This is Part 6 of our “Bible
Basics 101” series and we have come to the first genealogy of the Bible.
People often just skip over these seemingly boring passages for what may come
next. But, if one does this with this text, then he will miss a vital clue
about how the story of the Scriptures and God’s plan for rescue actually work.
Remember in the first eleven Chapters of Genesis we are learning the full effects
that sin and death have had upon God’s good creation through the Fall. Meaning
that for us the fully understand the cure that is coming, we must first know
the problems that are being dealt with. And it is here in this genealogy that
we find proof or confirmation of the biggest problem that God will handle when
he steps inside his own world.
The genealogy begins: “This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made
him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.
3 When Adam had lived a hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. 4 The days of Adam after he
became the father of Seth were eight hundred years; and he had other sons and
daughters. 5 Thus all the days
that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.” (Genesis 5:1-5)
Do we see then big problem here? The text again takes us
back to Genesis 1:26-28, where we find the initial blessings and commands that
God gives mankind. But in the words that follow here what has tragically changed?
We are told that Adam, “became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image.” The Image of God has now been
replaced by the Image of Fallen Man. The story of the first four Chapters of
Genesis now come rushing together in this one verse. Adam is now the image.
Seth is made in the “likeness” of his father rather than God. Meaning for us
that the broken and fractured image that God exiled from the Garden is now at
the heart of every man. This explains the story in the Bible that we find from
the point forward. It also reveals to us what God is going to have to do to fix
this problem that has affected his greatest creation, Man. Yes indeed, God himself will have to transform
the heart and flesh of man from the inside out. As St. Paul says in his Letter
to the Colossians, “Jesus in the image of the invisible God” (1:15) and the we “are
being renewed in knowledge after the image of his creator.” (3:10) Paul is
telling us that Jesus had to enter the world to bring the proper Image of God
back with him. That which had fallen had to be restored completely, mind, body,
and soul. What then comes next?
Genesis 5:5-31 “Thus
all the days that Adam lived were
nine hundred and thirty years; and he died. When
Seth had lived a hundred and five
years, he became the father of Enosh… Thus all the days of Seth were nine
hundred and twelve years; and he died. When
Enosh had lived ninety years, he
became the father of Kenan… Thus all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and
five years; and he died. When Kenan had lived seventy years, he became
the father of Ma-halalel… Thus all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten
years; and he died. When Ma-halalel had lived sixty-five years,
he became the father of Jared… Thus all the days of Ma-halalel were eight
hundred and ninety-five years; and he died.
When Jared had lived a hundred and
sixty-two years he became the father of Enoch… Thus all the days of Jared were
nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died.
When Enoch had lived sixty-five
years, he became the father of Methuselah… Thus all the days of Enoch were
three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for
God took him. When Methuselah had lived a hundred and
eighty-seven years, he became the father of Lamech… Thus all the days of Methuselah
were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died. When Lamech had
lived a hundred and eighty-two years, he became the father of a son, and
called his name Noah… Thus all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and
seventy-seven years; and he died.”
There is a clear pattern in this text that the God through
the author wants us to see. Can you hear the bell in the background? And he
died, and he died, and he died… Why is this so? Because death is at the heart
of the problem with God’s creation. It came into the world through Adam’s sin
and disobedience, then is terrible effects has spread to all people. This is
the key point that this first genealogy of the Bible is making. For added
effect, it is the only one that says, “so and so died”, all the other are about
birth, this one is about death. As Paul teaches us in Romans, “Therefore
as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death
spread to all men because all men sinned.” (5:12) Also as we saw with Adam in
the Garden hiding from God, why can he not find him? “Adam, where are you?” God
asks. (Genesis 3:9) Because he has found death, that place that God cannot
enter. But God does enter one day when
he becomes man, as we all know. Jesus did take upon the Flesh of Adam and cross
through death and come out the other side into life. Destroying its power upon
God’s true image bearing people. That is both tragedy and the glory of the
human story. The tragedy of the Fall, but the glory of the redemption. Yes,
this is jumping ahead a bit, but it does help us to see where our story is
going. If we are going to understand the present we must grapple with the past.
This is true for history, literature, or religion.
In our next Post we begin our look and the person of Noah
and the story of the Flood.
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