A Fascinating Discovery in the Bible

GENESIS 5

Have you visited my "God's Creative Call" blog? It is a recap on the current Bible study that I attend on Tuesday mornings. It contains the Scripture reading for the week and questions to answer in the book of Genesis. We are currently working on chapter 5. I know what you are probably thinking. Who loves reading through all the genealogies in the Bible? While at first glance they seem long and boring, they are there for a reason.

When we study the Bible a lot closer than just reading the words, we find that God used different models and types within the pages of Scripture to illustrate a point. In this post, I will show you the context of Him using names to illustrate a truly important point through this fabulous discovery within the pages of the Torah.

You might be tempted to skip this post. You might think you can't learn anything new from reading through boring genealogies. I'll admit. When I first came across this lesson I almost skipped through it. But the last sentence made me go back and carefully read through the whole thing!

Take a look at this passage…

1This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.

2He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created.

3And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.

4After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters…. …

And on and on it goes. However, there is a great mystery under the surface of this chapter just waiting to be discovered. What’s in a name?

How many of you have looked up your name to see what it means? As a society, this practice is all but lost today, but in ancient times it was simply the way it was done. Parents named their children after key events of the times, or after God (or gods in pagan cultures). That’s why the term “el” appears in so many Hebrew names for instance. It is a name for God.

With this genealogy however, not only do the names give insights to man’s early history, they also paint a much broader picture. Let’s take a look…

ADAM

The first name, Adam, comes from adomah, and means "man." As the first man, that seems straightforward enough.

SETH

Adam's son was named Seth, which means, "appointed." When he was born Eve said, "For God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." (Genesis 4:25) See, the Bible even helps us out with the name meanings.

ENOSH

Seth's son was called Enosh, which means "mortal," "frail," or "miserable." It is from the root word anash: which means to be incurable; used of a wound, grief, woe, sickness, or wickedness. (It was in the days of Enosh that men began to defile the name of the Living God by the way)

KENAN

Enosh's son was named Kenan, from which can mean "sorrow," dirge," or "elegy."

MAHALALEL

Kenan's son was Mahalalel, from mahalal, which means "blessed" or "praise"; and EL, the name for God. Thus, Mahalalel means "the Blessed God." As I said, often Hebrew names included El, the name of God, such as Dani-el, "God is my Judge," Nathani-el, "Gift of God," etc.

JARED

Mahalalel's son was named Jared, from the verb yaradh, meaning "shall come down." Some authorities suggest that this might have been an allusion to the "Sons of God" who "came down" to corrupt the daughters of men, resulting in the Nephilim ("Fallen Ones") of Genesis 6, but that’s a whole other study…

ENOCH

Jared's son was named Enoch, which means "teaching," or "commencement." He was the first of four generations of preachers. In fact, the earliest recorded prophecy was by Enoch, which amazingly enough deals with the Second Coming of Christ. (Found in Jude 14-15)

METHUSELAH

The Flood of Noah did not come as a surprise. It had been preached on for four generations. But something strange happened when Enoch was 65, from which time "he walked with God." Enoch was given a prophecy that as long as his son was alive, the judgment of the flood would be withheld; but as soon as he died, the flood would be sent forth. Enoch named his son to reflect this prophecy. The name Methuselah comes from two roots: muth, a root that means “death”; and from shalach, which means "to bring," or "to send forth." Thus, the name Methuselah signifies, "his death shall bring." And, indeed, in the year that Methuselah died, the flood came. Methuselah was 187 when he had Lamech, and lived 782 years more. Lamech had Noah when he was 182. The Flood came in Noah's 600th year. 187 + 182 + 600 = 969, Methuselah's age when he died.

Here’s a riddle for you… If Methuselah was the oldest man in the Bible, how could he die before his father?

The answer: Enoch never died, he was translated, or raptured, before the flood (a type of the Church before the great tribulation)! “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” Genesis 5:24, Hebrews 11:5

It is interesting that Methuselah's life was, in effect, a symbol of God's mercy in forestalling the coming judgment of the flood. It is therefore fitting that his lifetime is the oldest in the Bible, symbolizing the extreme extensiveness of God's mercy.

LAMECH

Methuselah's son was named Lamech, a root still evident today in our own English word, "lament" or "lamentation." Lamech suggests "despairing."

NOAH

Lamech, of course, is the father of Noah, which is derived from nacham which means, "to bring relief" or "comfort," as Lamech himself explains in verse 29... “And he called his name Noah, saying, "This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD has cursed.”

Let me ask you this; was the curse lifted after Noah? Did man no longer have to toil with his hands, or work for his provision? No. In fact, one doesn't need to be a rocket scientist to realize that the curse is very much alive, well, dead actually, today.

So even here we see an allusion to something greater within the text… So let’s see what all these names say when we put them together, in the order they are given in the Bible…

1. Hebrew name

2. English describing meaning of name

Adam

Man

Seth

Appointed

Enosh

Mortal

Kenan

Sorrow

Mahalalel

The Blessed God

Jared

Shall come down

Enoch

Teaching

Methuselah

His death shall bring

Lamech

The despairing

Noah

Rest, or comfort

Simply add a few simple conjunctions and read it again…

Man (is) appointed mortal sorrow; (but) the Blessed God shall come down teaching (that) His death shall bring (the) despairing rest.

Here is a summary of God's plan of redemption, hidden here within a genealogy in Genesis!

You will never convince me that a group of Jewish rabbis deliberately "contrived" to hide the "Christian Gospel" right here in a genealogy within their venerated Torah!

Remember our key verses here…

“The volume of the book it is written of me…” and “ Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

Now just for something to throw out to you, these types of models (actually called Macrocodes) are all throughout the Old Testament. The one I just shared clearly illustrates redemption through Jesus at the cross.

1 Corinthians 2:2 - For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

Luke 24:44 - And he said unto them, These [are] the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and [in] the prophets, and [in] the psalms, concerning me.

Remember, “Jesus Christ and Him crucified”, and also Jesus’ words directing us to the Law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms.

Jesus fulfilled hundreds of prophecies written about him in the Old Testament concerning the Law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms.

My question is, knowing all of this how could anyone not see the miraculous nature of God's Word, the Bible?

Isn't this fascinating?