THE GODLY LINE OF SETH

Introduction

-God created a universe that was good and ready to fulfill His purposes. A rebellious spiritual agent tempted and led astray mankind, introducing sin in the world. Those in rebellion to God would be the offspring of the serpent, but God would preserve a line through whom would come one to crush the head of the serpent. This duality of lineages has been true ever since. There are those that are in relationship with God, and there are those who remain in rebellion to God.

-This is seen first in some of the first offspring of Adam and Eve—Cain and Able. Cain gives in to sin and murders Abel. Cain is cursed for that sin, but is allowed to live, although away from the presence of God and his family. The last time I was here we looked at the lineage of Cain that is given and found something interesting. Just because someone is not of the chosen line, part of the elect, that does not mean that they cannot fulfill God’s charge of subduing and taking dominion of the world; and it does not mean that they are excluded from contributing to the betterment of the world.

-But, because of his sin, Cain is not the chosen offspring of the woman. Since Abel was killed, there would have to be another to fulfill God’s promises. We looked at the cursed lineage of Cain. Now tonight we look at the godly lineage of Seth.

Genesis 4:25–5:32 ESV

25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” 26 To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord. 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. 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. 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.

-The story of Cain and Abel is over. Abel is dead and Cain is cursed, so the promises of God cannot come through them. God will again choose another line from Adam and Eve. God is sovereign and He directs things toward His own purposes. You notice that all these men that are listed in this genealogy have several other sons and daughters, but there is only one chosen through whom the godly lineage will continue. And they are centered upon and listed in this genealogy.

-Adam and Eve themselves had numerous other children, but the Bible just focuses in on those important to the redemption story. It starts with Seth, where Eve puts her hope for a righteous lineage—a hope she originally placed in Abel. The name Seth is connected with the Hebrew word for “granted”—God had granted her a new son through whom the promises given by God might be fulfilled. The serpent may have thought that by working through Cain he could stop the lineage of the promised head-crusher, but God has granted a different line.

-When you think of the story of redemption, you see this happening a lot—the serpent attempts in some way to either stop or defile the lineage of the one who would crush his head. He attempted it through the death of Abel. He attempted it by trying to destroy Israel several times in history. He attempted it by trying to defile the line by having Israel intermingle with pagans. He kept trying even in the days of Jesus. He first instigated Herod to try and kill the child. He then entered into Judas thinking that he was going to kill the Messiah, the skull-crusher. Little did the serpent know that it was through the death of the Messiah that his defeat would come. And now the serpent is trying to do all he can to delay or put off his ultimate defeat by persecuting the church who is the spiritual body of the Messiah skull-crusher, or by watering down the effectiveness of the church through worldliness or false teaching. The serpent started with Abel and is still trying to stop his ultimate defeat. But God always makes a way.

-And it begins here with Seth—the branch of the genealogical tree that would lead to the defeat of the serpent. It starts with one of Seth’s sons, Enosh. It is interesting—the name/word Adam literally means “man” or “human.” Adam is the first Adam, he is the first man, and from his would come the rest of humanity. The name Enosh also literally means “man” or “human.” In a sense, Enosh is a new Adam, for from him would come the line of the new humanity.

-It says that at this time people began to call upon the name of the LORD. You will notice in your Bible that LORD is all capitalized, meaning that it stands in the place of the divine name—in place of Yahweh or Jehovah. That name is special because it is the name God uses when He refers to covenant with mankind. The lineage of Seth and Enosh is the lineage of God’s covenant promise. People in this lineage began to relate to God on a covenant promise level, and it is through this name that people would worship and adore God. So, in a sense, it is saying that here was the time that God would be worshipped by covenant people based on His person, His actions, His character, and His covenant. This lineage, then, is in sharp contrast with the lineage of Cain. As one author stated it:

Genesis 1–11:26 ((5) Seth’s Birth and Family (4:25–26))

In effect, by attributing to Seth’s first genealogical descendant the innovation of public worship, the versions draw an even sharper distinction between Cain’s offspring and that of Seth: Cain’s firstborn and successors pioneer cities and the civilized arts, but Seth’s firstborn and successors pioneer worship. Is it coincidental that the next utterance of the name “LORD” is Lamech’s prayer concerning Noah’s birth and role (5:29)?

-We could say that this is a foreshadowing of what would come later. These people would call upon the name of the Lord, and now, for salvation and worship, we too call upon the name of the Lord—but we know that name to be Jesus. And this is where this section of Genesis ends, but it leads to the next section perfectly where a genealogy of this righteous line is given. Again, you notice in v. 1 where it says THIS IS THE BOOK OF THE GENERATIONS—this is how Genesis sections are split up. This phrase begins new sections. Whereas the first section was called the GENERATIONS OF THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH, this section is the generations of Adam. There is a summary that man was made in the likeness of God, created male and female, and then it gives this genealogical line.

-Many scholars believe that most of the genealogies in Scripture are missing some generations. That might not be the case here. This one might be pretty down the line. The reason I think that is the years and ages given. And one of the points being made is how quickly things devolve because of sin. Think about this—here is Seth and Enosh and a new hope of a new godly line. From Adam to Noah is 10 generations. Within 10 generations of mankind being on the earth and multiplying, God is ready to wipe the whole thing out.

-When we get to the part of man being so wicked, we can’t merely blame Cain’s lineage. The rest of Adam’s lineage is just as bad. It says in v. 4 that Adam had other sons and daughters. What happened to those branches of the family tree? They were wiped out in the flood. It says in v. 7 that Seth had other sons and daughters. What happened to all those branches of the family tree? They were wiped out in the flood, and so on and so forth. In this chapter we are following the one branch of the tree of Adam that survived. God preserved for himself one branch, and even out of that branch, only 8 people would survive His judgment—Noah and his wife and his sons and their wives. That is it.

-So, here we have all these people who seemed to live a very long time. Again, I have nothing to back this up, but I attribute it to a more pure gene pool. But whatever the reason, they lived a long time and had a lot of offspring. We see that some names are similar to names in Cain’s lineage, but they are different people—it’s not unusual even in Scripture for different people to have the same name. And we notice some people of interest.

-One of the more famous people in the lineage is Enoch. It is repeated twice that Enoch walked with God. This means that he had a lifestyle of devotion to God. He had an intimacy and communion with God. His lifespan is much smaller than most of the people on the list, but that is not because of anything negative. It says that he was not because God took him. That sounds sort of vague, but the New Testament clears up any confusion:

Hebrews 11:5 ESV

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.

-Enoch had such a close walk with God that he did not die a normal death, but God took him up. It reminds us of what God did with the prophet Elijah, where Elijah did not die but was taken up to heaven by a whirlwind. Because of how Enoch is listed as leaving this earth, his name was associated with a lot of mystical and extra-biblical stories and myths and writings. There were Jewish works from a few hundred years before Christ that are attributed to Enoch. In fact, the book of Jude quotes or alludes to some of these works. So, Enoch is interesting.

-Methuselah is interesting because he is recorded as the oldest living person. 969 years old. How’d you like to live that long? But there is something interesting about these ages and these timelines. If this genealogy is direct, not skipping any generations, then Adam would have died about 120 years before Noah’s birth. Adam saw a lot in his day, including the continued degradation of his descendents. Something that is also interesting is that Methuselah would have died just prior the flood.

-But everything leads to Noah. What is interesting is the explanation or prophecy that Lamech gives over Noah. The name Noah means rest, so this might be some sort of play on the sounds of the Hebrew words. Lamech is expressing hope for humanity through his son. There would be something special about Noah that would set him apart and hope would come through him. We later read that Noah is a righteous man. That alone would set him apart from the rest of the world since only he and his family are spared judgment. Therein lies the reason of the genealogy. It traces God’s line of hope for humanity. Hope of God’s mercy being shown on some of humanity. It leads to Noah, but ultimately it leads to Jesus Christ.

-Wherein does your hope lie? Does it lie with family connections? Does it lie in yourself or your talents? Or does your hope lie in the one that God had spent all of history preparing for—Jesus Christ. We can have this hope knowing that God directed all of human history to get to the point of Jesus. And now God is directing human history of gaining a people for His Son who will worship Him for all of eternity....