – For whom he did foreknow, he also did
predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of
his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
2 Corinthians 3:18 – But we all, with open face
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image
from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Seth was born 130 years after Adam was
created. We don’t know how “old” Adam was when Cain and Abel were born.
Genesis 5:4-5 – 4And the days of Adam after he had
begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: 5And
all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.
Adam lived for another 800 years after Seth
was born, a total of 930 years in all. Other sons and daughters were born but
we do not have any record of their names nor details, except for Cain’s wife
who isn’t named. In fact, it is likely that a large number of sons and
daughters were born to many families in these days in order to build up the
numbers to permit marriages to continue to occur. While there would not have
been the genetic defects caused by the inbreeding that can occur with close
family marriages (human DNA would have been relatively pure then), either they
all lived in the one place, or there must have been sufficient numbers of both
men and women to permit smaller more spread out communities to continue to have
children, especially in the first generation or two.
Genesis 5:6-8 – 6And Seth lived an
hundred and five years, and begat Enos:
7And Seth lived after he begat Enos
eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters: 8And
all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.
Seth was 105 years old when his son Enos
(“man”) was born, and he lived for 807 years after that, a total of 912 years.
He also had other sons and daughters. Enos was born 235 years after Adam was
created.
Genesis 5:9-11 – 9And Enos lived ninety years, and
begat Cainan: 10And Enos lived after he
begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and
begat sons and daughters: 11And all the days of Enos were nine
hundred and five years: and he died.
Enos was 90 years old when his son Cainan (“possession”; “child”; “one begotten”) was born,
and he lived for 815 years after that, a total of 905 years. He also had other
sons and daughters. Cainan was born 325 years after
Adam was created.
Genesis 5:12-14 – 12And Cainan
lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel: 13And
Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel
eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters: 14And
all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten
years: and he died.
Cainan was 70 years old
when his son Mahalaleel (“praise of God”) was born,
and he lived for 840 years after that, a total of 910 years. He also had other
sons and daughters. Mahalaleel was born 395 years
after Adam was created.
Genesis 5:15-17 – 15And Mahalaleel
lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared: 16And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and
thirty years, and begat sons and daughters: 17And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he
died.
Mahalaleel was 65 years old
when his son Jared (“descent”) was born, and he lived for 830 years after that,
a total of 895 years. He also had other sons and daughters. Jared was born 460
years after Adam was created. Jared’s name can also mean “the going down” and
some suggest that this refers to the time when the (fallen) angels descended to
earth as per Genesis 6:2.
Genesis 5:18-20 – 18And Jared lived an
hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch: 19And Jared lived
after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 20And
all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.
Jared was162 years old when his son Enoch
(“dedicated”) was born, and he lived for 800 years after that, a total of 962
years. He also had other sons and daughters. Enoch was born 622 years after
Adam was created. It is suggested that Enoch may not have been the first-born
son, but rather the most godly of the sons, thus being
the fittest to carry on the line of descent without corruption.
Genesis 5:21-23 – 21And Enoch lived sixty and five
years, and begat Methuselah: 22And Enoch walked with God
after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 23And
all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:
Enoch was 65 years old when his son
Methuselah (“man of the dart”; “he dies, there is a dart”; “a sending forth”;
“he dies, and the sending forth”; “the armed warrior”) was born, and he lived
300 years after that, a total of 365 years. He also had other sons and
daughters. Methuselah was born 687 years after Adam was created.
Genesis 5:24 – And Enoch walked with God:
and he [was] not; for God took him.
walked – walked about;
traversed Used in Genesis 3:8 – And
they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool
of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord
God amongst the trees of the garden.
took – take from; take
out of; take away; take possession of; take up; fetch.
Enoch was taken by God 987 years after Adam
was created, just 57 years after Adam died. At this time, Seth was still alive
at 857 years old; Enoch was the only one of this pre-flood patriarchal genealogical
line of descent to die so far.
And Enoch walked
with God – (Also see Vs 22 above) Enoch traversed his life with God; this would
be the equivalent of a life lived in constant ministry for God today.
and he (was) not – suggesting a
sudden or unexpected disappearance, much like the future rapture is depicted.
for God took him – for God took
Enoch up, took possession of him.
Hebrews 11:5 – By faith Enoch was translated that he
should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for
before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. (”and Enoch was well pleasing unto God” is from
the LXX)
It has a similar idea to the taking up of
Elijah in 2 Kings 2:11 – And
it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, [there
appeared] a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both
asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
Enoch and Elijah are the only 2 men in the
Bible who are not recorded as dying before they went to be with God.
Both Genesis 5:22 & 24 have “God” with
the article (“the”), thus “the God”. All previous occurrences of “God”
have either had “LORD” in front or have lacked the article (“the”). Thus:
“Enoch walked with the God”, possibly signifying that this is the
one true God, rather than another God. It does suggest that others of mankind
walked with other gods, rather than the one true God.
Genesis 5:25-27 – 25And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech: 26And
Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and
begat sons and daughters: 27And all the days of Methuselah were nine
hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.
Methuselah was 187 years old when his son Lamech
(“powerful”) was born, and he lived 782 years after that, a total of 969 years.
He also had other sons and daughters. Lamech was born 874 years after Adam was
created; therefore Adam was still alive when Lamech
was born. Lamech also died just 5 years before the flood, while his father,
Methuselah, died 5 years later in the same year that the flood commenced (which
was in Noah’s 600th year).
Genesis 5:28-31 – 28And Lamech lived an
hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: 29And he called his
name Noah, saying, This [same] shall comfort us concerning our work and
toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed. 30And
Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat
sons and daughters: 31And all the days of Lamech were
seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.
Lamech was 182 years old when his son Noah
(“rest”) was born, and he lived 595 years after that, a total of 777 years. He
also had other sons and daughters. Noah was born 1056 years after Adam was
created. This makes Noah the first of this line of descent who was born (126
years) after Adam died.
Before Adam died, the next 8 generations
were born (Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel,
Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech). The family reunions must have been crowded!
Noah was the only one in this list
born after Adam died.
Genesis 5:32 – And Noah was five hundred years old:
and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Noah was 500 years old when he had his first
son, Japheth, followed by Shem at around 502 or 503 years of age, then Ham.
Probably Shem is mentioned first because it is from his line that Christ came.
Genesis 11:10-11 says that Shem was 600
years old when he died. We don’t know the age of the other two sons. Shem was
100 years old 2 years after the flood when he had his first son. Assuming the
flood to have lasted at least a year, this would make Shem around 97 years old
when he got onto the ark, while his oldest brother, Japheth, was born 100 years
before the flood when Noah was 500 years old. It doesn’t say it was Japheth who
was born first, yet Shem has to have been born 2 or 3 years after Noah turned
500, and Genesis 9:24 suggests that Ham was the youngest son. And we don’t know
when Japheth and Ham died.
Noah was 600 years old when the flood came
(Genesis 7:6). This makes the flood 1656 years after Adam was created.
Noah lived for 350 years after the flood, a
total of 950 years in all (Genesis 9:28-29).
There is no reason why Noah wouldn’t have
had other sons before he reached 500, and maybe he did, yet if so, they would
have to have been in some way not supportive of the righteousness which led
Noah to walk with “the” God, as did Enoch. In Genesis 6:9 we again have that
phrase that Noah “walked with the God”, the same as Enoch, again
strongly implying that most others walked with other gods, or even walked with
God, but Noah, like Enoch, walked with the God.
The context of today’s passage strongly
implies an extreme level of wickedness and straying from God. Enoch walked with
“the” God as opposed to the bulk of mankind walking with just any god, or even
with God but according to their terms and conditions. And Noah in our next
lesson is also noted the same. Only 2 people in this pre-flood period seem to
have actually specifically “walked with the God”. Others might have also
been included, such as Abel, but it has not been said of them that they “walked
with the God”. We appear to be in the times that Jesus was referring to
in Matthew 24:37-39 – 37But as the days of Noe [were], so
shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38For as in the days that were before the flood they were
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe
entered into the ark, 39And
knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so
shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
There will be the great apostasy (the
falling away, a forsaking of the truth – 2 Thessalonians 2:3) before satan’s
antichrist will be revealed, that one who will try to take on God in a savage
7-year period called the great tribulation, yet he will also miserably fail. A
lot has to do with the attitude of the general public to the notion that God
rules the universe. They would rather have anything else than believe in God!
Romans 1:21-32 – 21Because
that, when they knew God, they glorified [him] not as God, neither were
thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was
darkened. 22Professing
themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an
image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted
beasts, and creeping things. 24Wherefore
God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to
dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped
and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26For this cause
God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the
natural use into that which is against nature: 27And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the
woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which
is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence
of their error which was meet. 28And
even as they did not like to retain God in [their] knowledge, God gave
them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 29Being filled with all
unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of
envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30Backbiters, haters of God,
despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable,
unmerciful: 32Who
knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of
death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
The world wants any option, no matter how
illogical, as long as it keeps God out of their business. If God says to do it,
then they’ll do something else. So in the end God
gives them over to a reprobate mind, a mindset that opposes God, such that God
literally rejects them from any option of being able to seek Him. Such people
cannot be saved, even if they wanted to (which they have already rejected
anyway).
This is why the Christian school at Echuca
faced closure in 2009, not because of any failure to properly teach the
students, but because we dared to claim that it was science to teach creation
by God when the government said otherwise. We taught evolution as well, but
with an emphasis upon creation. That’s only to be expected, as we were clearly
a Christian school. But the government would close the school (and at one point
in time gave us 30 days to shut down) if we dared even suggest that creation by
God was a possible option. They stated that we had to teach their definition of
science or else be closed down due to unsatisfactory curriculum.
We were also told that because our doctrinal
statement said that God was the creator and ruler of the universe, that it was
anti-government and had to be removed. (We refused!) We were told that our
whole doctrinal statement was not acceptable curriculum material, to which we
said it was our statement of beliefs and that they could keep their hands off
that! It was only by a miracle that we remained open. The government has been
making it illegal to believe in God in Christian schools for some time now. How
long will it be before they forbid Christian churches to believe in God?
The pharisees of Jesus’ day were no better.
Today they’d be the hyper-fundamentalists, with so many rules and regulations
that people’s lives were bound up in their rules and penalties for
infringements. By rules they obeyed their god (whom Jesus identified as the
devil), and by their rules they ruled (that is, “controlled”) the general
population (who had no rights to speak back or oppose such “educated” leaders).
No longer was it God’s law by which they lived; now it
was the pharisaic corruption of the law (not the Torah but the Babylonian Talmud)
by which the pharisees taught as doctrine the commandments of men.
Matthew 15:1-9; 12-14 – 1Then
came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, 2Why do thy disciples transgress
the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
3But he answered and
said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the
commandment of God by your tradition? 4For God commanded, saying, Honour
thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or
mother, let him die the death. 5But
ye say, Whosoever shall say to [his] father or [his]
mother, [It is] a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest
be profited by me; 6And
honour not his father or his mother, [he shall be free]. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by
your tradition. 7[Ye]
hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 8This people draweth
nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with [their]
lips; but their heart is far from me. 9But in vain they do worship me, teaching [for] doctrines
the commandments of men.
12Then came his disciples, and said
unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were
offended, after they heard this saying? 13But he answered and said, Every
plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. 14Let them alone: they be blind
leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the
ditch.
It is likely that the human race was
corrupted genetically by demons in pre-flood times, and that the general public
of those days worshipped gods other than the one true God. Apart from Abel, Enoch
and Noah there is no-one else who is described as seeking the one true God in
any significant way. Certainly many of this genealogy from Adam to Noah may
have been morally good people, and may even have sought after God in their own
way, but only 3 (if Abel is included) are recorded as seeking the one true God
with any consistency. No wonder that it is recorded that the wickedness of man
was great in the earth! And it is interesting that in Noah’s time, only Noah
appears to have found grace in the eyes of the Lord!
Genesis 6:5-8 – 5And
God saw that the wickedness of man [was] great in the earth, and [that]
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart [was] only evil
continually. 6And it
repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his
heart. 7And the Lord
said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both
man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. 8But Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord.
And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall
it be in the days leading up to the 2nd coming of Christ (Matthew
24:37-39). If these truly are the last days, then those who consistently seek the
one true God (“the God”) are going to stand out from those who seek gods
of any kind, whatever they might be. Churches will be teaching politically-correct
doctrines (they already are, it seems, by the efforts the politicians make to
attach themselves to politically-correct churches such as Hillsong). Churches
will seek to be acceptable to the masses in order to “reach out” to them. No
longer are most churches greatly different from the world. The Bible has the
answer to all life’s problems, with the gospel of Christ. But, how can churches
preach a gospel which is opposed to the general world view while at the same
time embracing the world with all its pleasures and excitements. How can
churches preach a gospel which takes up the cross of suffering when they also
demand that God bless them with all material possessions. How many pastors are
walking with “the” God as opposed to those walking with God as long as He
delivers their desirable goods?
Matthew 24:37-39 – 37But
as the days of Noe [were], so shall also the coming of the Son of man
be. 38For as in the
days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and
giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39And knew not until the flood
came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming
of the Son of man be.
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