GENESIS - CHAPTER 5
A
Bible Study - Commentary by Jim Melough
Copyright
2000 James Melough
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;”
As is not unusual in
Scripture, the narrative having presented the extension of the ungodly line, from
Cain to Lamech and his children, now goes back and picks up the thread of the godly
line which will eventually produce the promised “Seed.”
Abel was the firstborn link
in that line, but following his murder, in which it seemed as though Satan had
succeeded in thwarting God’s intention to produce the promised “Seed,” God
revealed Himself as the One Who has power over death: He produced Seth, appointing
him as “another seed instead of Abel” (4:25).
It is interesting to
observe, even in the godly line, the operation of the principle that the first must
give place to the second. Abel
represents Christ in His death, but Seth represents Him in resurrection.
There is no record that Abel had any sons, nor could Christ have any
“sons” (Heb 2:9-13), until He had first died.
“Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but
if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (Jn 12:24).
Seth, representative of Christ resurrected, takes the place of the slain Abel,
just as the resurrected Christ takes the place of the Christ Who died.
Seth became the father of
multitudes, countless generations of the godly line from which Christ, as to His
humanity, came. Similarly the
resurrected Lord has become the “Father” of multitudes: generations of the godly
line of men who have trusted Him as Savior.
As the line of Seth was
appointed to produce the “Seed” (Christ), so has it been appointed in regard to
the godly line of which Christ is “Father.”
Of every man and woman in that line it is written, “Whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the
firstborn (highest in rank or position) among many brethren” (Ro 8:29). Christ will one day be reproduced in every believer.
And the principle of
replacement of the first by the second applies also to each believer.
It is not in these earthly bodies, but in our resurrection bodies that we
shall be in heaven, a great harvest of “wheat” each ear of which will be stamped
with the resurrection likeness of that One which “fell into the ground and died”
to make the harvest possible.
This “book of the
generations of Adam” is the genealogy of those descendants of Adam, who as to their
bodies, are in his likeness, but who by the new birth will, in their resurrection
bodies, wear the likeness of the last Adam, as it is written, “And as we have borne
the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly” (1 Co
15:49). All of the fifteenth chapter of
1 Corinthians should be read in this connection.
“God created man, in the
likeness of God....” Man’s creation
“in the likeness of God” has already been discussed in our study of chapter 1,
and need not be repeated here, except to notice again that Adam could and did fall
from that position, but those who bear the divine likeness by descent from the last
Adam can never fall.
5:2.
“Male and female created he them; and blessed them and called their name
Adam, in the day when they were created.”
Since the significance of
their having been created “male and female” has also been discussed, there is no
need to repeat it here.
In God’s blessing them we
have the assurance that He desires to bless all men, but in Adam’s failure to
inherit that blessing we learn the necessary lesson that blessing is contingent upon
obedience. It was by disobedience that
Adam became a sinner and made himself an heir of death.
God’s blessing is offered to all who are obedient, and no one will be
blessed who fails to fulfill that condition.
“... and called their name
Adam, meaning red earth,” reminding us that as was Adam so are all his
descendants, “The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord
from heaven. As is the earthy, such are
they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are
heavenly. As we have borne the image of
the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly” (1 Co 15:47-49).
The Corinthian letter was written to believers.
Only those who have been born again will bear the image of the heavenly.
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.”
See chapter 4 for the notes
relative to Seth’s birth.
5:4.
“And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years:
and he begot sons and daughters.”
Since God’s numerical
system ends with seven, the number of perfection or completeness, eight simply
introduces a new beginning, e.g., the first day of the week would be the eighth, were
it not for the fact that it is designated the first.
The nucleus of the earth’s population after the flood of Noah’s day was
eight. Adam’s eight hundred years
following Seth’s birth are, by their very separation from his earlier one hundred
and thirty, invested with the character of a new beginning. The birth of Seth introduced that time period that would cover
many generations, but that would “in the fullness of time” produce the promised
“Seed.”
As noted already, Abel and
Seth are both of the godly line, and both are types of Christ: Abel, of Christ in His
death; Seth, of Christ in resurrection. Abel
is “cut off,” but the line continues unbroken from Seth to Christ.
It is as though after Abel’s death there was no death of the godly line,
Seth’s life being perpetuated in the lives of his descendants.
The truth being taught, of course, is that the resurrected Christ will never
die, nor will those who trust Him as Savior. And
as the godly line culminated in the birth of Christ, the promised “Seed,” so will
it be with all who are of that same godly line: Christ will be produced eventually in
each one of them, for of them it is written, “Whom he did foreknow, he also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Ro 8:29).
Paul, writing to the Galatians, expressed the same thought, “My little
children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you” (Ga 4:19).
It was God’s purpose in the OT age to bring forth Christ “the Seed,” and
it is His purpose now to bring forth a countless multitude of redeemed men all
perfectly conformed to Christ’s image, a vast harvest, each grain of which bears
the image of that “Seed” sown in death as the corn of wheat that fell into the
ground and died to make the harvest possible, His life being perpetuated in them.
5:5.
“And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he
died.”
It might seem as though this
is a contradiction of what has just been said, particularly in view of its being said
of every link in the godly line that he lived a certain number of years and then
died; and yet of the ungodly line descended from Cain, death is not once mentioned.
There is no contradiction. It is unnecessary to state the obvious. Cain and all his descendants were like all born of Adam, dead
already. They never had spiritual life,
for like all men, they were born dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1).
Since they were “dead” even from birth, it could not be said of them that
they died sometime after they were born. The
only life they had was physical, that which pertains to the body.
And the reason they never obtained spiritual life was because they were
unwilling to admit that they were sinners, who could obtain eternal life only by
accepting it as God’s gift secured for men through the death and resurrection of
the Lord Jesus Christ. No such
confession ever crossed Cain’s lips, nor will any of the serpent’s seed ever make
such a confession: hence their lifeless state.
The division of the life of
each link in the godly line into two parts - one part before, and the other part
after the birth of the next link - points typically to what characterizes every
believer. The first part of the life
begins with natural birth, and is marked by what characterizes the serpent’s seed:
spiritual life is lacking. The second
part begins with the new birth, faith in Christ as Savior, and is marked by what
characterizes Him, the “Seed” - spiritual life is present.
Significantly there is no recorded division of the life of any of the line of
Cain, nor is there any mention of the length of their lives, since the only life they
had was physical, and the only life which counts with God is that which is spiritual.
From this it is easy to see
how each link in the godly line portrays Christ, for the birth of each son answers
typically to that moment when a sinner trusts Christ as Savior.
As each father in the godly line became possessor of a son through whom “the
Seed” would eventually come, so each believer becomes the possessor of that which
will eventually stand “conformed to the image of Christ.”
But that moment of
conversion marks the end of everything having to do with the seed of the serpent,
except for the physical body. It remains
unchanged and must therefore die, to be replaced at the resurrection or Rapture by an
immortal spiritual body. The frequent
mention of death in connection with the godly line applies only to their bodies.
As the absence of any
mention of death in the Cainite line betokens that they were already dead, it
indicates too, the absence on their part of any confession of their dead state: hence
the impossibility of their receiving God’s gift of eternal life.
Death is imprinted upon every link in the godly line, however, but the
interruption of each man’s life by the birth of a son points to a new beginning,
for in the life of the son the life of the father is perpetuated.
As to their bodies received by natural birth, they died, but in the life which
they afterwards received, the sons who are types of Christ, they lived.
What God is teaching in the record of the godly line is one easily read: all
who are of that line have a point in their lives when they received God’s Gift, His
Son the Lord Jesus Christ (typologically portrayed by the literal son), in Whom they
will live for ever. That point when they
receive the Son marks the end of all that pertains to natural birth, and marks the
beginning of life that will never die.
5:6.
“And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begot Enos.”
Enos means mortal.
The names of Seth’s and Cain’s sons are almost identical, but it is that
slight dissimilarity that makes all the difference. Enoch, Cain’s son, means dedicated, but Seth’s son Enos
speaks of that which is under sentence of death. It was Seth’s confession that he, himself under sentence of
death because of Adam’s sin, could not beget that which would be beyond the divine
condemnation. As he was, so must be all
who would spring from him - mortal, subject to death.
“Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
Not one” (Job 14:4). That which
is itself dead cannot beget life.
But that confession is all
God wants to hear. In response to it He
comes in and makes the vile clean, replacing death with life, “If we confess our
sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness” (1 Jn 1:9). While
this verse applies to believers in the context of having communion restored, the
principle it demonstrates applies no less to the sinner.
By analogy therefore it is
as though Christ had come from Seth in the person of Enos.
That this view is justified will be evident from a reading of Heb 7:9-10,
“Levi also ... paid tithes (to Melchizedek) ... for he was yet in the loins of his
father (Abraham) when Melchizedek met him (Abraham).”
Just as the yet unborn Levi analogically paid tithes to Melchizedek, so did
Seth analogically beget the
promised “Seed,” Christ. By the same
analogy every believer, having received Christ as Savior, will eventually produce
Christ, for, as has been noted already, it is predestinated that we shall be
eternally conformed to His image: we shall produce Christ.
The Christian life has this end in view - to reveal Christ in us.
5:7.
“And Seth lived after he begot Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begot
sons and daughters.”
It is significant that in
regard to every one of the human links in the godly line of the “seed of the
woman” it is recorded that, after the birth of his son, “he lived... and begot
sons and daughters.” Before mentioning his death, God dwells on the fact that each
man lived, and, as though to indicate the eternal character of that life, records its
fruitfulness, in which the life of the father is continued in burgeoning life, sons
and daughters.
Another fact worth noting is
that up to Enoch, who did not die, each man lived for at least eight hundred years
after the birth of his son. Since eight
is the Scriptural number of a new beginning, the very duration of each life is
stamped with the character of newness in contrast with the part that preceded the
birth of the son. It goes beyond seven,
the number of completeness or perfection, on to eight, the new beginning which has no
ending: it is eternal.
This is the nature of the
life each man possesses from the moment he receives Christ, the Seed, the Son, into
his life. Christ said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might
have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
A practical lesson that
should not be overlooked in this chapter is the fruitfulness that followed the birth
of the son. They “lived ... and begot sons and daughters.”
It is God’s desire that every believer should be equally fruitful in
begetting spiritual sons and daughters. The
mark of His blessing on the lives of Israel, His earthly people, was in the number of
sons and daughters given. The same
criterion measures His blessing in the lives of spiritual Israel - the number
of spiritual children begotten through the Gospel.
5:8.
“And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he
died.”
While we were dealing with
the part of the life that represents spiritual life, everything dwelt on longevity
and fruitfulness, but as soon as we bring in and add on the first part, which
represents the unsaved state, immediately we read, “And he died.”
All that belongs to our natural birth, which links us with Adam, is under
sentence of death, and everything that touches it is similarly infected.
Because spiritual life is inherited from the last Adam, Jesus Christ, those
who are “in Christ” will never die; even though the body of the believer may
“sleep” it will awaken again in resurrection life.
But because death is the only thing the first Adam can transmit to his
posterity, even the believer’s body, received from the first Adam through natural
birth, must die physically and be resurrected, not as a physical, but as a spiritual
body.
The realization of what
belonged to him by natural birth, in contrast with what he had by the new birth,
caused Paul to lament, “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I
would not, that I do” (Ro 7:19). As he
pondered this he cried out, “0 wretched man that I am!
Who shall deliver me from the body of this death, (lit., this body of
death)?” But, as he remembered the
superiority of what he had by the new birth, he exulted, “I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord” (Ro 7:24-25).
The salutary lesson to be
learned from this is that anything of the old nature, brought into contact with the
new, can only result in pollution of the new, never improvement of the old. If the old nature were capable of improvement, God would have
improved it. That He had to bring in a new nature teaches the impossibility of His
ever improving the old.
This is the same lesson
taught in the Nazarite’s being defiled by coming into contact with a dead body (Nu
6:6-9). The dead body represents
the old nature. It is corrupt. “The
body is dead because of sin” (Ro 8:10). Every
thought, as well as every word and deed proceeding from the old nature, is corrupt,
and can only defile when its activity is permitted.
That old nature is to be kept in the place of death where God, through
Christ’s atonement, reckons it to be.
It is only in regard to his
physical body that Seth died, and his body died because it had come from Adam. The God of resurrection, however, will yet display His power in
raising that body, not as it was, but as something new, immortal, spiritual.
5:9.
“And Enos lived ninety years, and begot Cainan (or Kenan).”
Cainan
means their smith. For the
spiritual significance of smith the reader is referred to the study of Genesis
chapter 4 in connection with Cain. As
was noted there, the Israelitish smiths were the OT representatives of those amongst
God’s people today, who by instructing them, furnish them not only with weapons,
but also with the means of producing what they need to sustain their new spiritual
life.
Smiths
who are of the ungodly line represent false teachers, but the false teacher is the
enemy of God and of His people.
As
has been indicated in Chapter 4, it was in one of the darkest periods of her history
that “there was no smith in Israel,” and God’s people had to take their
implements to Philistine smiths to be sharpened.
Satan
always has his Philistine “smiths,” false teachers amongst God’s people to
disarm and impoverish them. Under the
Philistines, neither smith nor weapon was to be found in Israel - they were
defenseless, and their agricultural implements were sharpened at the Philistines’
pleasure.
When
the knowledge of the Word is taken from them God’s people are without defense, and
what the spiritual “Philistine” will permit in the way of “food” for God’s
people will be neither abundant nor rich. The
present day condition of the Church reflects the activity of these Philistine
“smiths”.
But
Cainan was of the godly line, and as such would symbolize those, who by instructing
God’s people, place in their hands both spiritual “weapons” and “agricultural
implements.”
This
early appearance in the godly line of one who represents spiritual teachers, is
perhaps designed to impress upon us the necessity of every believer’s giving
himself to the study of Scripture. Apart
from the fact that the teacher, like the evangelist and the pastor, is a
Spirit-given gift to the Church (Eph 4:11), it is incumbent upon every believer
that he personally give adequate time to the study of Scripture.
It will not only nurture his new life and cause him to grow, it will also
furnish him with the weapon he needs to repel the attack of spiritual foes, and to
expel them from his own God-given inheritance, just as the sword in the hand of
the Israelites dispossessed the Canaanites. In
addition, each Scriptural truth grasped enlarges the capacity to grasp more.
Without
the birth of Cainan the godly line would have been broken. He was an essential link in that long line which would eventually
produce “the Seed,” Christ. Since it
is God’s desire that Christ be produced in every believer, it is clear that that
objective will not be achieved if there is missing from the believer’s life that
which answers to Cainan. One of the
characteristics of the new life is an interest in the study of Scripture both for the
purpose of finding instruction, and of being able to instruct others (2 Tim
2:23-26). Lack of interest in the
study of Scripture by a professed believer renders his profession suspect.
5:10.
“And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and
begat sons and daughters:”
5:11.
“And
all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died.”
The
pattern already alluded to repeats itself. Fruitfulness and longevity follow the
birth of the son, but as soon as the former years are added, the years of spiritual
death, it is recorded that “he died.”
5:12.
“And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel.”
Mahalaleel
means praise of God,” and it is unclear whether it refers to Mahalaleel’s
giving praise to God, or of God’s praising Mahalaleel.
Both ideas, in fact, are acceptable, for the man who praises God is himself
praised by God.
The
lesson to be learned from the inclusion of this name in Seth’s line may be,
perhaps, that praise is characteristic of what belongs to the line of faith. The
gratitude of the redeemed man expresses itself in praise and worship.
It
might be well to consider for a moment what praise is.
Obviously it includes offering worship in words or songs, but it includes much
more. It embraces everything that has to
do with the contemplation of God, and from the standpoint of the redeemed man, that
begins with gratitude for redemption procured at such cost, and reaches on to include
gratitude for blessings beyond the ability of the finite mind to grasp, and to be
enjoyed eternally.
That
contemplation will produce a thankful heart whose gratitude will be expressed in
obedience, and it will preclude murmuring against any circumstance which God may see
fit to order for our lives.
5:13.
“And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years,
and begat sons and daughters:”
5:14.
“And
all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died.”
5:15.
“And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years and begat Jared.”
Jared
means a descender, and since the whole context of the godly line is of good in
contrast with evil we can rule out any thought of its having reference to descending
moral quality. It would seem, in fact,
to point to another feature that should mark all who belong to the line of faith
- a complete abnegation of self.
The
Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the perfect example.
He was willing to be an object of reproach and mockery that the Father might
be glorified. John the Baptist
exemplified the same spirit when he said, “He must increase, but I must decrease”
(Jn 3:30). Paul, the once proud
Pharisee, was willing for Christ’s sake to be “made as the filth of the world,
and the offscouring of all things...” (1 Co 4:13).
This
would seem to be the lesson of Jared a descender.
A willingness to be nothing, that God may be everything, is the mark of the
spiritual man.
As
Jared was a necessary link in the line that would produce Christ, so is what he
represents (self abnegation) necessary in the life of the man who would “bring
forth Christ.”
5:16.
“And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years,
and begat sons and daughters:”
5:17.
“And
all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred and ninety and five years: and he
died.”
5:18.
“And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch.”
As
has already been noted Enoch means dedicated, but unlike his namesake in the
line of Cain, this link in the godly line is dedicated only to what pleases God.
One
of the lessons of Enoch’s life is the necessity of dedication. God finds little to commend in the purposeless life, nor is much
glory brought to Him from such a life. “No
man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of
God” (Lk 9:62). “Whatsoever thy hand
findeth to do, do it with thy might” (Ec 9:10).
Unswerving
purpose marked the Lord’s life, as it did also that of His servant Paul.
From the moment he knelt on the Damascus road and cried, “Lord, what wilt
Thou have me to do?” Paul never looked back. Years
later he could write “... this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are
behind ... I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus” (Php 3:13-14).
Enoch,
then, would point to the need of wholeheartedness in going in for what belongs to the
kingdom of God, and an equally wholehearted renunciation of everything else.
5:19.
“And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons
and daughters:”
5:20.
“And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.”
5:21.
‘And Enoch lived sixty
and five years, and begat Methuselah.”
Methuselah
means they died - the dart: man of the dart, and some give a third meaning when
he is dead, it (the flood) shall be sent.
While
the meanings of Methuselah’s name may seem to yield no clear message, the thought
of death is found in all three, and in Scripture the dart is invariably presented as
the instrument of death. When we keep in
mind that each link in the godly line up to this point has set before us a different
characteristic which should mark all who belong to that same line, we should expect
the same in regard to Methuselah. Certainly
no truth is more clearly taught in the NT than that which has to do with the
believer’s position in regard to sin, the law and the world: he has become dead to
all of them. Ro 6:5-11 “... dead
indeed unto sin ...”; Ro 7:4 “... ye also are become dead to the law by the body
of Christ ...”; Ga 6:14 “... by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto
the world.”
Those
who are of that godly line - and every believer is - are to live therefore in
such fashion as will demonstrate that these things are realities to them and not mere
shibboleths.
5:22.
“And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years,
and begat sons and daughters:”
5:23.
“And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:”
5:24.
“And Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him.”
Up to this point the record
has been, that following the birth of the first named son, each father begat more
sons and daughters and then died. With
Enoch the pattern changes. Following
immediately upon the birth of Methuselah, it is said of Enoch that “he walked with
God.”
It is surely not without
significance that this walk began immediately after the birth of him who sets before
us so clearly the believer’s position in regard to sin, the law and the world. A man cannot walk with God until his life becomes the practical
demonstration of the fact that in regard to these things he has indeed died.
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the
Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Ga 2:20), and in Amos 3:3 the
question is asked, “Can two walk together except they be agreed?”
Enoch’s walking with God implies an obedient life.
The man whose life testifies to his being crucified with Christ, doesn’t
“die” - he simply passes out of the place where death reigns, into the sphere
where life reigns.
Enoch was translated.
The NT sheds further light on Enoch’s life, for in Heb 11:5 it is written,
“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.”
The Epistle of Jude supplies
the further information that he was also a prophet, verse 14, “And Enoch also, the
seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten
thousand 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.”
Enoch’s warning concerning
the Lord’s coming to execute judgment most certainly was directed to the men of his
own time, and may have had reference to the impending judgment of the flood, yet Jude
makes it clear that Enoch’s prophecy had much more than a local application: it
extended far beyond the flood and pointed to a day yet to come long after the flood,
but now very near, when the Lord will return with those He has first translated from
earth, to that same earth to judge the nations and establish His millennial kingdom.
The unique character of
Enoch’s removal from earth to heaven, plus his prophesying concerning the Lord’s
return, should prepare us to see that the events of his life are simply the
foreshadowing of events of far greater significance.
The picture given us of the world in which he lived is all too clearly but a
picture of the present. It was wicked and ripe for judgment, but “by faith Enoch
was translated...” before judgment came. His
translation to heaven is the miniature of the Rapture, when all who are of like faith
with Enoch will also be translated to heaven before judgment falls.
While he waited for the
moment of that translation, however, he was busy sounding a warning of coming
judgment. The Lord has left us a
commission, to be fulfilled in the interval between our salvation and our being
ushered into His presence, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to
every creature” (Mk 16:15). However
much faithless timidity may have watered down that Gospel, the message given us to
preach is no less a warning to men to save themselves from coming judgment than was
the message committed to Enoch.
John the Baptist asked
unbelieving hypocrites of his day, “... who hath warned you to flee from the wrath
to come?” (Mt 3:7).
Enoch warned the men of his
day. Who is warning the men of ours?
5:25.
“And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech.”
Lamech means why thus
with thee?: unto bringing low. As
has been noted already it is not only the meaning of the name that conveys God’s
message, but also whether the name is found in the line of the seed of the woman, or
in the line of the seed of the serpent.
The question propounded in
the first meaning of Lamech why thus with thee? has a very different
significance from what it has when related to the ungodly line.
It suggests that the believer does well to ponder why he has been so much
blessed. The second meaning unto
bringing low, would seem to be directing attention to the fact that in the
soon-coming judgment of the flood, sinful man would be brought low by the God
he had defied. The only way of escape
was that which everyone in the godly line takes - when we ourselves take the
low place of the repentant sinner, God comes in and not only pardons, but lifts the
believer to a position of safety, far beyond the reach of judgment.
Lamech died just five years
before the flood came, and from the
viewpoint of those who survived him, but who refused to believe that the flood was
coming, it may have seemed that he had been brought low by death.
God, in reality, had taken his soul into paradise, thereby saving him from the
coming judgment.
For the believer the death
of the body is not being brought low: it is but the step by which his soul and spirit
go higher into the very presence of God.
As it was belief in
impending judgment that brought Lamech low before God, so must it be with all who
would find a place in the line of the godly. Fear
of judgment will bring men low and thereby make it possible for God to lift them up;
or they will not believe until judgment itself brings them down to death, and it is
too late for God to lift them up. “He
that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Mt 23:l2).
5:26.
“And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two
years, and begat sons and daughters:”
5:27.
“And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and
he died.”
5:28.
“And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:”
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.”
Noah means rest.
He and seven members of his family were the only antediluvians to survive the
flood, and become the nucleus of the new world population.
The language of Lamech
concerning Noah, “This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our
hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed,”
seems to indicate that he was aware that Noah would survive the flood.
He saw in his son’s survival the perpetuation of his own life beyond the
coming judgment.
This clearly presents Noah,
then, as a type of Christ, for this is the expectation of every believer, that in Him
we shall live eternally beyond judgment. In
this fragment of man’s early history we are given a miniature of the whole of that
history. Covering more than a thousand years and ten generations from the creation of
Adam, man’s history culminates in the birth of Noah, whose name is synonymous with
rest. The expectation of each generation of the godly line was that it would be the
one to produce the “Seed” promised to Eve, and perhaps it may have seemed to
Lamech that the promise was indeed fulfilled in Noah; but the time had not yet come.
Noah was only a type.
Certainly he would survive the judgment of the flood, and become, as it were,
the head of a new creation that would dwell upon a renewed earth, emerged from under
the waters of judgment. But he was still
of the old creation, incapable of transmitting to his posterity anything but the
legacy of corruption and death inherited from Adam.
Another thirty centuries must pass before He would be born Whose descent was
not from Adam but from God.
Noah died typically under
the water of judgment, but the One he symbolized died in reality, and arose out of
death to be the Head of a new creation, free from the taint of Adam’s corruption,
imparting to His “sons” His own perfect life and nature.
“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature” (2 Co 5:17).
The rest into which Noah led
the human race after the flood was only typical, and consisted of nothing more than
the assurance that there would never be another flood to destroy the earth.
The rest into which the Lord Jesus Christ leads men is eternal.
5:30.
“And Lamech lived after
he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:”
5:31.
“And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and
he died.”
5:32.
“And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham and
Japheth.”
Since God has not written
the Bible to gratify mere idle curiosity, speculation is useless as to whether Noah
and the other antediluvians had had other children before those whose names are
given.
Shem means a name;
Ham, hot: father-in-law: (as a place name Ham means tumult: he raged);
Japheth means let him spread out.
Bible scholars are generally
agreed that the three great divisions of humanity have their origin in these three
sons of Noah: Shem being the father of the Hebrew race; Ham, of the colored races;
and Japheth, of the remaining races.
There is undoubtedly a
lesson contained in the meanings of these three names, but I regret being unable to
discern just what that lesson may be, and must therefore leave it until such time as
God may give further light on it.
The following table is given
as an easy means of comparing the life spans of these antediluvians who constituted
the godly line of faith. The year of
Adam’s creation is taken as zero:
| NAME |
BORN IN |
LIVED |
DIED IN |
| Adam |
0 |
930 |
930 |
| Seth |
130 |
912 |
1042 |
| Enos |
235 |
905 |
1140 |
| Cainan |
325 |
910 |
1235 |
| Mahalaleel |
395 |
895 |
1290 |
| Jared |
460 |
962 |
1422 |
| Enoch |
622 |
365 |
9871 |
| Methuselah |
687 |
969 |
16562 |
| Lamech |
874 |
777 |
1651 |
| Noah |
1056 |
950 |
2006 |
1 He was translated.
2 This was the year of the
flood, but Methuselah died before it came.
From this we learn that Adam
was contemporary with all of them except Noah, and all of them except Noah died
before the flood came. (Methuselah lived until the year of the flood, but died before
it came.)
Two thoughts suggest
themselves in this connection. All of
them, including Noah, were descended from Adam, but in addition, all except Noah,
were also contemporary with him. Thus
all except Noah had, as it were a double link with him, and all except Enoch died.
Death is inseparable from Adam except where God comes in and translates, as he
did Enoch, out of Adam into Christ. It
is as to our bodies that we are linked with Adam, and in the physical death of these
godly antediluvians we learn, that except for the generation which will be
translated, we too, must die physically.
The absence of this link of
contemporariness between Adam and Noah, sets Noah apart from the others. In the
experience that befell Noah, God would show us the way of life.
This is demonstrated typically, first in the fact that there was a gap of one
hundred and twenty six years between the death of Adam and the birth of Noah.
The Adam nature must die before the new nature can live.
And secondly, the link must be broken by another death.
Noah died typically as he went through the flood, though he was actually safe
in the Ark. The Ark is a type of Christ,
and the man who is “in” Christ has died typically, safe in Him while He bore the
fury of the flood of God’s wrath against sin.
As Noah emerged from the Ark
on to the renovated earth, it was typically his coming out of judgment and death to
stand on resurrection ground. All who
would join him on that ground must have a similar experience. They must not only be
willing to die to everything that connects them with Adam, but they must also be
willing to enter into the “ark” (Christ), and believe that He has borne the
judgment they deserved.
The twofold nature of
Noah’s break with Adam is the typical annunciation of every believer’s
experience. The one hundred and twenty-six year gap before the flood points to
the conversion experience while here on earth. The passing through the waters points to the end of the
believer’s life on earth. Those waters of death, which will overwhelm the
unbeliever, become for the believer that which delivers him eternally from everything
connected with Adam and earth, and through which he will pass safely to stand
eternally on resurrection ground.
This concludes our study of
chapter five, except to look very briefly at a few things relating to the years
mentioned in connection with each man’s life.
Those years are divided into
three parts: the years he lived before the birth of his son, the years he lived after
that event, and finally the total number of years of his life.
Since three is the number of resurrection the lesson would seem to be that
each of these godly antediluvians stood before God on the ground of faith which
guaranteed for him a part in the resurrection of life.
Nothing in Scripture is
without meaning, though we often fail to see it, and because everything has meaning,
nothing in Scripture is recorded unnecessarily.
The numbers of years relating to the different parts of each man’s life are
no exception. They wouldn’t have been written had they no meaning, but I regret
that much study of these numbers has failed to yield the meaning, and where God has
not given light mere speculation would be folly.
It is with reluctance therefore that this chapter is concluded leaving
undiscussed the spiritual significance of these numbers.
[Genesis
6]
