“Genesis 5:18-32”

Friday, October 25, 2019

“Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and became the father of Enoch. Then Jared lived eight hundred years after he became the father of Enoch, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died. Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and became the father of Lamech. Then Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years after he became the father of Lamech, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died. Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son. Now he called his name Noah, saying, ‘This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed.’ Then Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years after he became the father of Noah, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died. Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”

--- End of Scripture verses---

“‘And he died’… Eight times these ominous words appear in this chapter, emphasizing the reign of death in the long antediluvian journey of Adam's fallen race. What a brutal lie the glib denial of Satan proved to be! The big thing in the chapter, however, is the revelation that in spite of the universal reign of death, the sons of God, that is, people who responded to God's love and honored him, were continued in the posterity of Seth. Apparently, Eve was the first to recognize the special significance of this patriarch, through whom the Chosen People would descend, and through whom, at last, the Messiah would be born. It is quite obvious that the Cainite descendants of Adam were sons of the devil, and that the Sethites were the sons of God. This chapter is particularly concerned with tracing the line of the sons of God. This is evident in the very names that were given: SETH means appointed or seedling; ENOSH means inquire of the Lord; MAHALALEL means praise of God; JARED means descent; ENOCH means dedicated; NOAH means rest.” (James Burton Coffman)

Enoch “walked with God.” “The regular formula, ‘he lived,’ is replaced by a description of how he lived. The idiom is used again only of Noah in 6:9… It is expressive of a life spent in full accord with God’s will and in closest intimacy with Him.” (Nahum Sarna) At the age 365, Enoch lived the shortest earthly life by far of any of the men in Seth’s genealogy. His early departure was not an untimely death but a divine reception. The Lord was so pleased with Enoch (Hebrews 11:5) that He just decided to take him home early. While a long earthly life can certainly be seen as a great blessing, sometimes the Father takes His godly children home sooner than we might expect as an expression of favor. “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better.” (Philippians 1:21-23)

“All the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years…” Wow! Almost nailed 1000! But oddly enough, this record of Methuselah always reminds me of the BREVITY of life! Yes he lived for nearly a millennium, but he has been dead for several thousand years now. His life is just a distant memory, just a footnote in an inspired genealogy of a lot of other dearly departed. Friend, you may only live to see 30 years or you could live to the ripe old age of 969! But the only thing that will have mattered in the end is whether you “walked with God” during your short interval of time here on earth like Methuselah’s father did. That will determine if you live for eternity with the Lord in heaven, or suffer forever in the lower realms.

The Lamech of Seth’s lineage must not be confused with the arrogant, vengeful, polygamist Lamech from the line of Cain (Genesis 4:18-24). In fact, there is a striking similarity between several of the names in Cain’s genealogy in chapter 4 and Seth’s descendants in chapter 5. Some scholars insist these must be corrupted accounts of the same genealogies. But,James Burton Coffman observed: “As Willis expressed it, ‘The names are similar because people are fond of repeating names of important ancestors.’ Abraham had a brother and a grandfather named Nahor; there were two Judas' among the Twelve, two Simons among the Twelve; and in the genealogy of Christ one finds such names as Amos, Nahum, Judas, Jesus, two Matthats, Eleazer, and a number of others that may easily be identified with persons outside of Jesus' ancestry. There are so many Marys in the Bible that sometimes it is difficult to determine who is meant!” (James Burton Coffman)

Lamech had a son, and “he called his name Noah.” (verse 29) His name means “rest”, or possibly “relief”, given in his father’s anticipation that Noah would “give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed.” “Noah began farming” after the Flood (Genesis 9:20), and tradition holds that he invented the plow that revolutionized agricultural endeavors. “As Rashbam observes, since Noah was the first to be born after the death of Adam, his arrival signified some easing of the curse laid on the soil through Adam’s sin. The father looked to ‘relief’…from toil…but instead came God’s decision to wipe out civilization. God ‘regretted’…and was ‘saddened’” (Nahum Sarna)

I thought I waited late in life to have children, but Noah! 500 years old! Shem, Ham and Japheth. Japheth appears to be the oldest son (Genesis 10:21), and Ham is the youngest (Genesis 9:24), so the order is a bit perplexing. It makes perfect sense that Shem is listed first, though, because it is through his lineage that God brings Abraham, Israel and ultimately the Messiah, Jesus into the world!

Please read Genesis 6:1-8 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

- Louie Taylor

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