Bible Study: Genesis 5
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good Morning
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Let’s pray
Text: Genesis 5:1-5
Text: Genesis 5:1-5
1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.
2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.
3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
4 The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters.
5 Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.
This whole chapter, chapter 5 along with along with the first 8 verses of chapter 6 mentions ten specific families.
The author organized the verses into ten paragraphs and each is written in the same form.
So, one paragraph for each generation in Adam’s line through Seth.
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In accord with other biblical genealogies, this listing is representative rather than complete.
Because the Hebrew word translated “fathered” often means “became the ancestor of,” and because some of the numbers may be symbolic, many scholars understand that there are gaps in these genealogies for the author skips any number of generations...
These omissions do actually occur in other genealogies in the Word of God...
Look at the genealogy of two men who lived during the same time and each have their genealogy recorded...
Look at the genealogy of Moses in Exodus 6:16–20 and compare it with the genealogy of Joshua in 1 Chronicles 7:23–27...
Undoubtedly when you compare the two you will notice that the genealogy for Moses has been compressed.
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So, these genealogies cannot be used to compute a precise chronology to date the age of the earth.
Additionally, it should be understood that unlike modern genealogies, in which exhaustive accounts are desired...
Genealogies in the ancient Near East and the Bible are often formulated along lines that emphasize theological purposes and functions.
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Additionally, this account of Adam’s genealogy focuses on the covenant line of Seth and then summarizes the terrible escalation of sin on the earth right before the flood (that will be recorded in chapter 6).
So, this section of Genesis falls into two distinctive parts:
Genesis 5:1–32 is largely a genealogy that traces a single line of descendants from Adam to Noah, naming only one person in each generation.
Genesis 6:1–8 provides a worldwide picture of increasing human wickedness.
The contrast between these two elements is not simply between the particular and the universal but, more importantly, between righteousness and evil.
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Now Genesis 5:1–32 connects the genealogy from Adam to the Noahic family which not only survived the Flood, but also became first in God’s re-creation.
Two recurring phrases carry redemption history forward: “he had other sons and daughters” and “he died.”
These lines, which get repeated for each successive descendant of Adam, echo two contrasting realities;
God had said “you will surely die” in Genesis 2:17...
And God had also commanded them to “be fruitful and multiply” in Genesis 1:28.
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There is a lot of similarities and differences between this Seth’s genealogy and the genealogy of Cain.
Both are initially linear, focusing on one individual in each generation, and both conclude by dividing the line among three sons.
However, the central themes of these genealogies contrast sharply.
Cain’s line dies in the flood...
Yet, Seth’s line lives through it.
Whereas the former presents the curse-laden line of Cain as concluding with another murderer in Lamech...
The latter links the founder of humanity, Adam, with its re-founder, Noah.
The Enoch and Lamech in Seth’s line cannot be confused with the first and last descendants bearing these names in Cain’s line.
Enoch, the seventh in the line of Seth, “walked with God” and “God took him.”
The Lamech in Seth’s line names his son Noah, hoping the Lord will “bring us relief.”
The significant seventh generation of each genealogy marks a high point—the height of wickedness in the Cain’s Lamech and the height of godliness in the Seth’s Enoch.
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One of the most striking aspects of the passage is the great age of the first people in Genesis.
Nearly every individual listed lives more than 700 years.
A few reach nearly 1,000 years.
Given that the life span of people today (and at least since the flood) is much shorter than the life span of those listed from Adam to Noah, the question is often raised as to whether the remarkable longevity of these individuals should be taken at face value or whether their longevity has some other explanation.
However, the traditional understanding is that the numbers should be taken at face value, often assuming that something changed in the cosmology of the earth or in the physiology of humans (or in both) after the flood, resulting in a rapid decline in longevity, finally stabilizing at a “normal” life span in the range of 70 years or 80 years.
The best theory on this is that the pre-Flood environment that was provided by the earth being under a canopy of water was filtering out the ultraviolet rays of the sun and producing a much more moderate and healthful condition.
In any case, one clear implication of these genealogies is that these people actually lived (regardless of how long), and that they actually died.
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So, our introductory section starts by showing that God’s intention for creation will be realized through Seth, not Cain.
Seth is Adam’s third-born son...
And his line is clearly presented as offering an alternative to the line of seven generations linked to Cain.
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Please notice the phrase, “in his own likeness, after his image” or in some translations as “according to his image”...
The point being made here is that the human image and likeness in which God created mankind was procreatively passed to the second generation and to all generations which follow...
So, Adam and Eve are not the only ones created in the image of God but also all their decedents.
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The Hebrew word used for image here is “Tselem.”
“Tselem” is not always used to speak of a physical object in the Old Testament.
The word can be used metaphorically to speak of abstract objects or attributes.
In Psalm 39:6 it is often translated as “shadow” and refers to the brevity of life.
In Psalm 73:20, it is typically translated as “phantom.”
However, when referring to God, “Tselem” more likely refers to a type of “representation” of God that does not imply concrete or physical attributes of God.
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Now please notice that Adam dies in verse 5...
Remember that God told Adam that if he ate of the tree he would surely die in Genesis 2:17...
That included spiritual death which was immediately and it also included physical which was later.
Death is a repeated, grim occurrence, reminding us of the reality of the curse and the need for God in mercy to provide a final remedy for death through Christ.
This reminds me of John 11:25–26 which says:
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Text: Genesis 5:6-24
Text: Genesis 5:6-24
6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh.
7 Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters.
8 Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died.
9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan.
10 Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan 815 years and had other sons and daughters.
11 Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died.
12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel.
13 Kenan lived after he fathered Mahalalel 840 years and had other sons and daughters.
14 Thus all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died.
15 When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared.
16 Mahalalel lived after he fathered Jared 830 years and had other sons and daughters.
17 Thus all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died.
18 When Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered Enoch.
19 Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters.
20 Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.
21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah.
22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.
23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years.
24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.
The largest focus of this whole section is Enoch who is said to have walked with God in verse 22...
This description is strikingly different than the usual pattern of the genealogy we have see so far.
This is then developed further in verse 24 when the expected phrase “and he died” is replaced by the comment and “he was not, for God took him.”
The Hebrew verb for “walked” is a distinctive form that conveys the sense of an ongoing intimacy with God.
The description is also used of Noah in Genesis 6:9 which says:
9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
After the flood, the prospect of a similar relationship is promised through the presence of God in the tabernacle as witnessed in Leviticus 26:12 which says:
12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.
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Remarkably, because of this special relationship, Enoch does not die...
We know this as the writer omits the typical formulaic ending referring to the death of the individual, suggesting that Enoch did not experience a normal death and the New Testament also asserts that Enoch did not die as recorded in Hebrews 11:5 which says:
5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.
That is just like Elijah being taken alive to heaven which is recorded in 2 Kings 2:1–12.
So, of all the saints recorded in the Old Testament, only Enoch and Elijah did not experience physical death.
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Additionally, Notice that Enoch only lived 365 years...
Although longevity is often a sign of divine blessing and favor, the blessed Enoch’s relatively short life span, especially compared to his son Methuselah, who lived 969 years, shows that being in God’s presence is an even greater privilege.
Text: Genesis 5:25-32
Text: Genesis 5:25-32
25 When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech.
26 Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech 782 years and had other sons and daughters.
27 Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died.
28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son
29 and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”
30 Lamech lived after he fathered Noah 595 years and had other sons and daughters.
31 Thus all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.
32 After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Verse 27 reveals that Methuselah is the man who lived the longest life on record by living for 969 years...
Additionally, it should be noted that, according to the dates given, he died the year of the flood judgment as Genesis 7:6 says:
6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth.
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Next, let us look at the fact that the name “Noah” which in Hebrew is “noach” and means “rest” and sounds similar to the Hebrew verb “nacham” which means “to comfort” or “to give relief.”
This is the same Noah who is the central figure in the flood narrative of Genesis 6–10.
He is 500 years old when he fathers Shem, Ham, and Japheth...
And Noah is 600 when the flood comes.
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So, Lamech expects that Noah will bring both rest and comfort from the painful toil of working the soil.
In fact, comfort and rest would come through the godly life of Noah...
For he was an “heir of the righteousness which is according to faith” as recorded by Hebrews 11:7 which says:
7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
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Lamech’s 777 years provides an interesting point of contact with his namesake...
The Lamech of Cain’s line...
Remember he talked about a seventy-sevenfold vengeance and this Lamech lives for 777 years.
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Please join me one more time in prayer.