Today we will begin in chapter 5 of Genesis. In chapter 5, we begin
with the genealogy of the patriarches. In the last lesson, we were looking
at the evil ancestors of Adam’s family. Now with Seth, we are looking at the
Godly line through whom the Saviour would come. In the third chapter of St.
Luke, you can follow right back to Adam through his son Seth. St. Luke 3:38
“Which was [the son] of Enos, which was [the son] of Seth, which was [the
son] of Adam, which was [the son] of God.”
Genesis 5:1 “This [is] the book of the generations of Adam. In the day
that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;” Genesis 5:2 “Male
and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in
the day when they were created.”
We are taken back to creation day in the verses above. This line would
be carried on until the blessed Saviour would become the end to this
beginning. We are reminded here that mankind was made in the image of God.
In V-2, it explicitly said that this was not just man, but man and woman.
Adam is a plural name and is here denoted as meaning both Adam and Eve. We
touched on this Scripture in a previous lesson.
Genesis 5:3 “And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat [a
son] in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:”
We must take note that this was not Adam’s first son. Adam had Cain and
Abel before Seth, but the lineage that would be followed throughout the
Bible would be Seth.
Genesis 5:4 “And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight
hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:”
You see, in none of these Scriptures did Moses go into detail about how
many sons and daughters. My own opinion of the longevity of life for this
early humanity was so they could populate the earth.
Genesis 5:5 “And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and
thirty years: and he died.” Genesis 5:6 “And Seth lived an hundred and five
years, and begat Enos:” Genesis 5:7 “And Seth lived after he begat Enos
eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters:” Genesis 5:8
“And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.”
Genesis 5:9 “And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan:” Genesis 5:10
“And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and
begat sons and daughters:” Genesis 5:11 “And all the days of Enos were nine
hundred and five years: and he died.” Genesis 5:12 “And Cainan lived
seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel:” Genesis 5:13 “And Cainan lived after
he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and
daughters:” Genesis 5:14 “And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and
ten years: and he died.” Genesis 5:15 “And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five
years, and begat Jared:” Genesis 5:16 “And Mahalaleel lived after he begat
Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters:”
Genesis 5:17 “And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and
five years: and he died.”
It seems that these genealogies go on and on. We see that these men
were men of God and lived long lives. In V-18 below, we will see the
righteous Enoch, not the son of Cain, but rather the seventh from Adam
through the line of Seth. Keep in mind “seven” means spiritually complete.
Genesis 5:18 “And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he
begat Enoch:” Genesis 5:19 “And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight
hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:” Genesis 5:20 “And all the days
of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.” Genesis 5:21
“And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:” Genesis 5:22
“And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years,
and begat sons and daughters:” Genesis 5:23 “And all the days of Enoch were
three hundred sixty and five years:” Genesis 5:24 “And Enoch walked with
God: and he [was] not; for God took him.”
In Jude verse 14, the Scripture says that Enoch, the seventh from Adam,
prophesied. You see, we find in these Scriptures that God not only walked
and communed with Enoch, but he showed him into the future. Verses 14-15-16
of Jude look right into the future to the end times. Jude 1:14 “And Enoch
also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord
cometh with ten thousands of his saints,” Jude 1:15 “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 1:16 “These
are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth
speaketh great swelling [words], having men’s persons in admiration because
of advantage.”
Hebrews 11:5 tells us how we can be translated to be with God. Enoch
was the recipient of this gift. Hebrews 11:5 “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.”
I like the story that says, one day when Enoch was walking with God,
that God invited Enoch to go home with him, and he did. (This exact
statement is not in the Bible, but in all essence was what really happened.)
Do not confuse this Enoch with Enoch who was the son of Cain. They were
total opposites.
I won’t write it down here, but you may read in St. Luke the 3rd
chapter, beginning with verse 37, the genealogy of Seth to Enoch.
We could go on and on about this being a first fruit of the rapture of
the church.
Verse 23 of Genesis says all the days of Enoch were 365. That is an
interesting statement. For Enoch is still alive. It means his time on earth
was 365 years. Even the number of his years are a peculiarity for there are
365 days in a year.
What a beautiful picture of the rapture of the church. When the trumpet
blows in the sky, there will be a large number of people who will walk with
God.
Genesis 5:25 “And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years,
and begat Lamech: Genesis 5:26 “And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech
seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters:”
Genesis 5:27 “And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and
nine years: and he died.” Genesis 5:28 “And Lamech lived an hundred eighty
and two years, and begat a son:”
This is a very interesting Scripture, as well. This Methuselah
(descendent of Seth) lived longer than anyone else upon the earth. Some
writers believe that Methuselah died the day before the flood. This is pure
conjecture taken from some writings other than the Bible. It could easily
have happened, but as far as I know, the Bible does not substantiate this
statement. We do know that it is a popular saying about someone who is very
old, that they are as old as Methuselah.
Genesis 5:29 “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.”
“Lamech” means the powerful. It seems as if Lamech looked around him
and saw a world with people not following God, but rather living for the
here and now. The people around him had so discouraged him that he felt all
was lost. Then God gave him this son Noah. Lamech realized that Noah was
going to break the chain of endless toil and sin here on the earth. At last,
there was hope.
Genesis 5:30 “And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety
and five years, and begat sons and daughters:” Genesis 5:31 “And all the
days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.”
You know looking at these two verses really saddens me. Noah had
sisters and brothers who did not believe and did not board the ark. Probably
Noah’s father, Lamech, had died, but what about Noah’s sisters and brothers?
If I truly understand the Scripture above, then they must have gone the way
of the wicked world and been lost with all the others in the flood.
Genesis 5:32 “And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem,
Ham, and Japheth.”
This Scripture above does not tell us whether these boys were triplets,
or whether it meant around the time Noah was 500 years old, or whether it
means shortly after he was 500. It really doesn’t matter for our study here.
“Noah” means rest. Certainly there is a sabbath of rest for those who
enter the ark of safety through belief in the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Shem” means shame. “Ham” means hot (from a tropical habitat).
“Japheth” means expansion. From these three young men will spring the three
types of people in the world, the Caucasian, the Oriental and the Negroid.
We will get into many interesting things about this family in our next
lesson, chapter 6 of Genesis.