Genesis 5 (2011) Tday is Mther s Day... An Amish by and his father were visiting a mall. They were amazed by almst everything they saw, but especially by tw shiny, silver walls that culd mve apart and back tgether again. The by asked his father, "What is this, Father?" The father respnded, "Sn, I have never seen anything like this in my life, I dn't knw what it is." While the by and his father were watching wide-eyed an ld lady in a wheel chair rlled up t the mving walls and pressed a buttn. The walls pened and the lady rlled between them int a small rm. The walls clsed and the by and his father watched small circles f lights w/numbers abve the walls light up. They cntinued t watch the circles light up in the reverse directin. The walls pened up again and a beautiful 24 year ld wman stepped ut. The father said t his sn, "G get yur Mther." Things aren t always as they appear, especially in Scripture And especially in the genealgy chapters f Genesis Many Bible students are tempted t skip the genealgy chapters like the ne befre us tday In reality, they have much t teach us, thugh it may take a little mre wrk t uncver the lessn As chapter 4 ended last week, we came t the end f the line f Cain And in that line we nted that the culminatin f Cain s sinful family culd be seen in the seventh frm Adam, Lamech Lamech embdied the cmpleted, perfected sin nature in keeping with his psitin as seventh in Cain s line frm Adam His sin was displayed by hw Cain didn t need Gd Nt fr prtectin, nt fr hnr r anything Yet all the while, Lamech and his fathers gave lip service t Gd including in the way they named their children gdly-sunding names 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 5! 2 Nw in cntrast t the seventh man in the line f Cain, chapter 4 ended with a return t Adam and a lk at the ther side f the family tree Seth, appinted ne, is brn t replace Abel And his sn Ensh, men began t engage in public wrship f Gd Already, there is a clear distinctin between the line f Cain and the ne f Seth Chapter 5 cntinues t reveal that distinctin Gen. 5:1 This is the bk f the generatins f Adam. In the day when Gd created man, He made him in the likeness f Gd. Gen. 5:2 He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created. Gen. 5:3 When Adam had lived ne hundred and thirty years, he became the father f a sn in his wn likeness, accrding t his image, and named him Seth. Gen. 5:4 Then the days f Adam after he became the father f Seth were eight hundred years, and he had ther sns and daughters. Gen. 5:5 S all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died. Gen. 5:6 Seth lived ne hundred and five years, and became the father f Ensh. Gen. 5:7 Then Seth lived eight hundred and seven years after he became the father f Ensh, and he had ther sns and daughters. Gen. 5:8 S all the days f Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died. Gen. 5:9 Ensh lived ninety years, and became the father f Kenan. Gen. 5:10 Then Ensh lived eight hundred and fifteen years after he became the father f Kenan, and he had ther sns and daughters. Gen. 5:11 S all the days f Ensh were nine hundred and five years, and he died. Gen. 5:12 Kenan lived seventy years, and became the father f Mahalalel. Gen. 5:13 Then Kenan lived eight hundred and frty years after he became the father f Mahalalel, and he had ther sns and daughters. Gen. 5:14 S all the days f Kenan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died. Gen. 5:15 Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and became the father f Jared. Gen. 5:16 Then Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years after he became the father f Jared, and he had ther sns and daughters. Gen. 5:17 S all the days f Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died. Gen. 5:18 Jared lived ne hundred and sixty-tw years, and became the father f Ench. Gen. 5:19 Then Jared lived eight hundred years after he became the father f Ench, and he had ther sns and daughters. Gen. 5:20 S all the days f Jared were nine hundred and sixty-tw years, and he died. Gen. 5:21 Ench lived sixty-five years, and became the father f Methuselah. 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 5! 3 Gen. 5:22 Then Ench walked with Gd three hundred years after he became the father f Methuselah, and he had ther sns and daughters. Gen. 5:23 S all the days f Ench were three hundred and sixty-five years. Gen. 5:24 Ench walked with Gd; and he was nt, fr Gd tk him. Chapter 5 finishes the tledat r family recrd f Adam In chapter 6 we begin the tledat f Nah And this will be the pattern f the bk f Genesis Mses will select ne persn in the line f the Messiah and fcus n his family fr a time befre mving t the next fcus And the juncture between each persn f fcus will be a genealgy chapter t stitch the tw tgether S, chapter 5 is the stitching between Adam and Nah Als remember hw Mses will zm in and ut in his narrative Here we see him zm ut again - nearly 1,500 years pass in this chapter Even befre we study the chapter, we might ask the questin why des Mses capture these lng genealgies in Scripture? Besides the reasn I just gave, genealgies serve at least ne ther majr purpse Gd has prmised t bring a salvatin t the wrld thrugh a seed, a seed He has chsen And when that seed arrives, Gd will have prvided a cmplete genealgy frm Adam t the Messiah t ensure we can trace the Messiah s claim Thse genealgies are then demnstrated in Luke and Matthew Lking at Chapter 5 Mses begins the chapter with a brief reminder f hw Adam himself began And then hw children began t be brn We ntice that Seth was brn when Adam was 130 years ld 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 5! 4 And then Mses emphasizes that this child was brn in in the likeness and image f Adam The wrds likeness and image are imprtant here First the wrd fr likeness in Hebrew is demuth, which means in the pattern f And the wrd fr image is tselem and means in the appearance f S Adam s children shared Adam s nature and appearance But glance back t v.1 and ntice hw Adam himself began He was created in the likeness r pattern f Gd, thugh nt in Gd s image This is cnfirmed in Gen 1, when it nly says in the likeness r pattern S Gd made Adam in the likeness r nature f Gd, but here we see Adam making his ffspring in the likeness r pattern f himself This is a difference created by sin Tday, peple are nt being brn in the likeness r Gd That similarity was lst nce Adam sinned and changed his nature Adam was n lnger like Gd, since Adam knew evil and Gd des nt S Mses reminds us here that the generatins that came frm Adam shared Adam s nature nt Gd s nature It requires the grace f Gd t grant us a new spirit and a new nature s that we might be restred t the likeness f Gd This is why Paul says 1Cr. 2:14 But a natural man des nt accept the things f the Spirit f Gd, fr they are flishness t him; and he cannt understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 5! 5 What abut the lng ages we see mentined in this accunt and ther places in Genesis? Sme Bible students have cme t assume the numbers are wrng r at least symblic The reasn they cnclude they are wrng is simply because ur present-day experience tells us that peple can t live hundreds f years This is a classic example f interpreting scripture thrugh a lens f the wrld and ur experience Rather than interpreting the wrld and ur experience thrugh the lens f Scripture If I were t interpret my experience thrugh the lens f Scripture, hw wuld I understand these lng ages? First, I apply the Glden Rule f interpretatin When the plain sense f Scripture makes cmmn sense, seek n ther sense In this case, there is n indicatin in the text t suggest that the ages aren t intended t be literal S t seek anther sense than the literal sense is reaching past the meaning f the text itself S then I am frced t cnclude that men lived very lng lives in the beginning And I als ntice that later in Genesis the length f life begins t decline rapidly, especially after the fld We ll discuss why when we get t chapter 9 Secndly, I frmulate reasnable theries ut f Scripture fr hw life culd be s lng and then decline later First, we knw Gd created Adam and Eve in perfectin They had bdies that had limits The bdy has amazing regeneratin and self-sustaining abilities even tday 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 5! 6 Secndly, we knw that death was nt a part f Gd s riginal design fr the human bdy Death was nt a necessity fr ur bdies Third, we knw that the prcess f physical death was instituted by Gd s decree that everything wuld wear ut and return t dust He didn t design the death f the bdy t be an instantaneus prcess but a gradual prcess Yes, sme die early and unexpectedly, but the usual prcess is gradual, steady deteriratin until the bdy gives ut Taking these three facts tgether, I can allw Scripture t infrm ur understanding f the wrld we see tday First, we cnclude that physical death is a prcess that takes hld ver time It is a prcess f weakening and deteriratin in the physical strength f the bdy Secndly, we nte that the prcess tk hld slwly ver generatins t wear dwn the bdy Initially, men had very lng life spans But ver time the deteriratin prcess accelerates leading t shrter and shrter lives The best scientific explanatin fr hw this happens bilgically is fund in DNA The errrs and defects in ur genetic cde are passed n t the next generatin And as the defects grw in number and seriusness, the bdy s systems weaken and death cmes quicker t the next generatin We will get mre in depth int this discussin in chapter 9 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 5! 7 The next bservatin we can make is that this is nt a cmplete list f Adam s direct descendants (all the names are Hebrew thugh...) In v.4 we re tld that Adam has ther sns and daughters ver his 930 years f life Adam culd have easily had hundreds f children, depending n Eve s patience and tlerance And by the time Adam died, he had seen his great, great, great, great, great, great grandchildren brn In fact, Adam died nly abut 125 years befre Nah was brn Nah was brn nly 14 years after Seth died But ntice smething else that Mses takes time t emphasis in this accunt After each man in the line f Seth is described, the recrd always ends in the same way And he died Thugh these men live lng lives, they always succumb in the end t the curse made necessary by Adam s sin Tday men live 75-80 years n average, and even nw many peple live that entire lifetime with little thught given t the inevitable T the fact that death cmes t all and then cmes judgment Like an strich, many put their heads in the sand and hpe that they can ignre this unpleasant fact frever S imagine hw easily men f this day culd have ignred the bvius After 700-800 years f life, d men perhaps frget that judgment is cming? And add t that fact until Adam died, perhaps nly a handful f men had prbably died 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 5! 8 But Mses desn t want his readers t miss the fact that death is cmmn t every man and it catches up t us eventually But then we find a curius exceptin at the seventh in the line f Seth frm Adam First, we ntice that Ench lives 365 years and in v.24 Gd tk him The age is interesting by itself It s a year fr every day in a year It suggests a cmpleting f a whle, the adding up f a number until the cmplete whle has been reached Secndly, we have Ench s place in the line f Seth, the seventh Remember, Cain s line ended in a seventh as well The recrd f Cain ended with Lamech, the man wh cmpleted and perfectly embdied the sin nature Here we have a genealgy that desn t end in the seventh, but the seventh becmes a stpping pint fr cmparisn purpses While Cain s line was a line f unbelievers living ppsed t Gd Seth s line is the seed line with men f faith wh trace t the Messiah And in the seventh psitin, we see Ench cmpleting a years wrth f days And he walks with Gd The Hebrew wrd fr walk is the same fr Gd walking in the Garden with Adam It means fellwship and clse cmpaninship Finally, we have an intriguing end t Ench s life The English phrase fr he was nt, fr Gd tk him is actually nly tw wrds in Hebrew Elhim (Gd) and laqach, which means received r caught r tk away 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 5! 9 The meaning is clear: Ench didn t experience physical death The writer f Hebrews affirms this interpretatin when he teaches: Heb. 11:5 By faith Ench was taken up s that he wuld nt see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; fr he btained the witness that befre his being taken up he was pleasing t Gd. This taking away is strange and unique, s it brings us t the imprtant questin Why did Gd chse t end Ench s life s differently frm the nrmal experience? T get the prper answer we must add in the ther clues f Ench s age and his psitin as seventh in the line And we must als cnsider what we knw cmes sn after Ench s departure, namely the judgment f the fld n the earth Mre specifically, we need t take nte f hw the NT uses the fld stry itself as a picture f the cming judgment f the wrld This is a cmparisn we will build mre fully in the cming chapters And finally, we can t help but make cmparisns f Ench s experience t the prmised taking f believers revealed in the New Testament, namely the Rapture S let s put these details tgether As the seventh in Seth s line, Ench must stand as the ppsite example t Lamech the seventh in Cain s line These tw men wuld have been cntempraries Just as Lamech lived as a testimny t sin Likewise, Ench s life is immediately recgnizable as a picture f men living in faith and walking with Gd Just as Hebrews 11 cnfirms 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 5! 10 Ench is taken as he reaches 365 years, r a cmpleted year f years Then he is taken by Gd frm the Earth And in then a perid f time passes fr thse wh remain behind But then Gd s judgment waters cme upn the earth Leaving nly a few t be rescued D yu see Gd creating a picture fr us thrugh Ench s experience? Ench is the symbl f the believer And after an appinted perid f time and nce a cmpleted number is reached, then Ench is remved frm the Earth Likewise, the NT tells us that nce a cmpleted number is reached, the Church will be remved frm the Earth We call that mment when the church is remved the Rapture Ench therefre becmes a picture f Gd s mercy in remving the believer frm the earth in preparatin fr the puring ut f judgment In Ench s day, the judgment was water But as 2Peter 3 says, the future judgment will be fire But as Ench was rescued frm that cming fld, s will the church be rescued befre the final time f judgment cmes t the earth But nt befre Ench warned the wrld f that cming judgment, as Jude explains Jude 14 It was als abut these men that Ench, in the seventh generatin frm Adam, prphesied, saying, Behld, the Lrd came with many thusands f His hly nes, Jude 15 t execute judgment upn all, and t cnvict all the ungdly f all their ungdly deeds which they have dne in an ungdly way, and f all the harsh things which ungdly sinners have spken against Him. Gd used Ench s life t illustrate His lve and mercy fr thse wh live Him and are called accrding t His purpse 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 5! 11 But finally tday, ntice that Ench s line desn t end Gen. 5:25 Methuselah lived ne hundred and eighty-seven years, and became the father f Lamech. Gen. 5:26 Then Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-tw years after he became the father f Lamech, and he had ther sns and daughters. Gen. 5:27 S all the days f Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died. His wn sn Methuselah utlives nt nly dad but every ther human being at 969 years His names means when he dies, it shall be sent Accrding t the genealgies in Genesis, the years Methuselah died was the same year that the fld came upn the earth Ench declared even in his sn s name a prphetic message warning f the cming judgment In fact, ntice that nt ne f the men in the line f Messiah dies in the Fld All f them either die naturally prir t the fld, are raptured (Ench) r are rescued (Nah) This is cnsistent with Peter s teaching that Gd will rescue the righteus frm the cming judgment When we return t Genesis, we ll finish chapter 5 as part f an intrductin int Nah and the fld stry, which begins in chapter 6 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.