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Chapter 5

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From Adam To Noah (ch. 5:1 - 32)

 

Verse 1 says that "this is the written account of Adam's lineage."  Of course Adam did not have any parents.  God created him as seen in verse 1.  God created Adam in his likeness as it says here, and as it says in chapter 1.  The one difference between this verse and chapter 1 is that the word "image" is not used here.  The Hebrew word translated as "likeness" means similar.  Man was created similar to God.  He was not a duplicate of God.    

 

Verse 1 says, "when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God."  I believe the word "man" refers to Adam because Adam is mentioned in the first part of this verse.  I don't believe that the word "man" is generic here, as in "mankind."   It was Adam that was made in the likeness and image of God.  This verse would suggest that Eve wasn't made in the likeness and image of God, but in the likeness and image of Adam.  That being said, if Eve indeed was created in Adam's likeness and image, and Adam was created in God's likeness and image, then by the Transitive Law, Eve was also created n God's likeness and image as well.   

 

Since I understand the word "man" to be Adam, I also understand the word "him" in the same phrase to refer to Adam as well.  I don't believe "him" is generic, as in, "mankind."  God is talking about Adam in verse 1.

 

Verse 2 changes the attention to both Adam and Eve.  It says that "He created them both male and female."  When God created both Adam and Eve, He blessed them.  That means He set them apart as being special, because that is what the word from the Hebrew means.

 

At the same time "God called them man."  This word "man" is generic.  Adam and Eve were called man by God.  It was Adam that actually called the one that came from him "woman" (Genesis 2:23).  He further gave her the name Eve.                             

 

Verse 3 tells us that when Adam was 130 years old he had a son in his own "likeness and image."  Note that Adam was 130 years old.  We don't know how many children Adam and Eve had prior to this son named Seth.  We know from chapter 4 that Eve felt that Seth was a replacement for Abel.  We also know that Jesus, in Luke 11:51 tells us that Abel was a prophet.  It appears to me the Seth might well have replaced Abel in the ministry of prophet. 

 

We also note that Seth was made in "Adam's likeness and image."   This tells us more of what the words "likeness and image " means as seen in Genesis 1:26 where God made man in His likeness and image.  Seth was not Adam, but he was similar to Adam, just as our children are similar to us.  So when we read Genesis 1:26, this is how we should understand the phrase "likeness and image."  God made man like Him.  It is only New Age thinking that thinks men are gods.

 

Verse 4 tells us that after Seth was born, Adam lived another 800 years.  That means that Adam was 930 years old when he finally died.  The question is always asked, "how and why did Adam and others live so long back then?"  We can only speculate.  Some scholars believe that prior to the fall, the canopy of water that was above our sky protected man from the suns harmful rays. That's why men and women lived so long.

 

Verse 5 does the math for us.  It says that Adam lived 930 years. 

 

From verses 6 through 32 we see the rest of the genealogy from Adam to Noah.  I will not comment on all of the men mentioned. 

 

In verse 22 to 24 we see Enoch.  He walked with God for 300 years.  Obviously Enoch was a man of God, a righteous man like Abel.  Enoch is special because as the text says, "he was no more, because God took him away."  The general consensus among conservative scholars is that Enoch did not die.  Every other man mentioned n this list died at some point of his life.  Yet Enoch "walked no more" which suggest that he was raptured away so to speak.  God just took him without him experiencing death.  Another thing you might note about Enoch is that he only lived 365 years while all the rest in this list lived well over 800 years and many lived well past 900 years.  It seems like God wanted Enoch with Him for some reason, or, didn't want him on the earth.   

 

In the New Testament, Jude, in verses 14 and 15 tells us that Enoch prophesied about the coming of the Lord with thousand upon thousands of His holy ones to bring judgment against the wicked.  We have no Old Testament record of this prophecy. We only have the words of Jude.  We can safely assume that the Holy Spirit inspired these words that were passed down through the ages in Judaism.   Jude's words tells us something about Enoch.  He was a prophet, prophesying to a very wicked world.  People might well have wanted him killed, and maybe that's why Enoch was taken by God.  On the other hand, many scholars see Enoch as a type of Jesus.  As Jesus ascended into heaven after His ministry, so did Enoch.  Enoch's life was meant to prophesy about the life of Jesus.  

 

In verse 25 we note that one of Enoch's sons is named Methuselah.  He lived longer than any other man recorded in the Bible.  He lived 969 years.  Within the same year of Methuselah's death, God flooded the earth. Methuselah means "his death shall bring."  By th3 very meaning of his name, some suggest that there is some typology at work here, that is, Methuselah had to die before the flood came.  Some even see the rapture of Christians in this verse.   

 

We see the birth of Noah in verse 29.  When he was born, his father prophesied over him.   The text doesn't say the words of Noah's father were prophetic, but the content of his words clearly shows their prophetic nature.  He prophesied by saying, "he will comfort us in our labour and painful toil caused by the ground the Lord has cursed."   The name Noah actually means "to comfort, or to bring relief.  Noah's name is prophetic in itself.

 

There are a few things we learn from these words.  We learn that nine generations after God cursed the ground that man still realized that God did curse the ground.  We also realize that man, or at least certain men, understood that there was a God.  So because these people understood about God's existence,  their wickedness was not from ignorance.  They willfully rebelled against God.  

 

The important thing we learn from these words is that even at his birth, Noah was expected to comfort people because of the hard labour they performed. Just how this comfort took place might be debatable. Maybe during Noah's life he was a comfort in some way.  Or, maybe it has something to do with God telling Noah to build the arc.  Noah's name actually means rest or comfort.

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