Genesis 5 - The Gospel in a Genealogy

Last time in Genesis 4, we saw the result of Cain attempting to come to God on his own terms rather than the way the Lord had prescribed. The Lord accepted his brother’s offering but not his, and as a result Cain became angry and depressed, and eventually murdered his brother Abel out of envy and hatred. Rather than taking responsibility for his actions, Cain lied and made excuses. This resulted in him being cursed from the earth, and separated from the presence of the Lord. It was a tragic end to an already sad story that could have turned out differently if Cain would have humbled himself before the Lord and repented. Adam and Eve had a son after Abel’s death whom they named Seth. The name Seth means appointed, and from the text we can see that they believed through his seed would come the bruising of the serpent’s head. “…For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. In the days of Seth’s son, Enos, Enos called on the name of the Lord. However, in spite of the string of violence started by Cain, the Lord preserved a godly seed for Himself through Enos and his descendants. In this study we will look at Genesis chapter 5.

In chapter 5, we see the recording of the genealogies beginning with Adam and Eve, and going all the way through Noah. When we get to sections in the Bible that are recording genealogies, the temptation is to skip over them, thinking them less important and somewhat boring. To the diligent student however, in this case, we will make some fascinating discoveries.

We are told this is the book of the genealogy of Adam, and many scholars believe this is the end of Adam’s account that started back in chapter 2. Adam and Eve were created in God’s likeness as we discussed previously, and they were without sin. After the Fall, their children were born in their likeness, inheriting their parents’ fallen nature that affected everything, even down to their DNA.

We don’t know how old Adam and Eve were when they had Cain and Abel, but Adam was 130 when they had Seth. Adam lived another 800 years after the birth of Seth, and then he died. In this time, he had other sons and daughters. There are those who like to read into the text that Adam could have lived a long time (thousands of years) before the Fall, but the text itself does not indicate so. The same language is used to describe Adam’s age at the time of Seth’s birth, as well as the age that he died,  as it does for his descendants. For a few reasons, it is reasonable to assume Adam and Eve were in the garden a relatively short time before the Fall, for which you can read here. As I mentioned in an earlier study, people often attempt to insert large time gaps into the text in order to reconcile the Bible with modern Science, but this is a mistake. The best thing we can do is simply take the Scriptures at face value, and conform our scientific understanding to them.

One question that often comes up is where did Adam’s sons and descendants get their wives. The only plausible answer is that the text tells us Adam had daughters, and so it is reasonable to presume they married their sisters or close relatives. At this point, there would have been a lot purer gene pool, so the genetic problems that often arise f    rom inbreeding would not have been present. Later, God would forbid close inner marriages.

We are not told a lot about the other descendants with the exception of Enoch. When Enoch was 65, he begot Methuselah. Methuselah means, “when he is dead, it shall come” (a reference to the world-wide flood). We know from Jude that Enoch was a prophet, and it is thought that Enoch had special revelation from God that judgment was coming and named his son accordingly. This seemed to have a profound effect on Enoch, because after Methuselah was born, Enoch walked with God 300 years, and then he was not, because God took him. The author of Hebrews writes, “By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, ‘and was not found, because God had taken him’; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” (Heb 11:5) Enoch had such a close walk with the Lord that the Lord took him from planet Earth without seeing death. So too, God has spared us from His coming judgment on this world, and we should want to walk with Him as Enoch did. If we walk with Him, we too will be removed from this coming judgment unless the Lord allows us to go via the grave first. Many, including myself, believe this taking to be the rapture, an event in which God miraculously removes the Church from planet Earth before He pours out His wrath on this Christ rejecting sinful world.

The last man in the line-up is Noah. His name means rest or comfort, and his father, Lamech, believed he would comfort them concerning the work and toil of their hands because of the ground that the Lord had cursed. We are told he was 500 years old when he had or began having his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. It would be through Noah and his sons that the Lord would repopulate the earth after the Flood.

There are a couple of things worth pointing out here. First, is the length of life these men had before the flood.  They lived hundreds of years, with the oldest being Methuselah who lived 969 years. In a previous study, we talked about a vaporous water canopy shielding the earth from many of the sun’s harmful rays that has been thought to have slowed down the aging process significantly, but in my study several years ago I was disappointed to learn that many creation scientists have abandoned the canopy theory. One of the reasons for this is that the waters above the heavens mentioned in Genesis 1 are still mentioned in Psalm 148:4, which was written in a post-flood era. If this is correct, then those waters did not actually surround Earth’s atmosphere and did not disappear after the Flood.  Consequently, they cannot be attributed to the longevity of man prior to it.

The best alternate theory I have encountered is that prior to the Flood, the atmospheric pressure may have been 1.5/2 times greater than today, and due to the catastrophic events that transpired during the flood, some of the gases were pushed upwards and pulled away from Earth’s gravitational pull by solar winds (hopefully more on this in a later study). This greater atmospheric pressure would have done a couple of things: first, the increased atmospheric pressure would have allowed more oxygen to enter the bloodstream. We see the results of this today in hyperbaric oxygen therapy. A person is placed in a pressurized chamber, and the air pressure is increased one to two times that of normal sea level atmospheric pressure. This is thought to accelerate wound healing, promote tissue repair, and positively affect metabolic rates and the performance of the hormonal systems. Another possible benefit of this increased atmospheric pressure prior to the Flood is that it would have blocked much of the harmful solar radiation that is attributed to aging. Whatever the cause, antediluvian man lived much longer than man does today, and his life decreased exponentially after the Flood.

As a result of mankind living much longer, there was a large overlap of generations. There were 10 generations from Adam to Noah, and Adam living 930 years would have still been alive when Lamech was born. Lamech, the father of Noah, would have been approximately 56 when Adam died. The Flood happened 726 years after Adam’s death (approximately 2348 BC). Since written letters did not come until later, history and traditions would have been passed down orally. This significant overlap in generations meant that oral tradition would have been easily passed down from one generation to the next, and as a result the story of creation, the fall of man, and God’s promise of redemption would have been easily preserved.

The second thing I would like to point out is that there appears to be a message in the names of these 10 men listed. The names along with their meaning in English are as follows:

Hebrew	English
Adam	Man
Seth	Appointed
Enosh	Mortal
Kenan	Sorrow
Mahalalel	The Blessed God
Jared	Shall come down
Enoch	Teaching
Methuselah	His death shall bring
Lamech	The Despairing
Noah	Rest, or comfort

 

When put altogether, it reads: Man (is) appointed mortal sorrow; (but) the Blessed God shall come down teaching (that) His death shall bring (the) despairing rest.

So, there you have it, the Gospel message hidden in the genealogies of Genesis 5. This is the kind of stuff you don’t just make up, folks! The Lord knew all along that man would fall into sin, and He knew all along that He would send His only begotten Son to save man from his own fallen state. We do not always find gems like this listed in the genealogies of the Bible, but in this case we certainly do. In the next chapter we will see the culmination of man’s wickedness, and how the Lord brings a world-wide judgment as a result.  However, one man and his family will find grace in the eyes of the Lord and be spared.

In application, are we walking with God like Enoch did? As David Guzek points out, walking with the Lord is marked by certain characteristics. First, we walk by faith as we discussed earlier (2 Co 5:7 and Heb 11:5). Second, we walk in the light as He is in the light (1 John 1:5-7). This means we are turning from our sins. Third, we are walking in agreement with God (Amos 3:3). In order to obey the Lord, we have to be in agreement with Him. As we do these things, we can have that sweet fellowship with Him as Enoch did.

Second, there is a rest for the people of God. Just as Lamech believed Noah would comfort them concerning their work and toil, God has provided us rest and comfort through Jesus Christ. As the author of Hebrews points out, we do not have to work and toil to enter into the Kingdom, but to cease from our efforts and rest in Christ by faith.

 

References

 

Hyperbaric medicine - Wikipedia

 

Timeline for the Flood

 

The Gospel in Genesis

 

The Windows of Heaven of Noah's Flood - Water out of Thin Air

 

    

Genesis 4 - The First Murder

Previously in Genesis, we discussed the consequences of man’s sin, and how this sin nature would be passed down to each subsequent generation. Not only is man affected by the curse, all of creation groans and travails until the present (Rom 8:22) We also saw how the Lord made provision for that sin. The Lord made coats of skins for Adam and Eve, and had to shed the blood of animals in order to do so. In this we see a picture of the Gospel in that God sent His Only Begotten Son to shed His blood, dying on the cross for us, and by faith we get to receive His righteousness. One day, creation will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom 8:21). We also see a marvelous prophecy as Satan’s head was bruised and he was defeated once and for all at the cross. In this study, we will look at Genesis 4, and get our first glimpse of how ugly sin can get.

It states that Adam knew his wife, and she conceived and bear Cain. The word “knew” or “to know” is a polite way of saying they had sexual relations, and is the first time it is mentioned in the Bible. Today, most words and phrases used to describe sex are crude and demeaning, but the Bible describes it as a way of getting to know one another in an intimate and personal way. It is also mentioned in connection with marriage (i.e. it is between husband and wife). As we discussed in Ephesians, sex outside of marriage is what the Bible calls fornication, and is not to be named among us. I heard a saying the other day, “No woo-hoo until you say I do.”

The name Cain means possession, and it is possible Eve thought she had given birth to the promised deliverer. After this Eve also bore Abel his brother. Now Cain was a tiller of the ground, and Abel was a shepherd. Contrary to what is normally taught, early mankind were not primitive cave-dwellers, but practiced agriculture and animal husbandry.

Eventually the time came that both of them brought an offering to the Lord. Cain’s offering was from the fruit of the ground, but Abel’s offering was of the firstlings of his flock. This begs the question, why did God accept Abel’s offering but not Cain’s? Both grain offerings and animal sacrifices were accepted by the Lord in the Old Testament. The author of Hebrews gives us some insight. He writes, “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.” From a human standpoint, an offering of produce makes more sense, since it is cleaner and all they had to do is bring it to the Lord. It takes faith, however, to believe that by shedding the blood of an animal the Lord will forgive their sins.

God accepted Abel’s offering, but Cain’s He did not. Man’s works, apart from faith, can never please God, for no matter the good works he has done, it can never erase his bad works. Even man’s “good works” are often tainted by sin and impure motives. Man has always had to approach the Lord by faith in both the Old and New Testaments. The author of Hebrews again writes, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

Well, this displeased Cain as it usually does those who are works oriented. If you talk to those who really pride themselves in their works such as Jehovah’s Witnesses (or any other religious group for that matter), the idea that we are saved by grace through faith alone is offensive to them. So rather than humbling himself, Cain became very angry with the Lord and his brother. He was envious that his brother’s sacrifice was accepted when his was not. As a result, the Scriptures state that his countenance fell, or another way of saying this is that he became depressed. Cain wanted to come to the Lord on his own terms, rather than the way the Lord had prescribed. Nothing will bum us out more than walking in rebellion to the Lord through carnality and sin. This undealt with anger and envy turned into hatred and bitterness toward his brother.

The Lord spoke to Cain saying, “…Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” If you remember from Genesis 3, the Lord uses a similar phrase in talking with Eve. Again, the idea here is that sin was desiring to rule over Cain, but the Lord was saying he needed to rule over it. This of course would be through faith rather than by his own strength or efforts; for as we discussed in Romans, apart from faith in the Lord, there can be no mastery over sin. Unfortunately, Cain did not listen to the Lord’s words, but proceeded further in his anger and hatred toward Abel. He talked Abel into going out to the field, and once they were there, he rose up and killed him. Unchecked hatred and bitterness never get better over time, but always grows worse. This is why the Bible states that if we have hated our brother, we are a murderer at heart (Matthew 5:21-22 and 1 John 3:15). Murder always starts in the heart, for we have written them off and deemed them unworthy of love and forgiveness. In our hearts it is as if they are dead, and in the case of Cain it led to the literal act of murder. 

The Lord then asks Cain “Where is your brother?” Cain then responds by saying, “I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?” Notice there’s no admission of wrong-doing or sign of contrition, but an attempt to cover himself by lying and making excuses. You see people who are works oriented are too proud to admit they are wrong, and will go to great lengths to cover up and make excuses for their sin. The problem is this does not work with the Lord. The Lord already knew what happened to Abel, but again He wanted Cain to confess his sin. The Lord said to Cain, “…What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.” The Bible states that the life of the flesh is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11), and Abel’s blood had been needlessly shed. The Lord then cursed Cain from the earth, and told him that it would no longer produce food for him. The thing he took so much pride in would now be a futile task. He would be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth. Again, we see Cain’s refusal to humble himself and confess his sin, but proceeds with the all too familiar victim mentality. He stated his punishment was too great for him to bear, and as a result the Lord in His mercy placed a mark on Cain so that no one would kill him in vengeance. There has been a lot of speculation over the years as to what this mark was, even going as far as to say it was black skin. Joseph Smith and Brigham Young both taught that the mark that God placed on Cain was black skin. Brigham Young stated, “What is the mark? You will see it on the countenance of every African you ever did see...." And, "the Lord put a mark upon [Cain], which is the flat nose and black skin.” However, the Scriptures simply do not tell us what the mark was. Besides, all the descendants of Cain were destroyed by the flood, so to attribute this curse to people with black skin is plainly wrong and unscriptural.

The Scriptures then state that Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in Nod. What a tragic end to an already sad story: Cain could have admitted his sin and asked for the Lord’s mercy, but instead he was content to continue in his pride, stubbornness, and excuse making. ultimately, he was willing to be separated from the Lord’s presence. I wonder how the story would have turned out differently if Cain would have humbled himself and repented from his sin. I think that, although there would have still been consequences, the Lord would have restored Cain to fellowship with Himself, because that is the Lord’s nature. Remember, the Lord does not point out our sin to condemn us, but in order that He can forgive and restore us. Unfortunately, Cain’s actions would begin a string of violence that would only grow perpetually worse until the days of Noah which I hope to cover in a couple weeks.

Notwithstanding, we still see some good things come out of the line of Cain. Among his descendants was a guy named Lamech. Lamech had two wives who bore him children. These children were the inventors of cattle ranching, musical instruments and the music arts, and the first craftsman in brass and iron. Again, early man was not primitive and unintelligent, but even after the fall as we can see, man was capable of great achievements. Within the first 100+ years or so from creation, they were already using iron and brass, something that didn’t show up after the flood in ancient Israel until the time of Solomon.

At a certain point, Lamech told his two wives that he had killed a man for wounding him, and that if God was going to avenge Cain seven-fold if someone came after him, then God should avenge him seventy-seven-fold. There is no evidence Lamech believed himself to be in danger of losing his own life, so using lethal force appears to have been an overreaction. This is an indicator of the state of Cain’s descendants in a relatively short time.

Next the Scriptures tell us that Adam and Eve had another son, and they called him Seth: “For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.” The name Seth means appointed. It is possible that they had thought that Abel would have been of the promised seed referred to in chapter 3, and now the Lord had given them Seth in his place. With each son, they were on the look-out for this seed that God had promised, and this is what we should do with the Lord’s promises as well. As we will see, this will prove to be correct: It is through the line of Seth that the Gospel of Luke traces the genealogy down all the way to Jesus Christ.

In the days of Seth’s son, Enos, the Genesis account states that men began to call on the name of the Lord. In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament used by the early Church, it states it as, “This one (Enosh) hoped to call upon the name of the Lord God.” This would mean that Enos called on the name of the Lord, and would pass his faith onto his descendants. Ultimately, what we see in Genesis going forward is that Seth’s direct line would remain godly, while the rest of the world would descend into hostility toward God, sexual immorality, and violence.

In what ways are we like Cain? Do we know what the Lord’s word says, but insist on doing things our own way? This will result in our work not being pleasing in His sight, and we will not be blessed. Remember, we must first approach Him by faith: this is faith in the person of Jesus Christ for salvation, and faith in what His word says is true. This naturally translates into living in obedience to that truth.

Second, how do we respond when we are corrected for something wrong we have done? Do we lie and seek to cover up what we have done? Do we play the victim in an attempt to make others feel sorry for us? Are we so intent on our own way that we would sacrifice our fellowship with the Lord to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season? The correct response, of course, is to admit our faults, confess our sin to the appointed man, Jesus Christ, for, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) Sin wants to rule over us, but we must rule over it through our faith in the Lord and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Lastly, are we struggling with depression? While certainly not all depression is linked to sinful behavior, I do believe it is significant that the first time it is mentioned in the Bible it is connected with sin. We need to ask the Lord to search our hearts as David did. It may not be open rebellion, but simply an area we are not aware of that we need to change our thinking. In the following chapter, we will see the genealogy of Adam all the way to Noah, and some interesting insights along the way.