MORNING MESSAGE: John Cline
Text: Genesis 5
The passage I will be preaching through today, Genesis 5, is one preachers run from. After all, no one wants to look like a fool, preaching about people who lived for over 900 years, let alone one who was 969 years old when he died. This chapter is a faith-killer for many people picking up the Bible to read through it to see if Christianity is something they can adhere to. The current oldest person on earth is Tomiko Itooka of Japan, born in May 1908 and thus now 116 years old. There was a Turkish man named Zaro Aga in the 18th and 19th century who claimed to be 170 years old before he died, but, unlike Tomiko Itooka, that veritable youngster at 116 years of age, Zaro Aga had no birth certificate or other authentication backing up his claim of 170 years of age. However, before we take a serious dive into the longevity of the individuals named in Genesis 5, let’s return to where we left off last Sunday, at the end of Genesis 4. Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel, but the unrighteous Cain had murdered the righteous Abel, so God intervened by providing a replacement son.
Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord. (Genesis 4:25,26)
It was in Seth’s and his son Enosh’s time that people remembered YHWH God, and began to call on Him/pray to Him for the first time. Before that, Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel had simply been in God’s presence and spoke with Him in a natural fashion. Genesis 5 continues by naming the members of Adam and Eve’s family line who were righteous, beginning with Seth. We need to embrace him for
Seth was a powerful and righteous replacement for the murdered Abel
In fact, for Christians, Seth has great significance for
The family line of Jesus the Messiah goes back to Seth
The Gospel writer Luke originally wrote his Gospel to an influential man named Theophilus as an apologetic book, to provide proofs that Jesus was God’s Messiah. As part of his proofs, Luke wrote about the miraculous birth of Jesus and then about his life, death, and resurrection. But in between Jesus’ birth story and his later life events, Luke outlined the family tree of Jesus as a way of proving his uniqueness and greatness. Luke starts by writing this:
Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli. (Luke 3:23)
Luke then worked his way backwards through history, listing the names of family related individuals, using the word “son” for each generation of men listed, going from Joseph back to, e.g. Jesus being
The son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed. (Luke 3:31b,32a)
So, Jesus was of royal blood. Going back even further back, Luke showed that Jesus was in the family line of the Hebrew patriarchs.
The son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham. (Luke 3:33b,34a)
And, finally, Luke outlined how Jesus was the son of the first humans.
The son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Kenan, the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God. (Luke 3:36b–38)
In contrast to Luke working his way backwards to the start of human history, Moses, the writer of Genesis, started with Adam and worked his genealogical lines forward in both Genesis 4 and 5. In 5, he wrote,
This is the written account of Adam’s family line. When God created humans, he made them in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “human” when they were created. (Genesis 5:1,2)
Those are the introductory verses to what comes next, the genealogy of Adam and Eve’s family line. But, in reading it, every person wonders
How to understand the huge numbers of the lifespans in Gen 5:
To help you understand those huge numbers, I will write a blog for you to read in which I will outline 11 explanations people have put forward to explain the long ages found in Genesis 5. In this sermon, I don’t have time to go into all 11 explanations, but I will mention 6 of them.
- As fictional
The huge numbers we are about to read have been a stumbling-block to faith in Christ for many people. Those people might believe, without proof, in UFO’s, in beings from outer space, in sasquatches, or in Nessie, the supposed monster who lurks in the waters of Scotland’s Loch Ness, but when reading the huge numbers in Genesis 5, they suddenly become skeptics, deciding the listed ages for the humans of that chapter are impossible and thus the Bible untrustworthy. It is true, though, that archaeology always digs up skeletons of people no older than 60 years of age. Some people believe the other way.
- As literal
“If the Bible says it, it must have been so”, is the first approach for most Jews and Christians. However, while accepting those long lifespans, people have still devised explanations for them, such as:
- As a result of being so close to the time of creation that sin had not yet polluted the human body
The corruption of the perfect order God created is given as an explanation by many for the long lives of the first humans. Over time, the length of the ages lived gradually diminished as the ages slipped further away from the time of the perfect creation. In other words, decay happened over time. In fact, the second law of thermodynamics states that decay is a basic law of nature. Things decay over time. They don’t get better, as our again bodies prove. This decay has received the name “time’s arrow,” for it is always pointing downhill. On a spiritual level, pastor/author John Piper writes, “Those long lives testify that death was not part of the perfect creation. God ordains as a lesson to us that the force of life be preserved for hundreds of years in very long lives in those early centuries to show that life, not death, was his design and our portion in creation at the beginning. So, the long lives of those first humans stand as a testimony of how utterly short our lives are and how God’s design at the beginning and his design in the future is life — indeed, eternal life.” Moving on, another explanation for the long lifespans found in Genesis 5 is that they were
- As a result of a “canopy” over the earth protecting humans (but, which disappeared after the Flood)
Before the great Flood this canopy supposedly shielded Earth from harmful radiation so that people could live very long lives without suffering the damage that of harmful radiation. The problem with this protective canopy theory is that there is not one shred of geologic or physical evidence to support it. Going on, another explanation is
- As a result of an incomplete understanding of the ancient Hebrew (which would, in effect, drop one of the three numbers)
There are many ways scholars, many of them very conservative, have pointed out that the ancient Hebrew language, because it didn’t use vowels which forced later Hebrew readers to add vowel points or marks above where the vowels would be, led to inflated numbers. In this theory, the 600,000 fighting men of Israel’s later army might have really been 60,000 and Methuselah’s age of 969 may have been 96. The problem with this explanation is easy to see: it undermines the confidence people have that the Bible they are reading is correct or reliable. One more explanation for the huge numbers is that they were
- As based on numerology
I have never bought into biblical numerology fully because I have seen too many abuses of it where people use it to see all sorts of “code messages” embedded in scripture, such as in the predicting of the precise dating of Christ’s Second Coming. However, it would be a mistake to deny that numbers are used symbolically in scripture. For example, it is well known that the number 7 carries with it the notion of “completion” or “perfection”. There were the 7 days of creation and the 7 colours of the rainbow in the Book of Genesis, the 7 covenants of the Old Testament, and the 7 churches, candlesticks, stars, angels, Spirits of God, seals, horns, eyes on the Lamb, trumpets, thunders, mountains, bowls, kings, and so on in the Book of Revelation. With the number 40, as author David Chilton writes, it “Symbolizes testing and trials. It rained 40 days and 40 nights upon the earth during the time of Noah’s testing. Moses was in Egypt 40 years, in Midian 40 years, and served God 40 years. Moses was on Mt. Sinai 40 days as God gave him the law. Saul, David, Solomon, and Josiah ruled for 40 years. Israel was in the wilderness 40 years. Jesus fasted in the wilderness 40 days. Jesus taught his disciples for 40 days following his resurrection. And so on.” So, numerology in the Bible is real. Thus, perhaps the numbers in Genesis 5 have a numerological meaning some people speculate. But no proofs of that are known to me. However, what I do know is that God says in all seriousness to us,
“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” (Jeremiah 33:3)
So, let’s each call on God for understanding about the huge numbers. Of the six possible explanations I mentioned above for the large numbers, the ones I find are plausible are #’s 2, 3, 5, and 6. I
Ok, it’s time to read Genesis 5 but before we do so, please listen for the following repeated pattern: Three numbers are mentioned in each person’s account: the years that person lived until their first child was born, the number of years after that child was born, third, the total number of years of that person’s life. Patterns in the Bible usually are there for a reason, suggesting a deeper meaning than what is obvious in the text. However, here, I don’t yet know what that reason might be. Let’s read:
When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died. When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh. After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died. When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died. When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel. After he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died. When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared. After he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years, and then he died. When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died. (Jared was the second oldest person who ever lived, #2 on the all-time list but who remembers #2? Poor guy, ha)…When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. (Genesis 5:3-24)
Along with the prophet Elijah, Enoch was one of only two people to be described as not dying for God transported them out of this life. Enoch is mentioned only a couple of times in the Bible, yet he appears in the so-called “Hall of Faith” found in the New Testament, in Hebrews 11, in which the great Old Testament heroes of the faith are listed. What does a life that is pleasing to God look like? Enoch’s life tells us.
It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying — “he disappeared, because God took him.” For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God. And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. (Hebrews 11:5,6)
Enoch “walked with God”. To understand the significance of this, we must consider the historical backdrop to his life. Adam and Eve’s son, Cain, led a sinful life and his sinful lineage as outlined in Genesis 4 reached its peak in Lamech, the man seven generations away from Adam. Lamech, a polygamist murderer and braggart, was Enoch’s first cousin. Enoch was also seven generations away from Adam, but in the line of Seth. Lamech and Enoch were actors on the same stage, one sinful and the other righteous, representing two competing lines: the sinful family line of Cain, and the righteous family line of Abel/Seth.
Now, I am not comparing myself to Enoch but I will tell you a correlation in my family line to those of the two competing lines of Cain and Seth. Separating my grandparents homestead was a lane, which on the other side was another Cline family. That Cline family were known as “the drinking Clines”. My grandparents Cline family were known as “the religious Clines”. I didn’t become a Christian or a pastor on my own, but it was partly the result of being in the family line of “the religious Clines”. My family line has numerous pastors, SS coordinators, worship leaders, deacons, and elders in their churches. I don’t know of any Christians from “the drinking Clines” side of the family. I won’t go into detail about some of the things that have gone on in that family, but I will say that I am blessed to have come from “the religious Clines”. That has been a blessing for me, and I believe our family line has been a blessing to our society and a solid witness of what it is to be a family of “righteous” people who “walked with God”.
Now, if you were to draw out on a piece of paper the family tree of Adam and Eve’s descendants, Lamech and Enoch would each appear seven generations down, standing on opposite sides, first cousins of very different dispositions, one sinful and the other righteous. Lamech’s family line would shortly thereafter come to an end in the Flood. As for Enoch, though, his end would be very different. His righteous living led to God “taking him up.” n. This leads us to Enoch’s being “taken up” by God. As we read in Hebrews 11:6, “Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” Enoch lived such a life, and his life was a prefiguring for all who live in faith. Just as Enoch’s reward was God “taking him up”, our reward is that God will take us. Death has no hold on the person who walks with God, for God Himself is our reward for a life of righteous faith. Finishing off Genesis 5, we read,
When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. After he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died. (Methuselah was the longest-living person ever, according to this passage. His son Lamech was obviously not the same Lamech who appeared opposite Enoch in Cain’s family line). When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. He named him Noah and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.” After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died. After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Genesis 5:25-32)
We will look more at Noah starting next Sunday, but here is what we have learned from Genesis 5 today: Seth, Enoch, and Noah belonged to the righteous side of Adam and Eve’s family lineage, and they were exceptional servants of God living in a perverse and corrupt time in human history. Seth’s faithfulness, as we know, led him to being an integral role in the Messiah coming to earth for he was in Jesus’ family line. As for Enoch, like Jesus, he “walked faithfully with God” and God took him up, just as He did Jesus, and God was His reward. As for Noah, here is what Jesus, in referring to the time in human history when he/the Messiah/the Son of Man would return had this to say:
“It will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes.” (Matthew 24:37-39)
So, what is our takeaway from Genesis 5?
Today’s takeaway: be like Seth, Enoch, and Noah – righteous people who “walked faithfully with God”
When Cain sinned and his family line embraced that sinning, God acted in two ways: by wiping out that family in the Flood, and by sending a replacement for the righteous Abel whom Cain had murdered, that replacement being Seth. The sins of Cain and his family line as seen in Genesis 4 could have meant death for all, but in Genesis chapter 5, God did a “reboot” of humanity that bypassed Cain and ran through Seth instead, making righteousness the standard for all future generations to live according to. Through Seth’s family line down to Enoch and then on to Noah, God would start all over again, preserving the human race in the process. Knowing the genealogies of Cain in Genesis 4 and of Seth in Genesis 5 is thus a valuable lesson for us to embrace. Let’s pray.
