7004 Genesis 5-6
Genesis 5-6
The fifth chapter of Genesis begins, "This is the book of the generations..." (genealogies) "...of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; male and female created He them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam..." (mankind) "...in the day when they were created." (Gen.5:1-2). Now we come to the generations of Adam. It is interesting that this verse begins much like the Gospel of Matthew except that Matthew begins, "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ..." It's the same idea of tracing the lineage of Christ, in the Gospel, back to Abraham to show that He was the promised "seed" of Abraham.
As we deal with the genealogies of the Bible, we find many interesting things. It is important to note that the Bible is only interested, at this time, in tracing the line from Adam to Noah. Later on it will trace the line from Noah to Abraham and from Abraham to David and then from David to Jesus Christ. We are only interested in one family and that is the one that will lead us to Jesus Christ.
In some places of the Bible it branches off into certain generations, but then is cut off. In chapter four, we just finished reading about seven generations of Cain's descendents and then it was cut off, because we are not interested in Cain's descendents. We are only interested in the line that brings us to Jesus Christ, thus here in the fifth chapter other sons and daughters are not named. To assume that one named is the first born son is not necessarily so. It is the one that will bring us to Noah and that's the line we're interested in, here in the fifth chapter of Genesis. When it says Seth lived a hundred and five years and begat Enos; it doesn't mean he didn't begat other children in this time, but only that Enos is the line to Noah and the one the Bible is interested in following.
In verse three, the Bible begins to trace Adam's lineage down through Noah. "And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth." (Gen.5:3). Notice that Adam begat a son in his own likeness. Although Adam was created in the likeness of God, now his sons are begat in his likeness and no longer, necessarily, in the likeness of God, because of the "Fall." Now, death has entered into the world by sin and death has passed unto all men; so, his son was born with an Adamic nature or sinful nature, a nature governed by the flesh or body appetites. Adam was originally governed by the Spirit and inclined toward God, but now he begat a son, in his own likeness, born after the flesh; who will now need redemption. In the beginning Adam didn't need redemption. Not until the "Fall" was redemption necessary.
Seth was not the first child of Adam. He had been married one hundred and thirty years so probably had many sons and daughters. They looked to Seth to take Abel's place, who was killed by his older brother Cain. "And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years; and he begat sons and daughters; and all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died." (Gen.5:4-5). Since Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years, it means that he was still alive when Lamech was born, who was the father of Noah. Adam lived almost up to the time of Noah's birth and died not long before. Adam and Enoch lived together on the earth at the same time. In fact Enoch was translated shortly after the death of Adam. We sometimes fail to realize that some of these people were contemporaries. Lamech, Noah's father, was probably about a hundred years old when Adam died; so, the whole story of creation could have been passed directly from Adam to Lamech. Lamech, in turn, passed it on to his son, Noah, and Noah could have passed it to his son Shem, who was still alive when Abraham was born. So Abraham isn't that far removed from the story of creation. The early generations of Adam were probably recorded by Abraham who heard them from Shem, who heard them from Noah, who heard them from Lamech, who heard them from Adam.
"And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos." (Gen.5:6). Then the scriptures list various descendents of Enos and how long they lived. We'll skip over some of these and take it up again with Jared. "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; and all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years; and he died. And Enoch lived sixty and five years and begat Methuselah." (Gen.5:18-21). Enoch is a very interesting man in this line; because, he did not die. Hebrews, chapter 11, has this to say about Enoch. "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. 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." (Heb.11:5-6). Enoch was one of those men of the Old Testament who believed God and whose name was inscribed in Hebrews, chapter 11, called the "Hall of Faith."
Enoch is called the seventh from Adam in the Book of Jude and he lived sixty and five years and begat Methuselah. According to Jude, Enoch was a prophet and prophesied of the coming of Jesus Christ. "...Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." (Jude 1:14-15). Enoch named his son Methuselah which means, when he dies...judgment. Signifying that the judgment of God, which Enoch was prophesying, would come upon the earth in the year of the death of his son, Methuselah.
"And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters; and all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years; and Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him." (Gen.5:22-24) So, Enoch was "raptured" before the judgment (flood) of God was visited upon the earth. He walked with God by faith and was raptured. Enoch shares with Elijah the fate of not dying and because "All men are appointed once to die..." (Heb.9:27), many people believe that Enoch will be one of the two witnesses in Revelation, chapter eleven, during the first part of the seven year period that God has determined upon the nation of Israel. Two of the dominant prophets of the old testament, are coming back upon the earth, to prophesy to Israel during the first part of this seven year cycle. We know, from Revelation, that the antichrist will put them to death and their bodies will lie in the streets of Jerusalem for three days while the whole world watches and rejoices; then God revives them and they ascend directly up into heaven with all the people watching. Since these are the two men, from the old testament, who did not make their appointment with death, there are many who believe that they will be the two witnesses that will come again. We do know that Elijah is one of the witnesses as proclaimed in the fourth chapter, verses five and six of Malachi, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD; and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." Enoch, a very interesting person, is thought to be the other one.
"And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech; and Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters; and all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years; and he died. And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years and begat a son; and 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. And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters; and all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years; and he died. And Noah was five hundred years old; and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth." (Gen.5:25-32). Noah is the line we have been tracing down from Adam. The word Noah means "rest" and in the first five hundred years of Noah's life he begat Shem, Ham and Japheth.
"And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth..." (Gen.6:1a). The time of Noah was the time of a population explosion. You have to have above zero population or the earth is going to be extinct of man. The population growth factor has been about 1.5, from the time of Noah up to the present time. Prior to the flood, if we assume that the average generation was ninety-four years; the average family size was eight children; the average age was five hundred years old; (though those that are listed here in Genesis average out at nine hundred and twelve) at that rate, at the time of Noah's flood, there were 137 billion people living on the earth.
There are some very interesting discoveries, especially, in the area of the Andes and of Lake Titicaca in Peru, which is the highest large body of water in the world. There is evidence in these high Andean peaks that at one time, on the shores of Lake Titicaca, that there was a huge metropolis. The mountains around this lake are terraced for farming high above where you can farm today. Above the tree level, there are still terraces that were once farms. They go up into the glacial ice and even under it, which leads to the conclusion, by those studying the geological structures, that once, and not too long ago, the Andean Mountains and Lake Titicaca were once at sea level. They were thrust upward in a gigantic earth movement. It is interesting that they date the time of this upheaval as being some 5,000 years ago.
Now, if indeed, the population of the earth had expanded; men began to multiply on the face of the earth. Men had expanded over the whole surface of the earth by that time and surely there is evidence that men lived before the flood age, in great numbers, down in South America. It is also possible that the continental shift took place some time later. Originally the earth was all one land mass so that these areas and the things that puzzle us, from a geological standpoint, have resulted from the flood. We do have evidence of vast civilizations of people, who lived on a very high level of civilization, existing in varied parts of the world. In the book "Earths In Upheaval," there is a short segment on the mysteries that surround Lake Titicaca and the large population that once existed there in the Peruvian Andes.
"And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose." (Gen.6:1-2). It appears that the sons of God might be a reference to fallen angels. The term "sons of God," are used of angels in the Old Testament. The classic case is in the book of Job where it says, "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them." (Job 1:6). We are dealing now with abnormal sex. The fallen angels could be the ones that Peter refers to as those reserved in the chains of Tarterus. This is the only place Tarterus is mentioned in the Bible and in the classical Greek it says that Tarterus is below Hades which is below the earth. Jude speaks of the angels that kept not their first estate, but are being reserved in chains of darkness awaiting the day of judgment.
The problem that is usually brought up at this point is when the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection, asked Jesus the following question about the woman who had married seven brothers and had no children. Whose wife would she be in the resurrection? "And Jesus answering said unto them, the children of this world marry, and are given in marriage; but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage; neither can they die any more; for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection." (Luke 20:34-36). Jesus didn't say the angels didn't have a capacity for sex. Those angels that appeared in the Old Testament did appear as men when they made an appearance in a human form. Remember when they came to the city of Sodom. The men of Sodom came and began to beat down Lot's door that they might know these men. They wanted to abuse them sexually, thinking that they were mortal men.
It is almost impossible to read: "the sons of God..." as being the sons of the godly line of Seth marrying the ungodly line of Cain. That is a forced interpretation and does not really fit. We may not understand it completely, but it appears that there was a cohabiting between fallen angels and women and the product, of course, was giants from this genetic engineering. Early in the commentary, I mentioned a cast of a footprint from the Piluxi River. This footprint would indicate a man some eight foot tall, which could be the by-product of what we are reading here in Genesis. The footprint was fossilized along side of dinosaur prints there in the Piluxi River and it could be that both of them perished in the flood. Another conjecture is that the dinosaurs were too big to fit in the ark and they became extinct.
There is a very interesting case history from the Philippines of a young Filipino girl by the name of Teresa. She would go into seizures in which she would scream and afterwards there would be bite marks on her body. You might surmise that she was biting herself during the seizure; however, there were bite marks on the back of her neck and back, where it would have been impossible for her to bite herself. She was finally placed in prison under protective custody and some of the finest psychologists in the Philippines were brought to examine her. They were unable to do anything to stop the seizures; so, finally two missionaries were called to exorcise the demon from this girl. The account has been written up in a book called "Bitten By Demons." After Teresa was set free from these demons, she testified that they had sexually molested her and would attack her whenever any men would approach her. An extremely bizarre story and yet, well documented and attested to. She spoke of sexual molestation by these demons and such molestation cases from demons are quite common from the records of missionaries from China and other areas where the Gospel of Jesus Christ has not had a strong impact.
Here at the time of Noah was tremendous Satanic activity: Satanic worship and the opening up of people to Satanic possession. To me it is shocking and alarming that people, today, have such a tremendous interest in Satanism. Satanic worship centers are springing up all over the United States and Witches Covens are quite common. It is really no wonder, because children in grade school have access, through the school libraries, to books on Satanism, Witchcraft, and how to get started dabbling in the occult. It would be impossible to put a book in their libraries on how to become a Christian. That's against the law as interpreted by the Supreme Court. Television's 20/20 has shown a program which has related the disappearance of children with the sacrifices that are held in these satanic rites. They had testimonies from young children of how they were tutored and led to kill other children. You say that's unbelievable, that it can't happen in the United States of America, but it is happening here. There is a tremendous interest in the occult. Look what the kids are being fed on television every Saturday morning. As you are relieved that they aren't under your feet, they are watching Zartan and other occultic creatures. They're seeing monsters that have been genetically engineered. Talk about violence, these cartoons are full of it. We are glutting the children's minds with these things. Do you ever wonder what it's going to produce in the next generation? What will be the fruit? As the prophet said, "For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind..." (Hosea 8:7a).
"And the LORD said, my spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh; yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years." (Gen.6:3). God, probably is not putting a limit on age in this passage, but rather declaring in a hundred and twenty years he will bring his judgment and wipe out the earth unless there is repentance (change). The LORD is saying that man's days are numbered. He has a hundred and twenty years from this time till judgment unless he changes.
"There were giants in the earth in those days..." the by-product of the genetic engineering and the cohabiting with the sons of God and the daughters of men. "...and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old..." (the Nephiylim) "... men of renown." (Gen. 6:4).
"And 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." (Gen.6:5). Man's mind had become so completely polluted that in his imagination there was only evil. The Bible tells us in Galatians, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." (Gal.6:7-8). May God help us, because every place you go there are things which sow to your flesh. The billboards and other advertisements are all designed to attract the attention of the flesh. You can rent videos or subscribe for the various channels, such as: Select, On, and Playboy; whereby, you can bring all kind of pornography into your home which will be planted into your mind and help the imaginations of your mind to be continually evil. That was the condition that existed when God told man his Spirit would not always strive with man. God said, it's enough! I've had it!
"And it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart, and 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." (Gen.6:6-7). God was sorry that He had made both man and animal and creeping thing. It grieved His heart that man was so evil.
"But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." (Gen.6:8). In the midst of a wicked and perverse generation, there was one man who stood out. It was Noah who found grace in the eyes of the LORD and by faith he walked with God.
"These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations..." (Gen.6:9a) As the whole earth was becoming corrupt with the mixture of genetic engineering, here in Noah's generations, there was a pure strain. "...and Noah walked with God, and Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence." (Gen.6:9b-11). These conditions that were a result of marriage and divorce: the break down of the family unit and the social chaos of violence and corruption that filled the earth at this time.
"And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth, and God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch." (Gen.6:12-14). The word translated pitch is "kopher." It is the same word translated later as atonement. As the blood of the lamb will make a "Kofu" or covering for the sins, so the ark was to be covered inside and out with this "Kopher."
"And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits." (Gen.6:15). A cubit was thought to be eighteen inches or the distance from your elbow to the tip of your finger. Now they had the span which was the length from your thumb to your finger; so, you would measure out so many span and so many cubits. That was a simple and quick way of measurement. Three hundred cubits would translate into about four hundred and fifty feet or half again as long as a football field. It was to be fifty cubits wide or seventy five feet wide; the height, thirty cubits or forty five feet would be three decks in height and the height within each deck would be about fifteen feet.
As far as volumetric capacity, it was one million, four hundred thousand cubic feet. You could take five hundred and twenty two box cars that haul live stock and fit them in the ark. In a box car they can put one hundred and twenty four sheep, which means that he could have had one hundred and twenty five thousand sheep in that ship; but, he only had seven pair. The sheep was a clean animal and they had seven pair of each clean animal. Noah didn't have to take the fish into the ark, they could survive the flood and certain birds, that are adapted to the water, could have survived without going into the ark. Now, Noah didn't have to take all the different kind of dogs and cats but only two of the species. With one million, four hundred thousand cubic feet of capacity, there would have been sufficient room for two of every major species of animal from the earth today.
It is quite possible that the dinosaurs didn't make it and that could account for the extinction of the dinosaurs. Our minds have been conditioned by the Evolutionary teachings that we've had in our various classes through high school and college as we've studied geology and anthropology and biology, etc. We have been so mentally conditioned to the Evolutionary Hypothesis that we, somehow, believe that the dinosaurs became extinct some three hundred million years ago.
There was a picture in the paper, recently, where this paleontologist (one who studies past geological periods as known from fossil remains) was examining the skeleton of a little dinosaur and according to the article this dinosaur was the oldest one that had ever been discovered. They say that every time they find a new skeleton.
While living in Tucson, a very interesting man, Dr. Albro, who had been a professor of anthropology and ancient history at the University of Minnesota, took an interest in me and tutored me in those subjects that he had taught. At that time, one of the archeology classes at the University of Arizona, was conducting some "diggings" outside of Tucson and they announced that they had discovered some of the oldest skeletons of Indians ever found and they were estimated to be some ten thousand years old. I asked Dr. Albro how the age was determined. He said that first of all you must determine the age of the oldest skeleton found and then make yours a little older so you can attract further grants of money for your next excavation. The newspapers will pick up the fact that its the oldest skeleton ever found and this will enable you to go on with your work as the new grants of money are made available. As I read this article on the little dinosaur being the oldest one ever found, I thought to myself, they're still at it.
The dinosaurs were probably not taken on the ark. They did coexist with man as is plainly evident there at the Piluxi River in Texas. Every day they are uncovering more and more dinosaur and men's footprints side by side, parallel, and in some places the man crossed and left his footprint right in the track of the dinosaur. Do you know that some archeologists and paleontologists are trying to destroy that site on the Piluxi River and that a large portion was destroyed? According to the Evolutionary Hypothesis, man and dinosaur coexisting would be impossible. Men who are intent on keeping God out of the scene, rationalizing for the existence of man without God, are trying to destroy the clear evidence which destroys completely the hoax and the lie that they have been trying to foster on the gullible public.
Some scientists and evolutionists are very sincere, but they are sincerely deceived. They're beginning with false presuppositions. Their conclusions are all based upon a certain presuppositional base that evolution is a scientific fact and that the earth is twelve billion years old. So they try to develop the evidence with that presuppositional base and thus they've got things all confused.
In 1797, Lyle, who was the father of the uniformitarianism concept from which the Evolutionary Hypothesis was born, visited the United States and at Niagara Falls saw the gorge that was created as Lake Erie drops over and forms Lake Superior. He examined the gorge, created by Niagara Falls, and talked to the people who were living near the area. They told him, at that time, that the falls were receding at about four feet per year. Since that didn't fit with his hypothesis, he went back and told the world that the falls were receding at one foot per year and that the thirty thousand foot gorge took thirty thousand years to form. These facts fit in more with his theories of uniformitarianism. However, since 1797, they have been measuring this gorge and they have found that it does recede at the rate of four and one-half feet per year and that the inhabitants of the area were more correct than Lyle. At the earlier recession of the glacial ice, that once formed the waters of the lake, the floor water was probably greater; so, it is safe to assume that the erosion rate in earlier years was greater than it is today because of the greater volume of water pouring over it. At four and one-half feet per year, it makes the creation of the Niagara Falls something like five or six thousand years ago. This is quite interesting because now we're coming close to the time of the flood. Again, this is all brought out in the book "Earths In Upheaval." The author doesn't really believe in the Bible but he thinks it has a very accurate accounting of events. He gives more solid scientific proof of a "young earth" since the last ice age than anything else I've ever read. So the flood can easily account for the coal deposits, the mammoth frozen in the Siberian Tundra, with the various upheavals and the lack of a real pattern in a geological column.
"A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it." (Gen.6:16). The window was probably all the way around the top. With all those animals they would need the ventilation.
"And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive." (Gen.6:17-20). God put into the animals an instinct that brought them to the ark and to Adam. It is interesting that they think some animals can predict earthquakes. They are watching the behavior of animals and it seems that there is some kind of abnormal behavior that appears in them before an earthquake. The feeling is that maybe they can sense something that we can't sense. There are interesting things about the instinctive capacities of animals.
"And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he." (Gen.6:21-22). Actually, Noah had to have enough food to feed all the animals and the eight people for about a year, but there was still plenty of room in the ark for all of it.