Genesis
chapter 5 gives us, “Adam’s line”, the genealogy of Adam.
It does not give us a listing of all of the offspring of Adam and his
descendants, but rather traces the specific line that takes us to
Noah. To the Hebrew culture the family genealogy was everything,
later we will see that the son’s of Jacob become 12 specific tribes,
each with a specific responsibility and designated land to possess.
Prophecies will even foretell the messiah will be born from the tribe
of Judah. Even from Adam we can trace the line to both Mary and
Joseph. We are told, “When
Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness and in his
own image and he named him Seth“.
We are also told, “After
Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and
daughters“.
I recently read something that said that it is possible that by the
time of Adams death, he may have had 1,000,000 in his extended
family! I haven’t done the math on that, but it is clear Adam took
God’s command to be fruitful and multiply very seriously. We can’t
help but notice the incredible life-spans of the men listed, most
living more than 900 years. The gene pool was apparently still
allowed for longer life spans, and remember, the environment
consisted of a very thick cloud blanket which must have offered some
protection from aging.
All
of the genealogies include, “he
had other sons and daughters…and then he died“,
with one exception. We are told, “Enoch
lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because
God took him away“.
It seems he was so close to God, he was called to heaven without
dying. Hebrews chapter 11 tells us, “By
faith Enoch was taken up so he should not see death…before being
taken up, he was pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible
to please Him. For he that comes to God must believe that He is, and
that He is a rewarder of those that seek Him“.
The apostle uses Enoch to remind us that even before the birth of
messiah, it was by faith not good deeds that we receive God’s
forgiveness. The chapter ends with, “After
Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and
Japheth“.
Again, interesting to note, Noah was 14 years old when Adam’s son
Seth died. Noah probably knew the creation story directly from Seth!
Adam
passed along his seed and the sin nature to all of his descendants.
We are all descended from Adam, and we all inherited his sin. We are
told in Psalms, “there
is none righteous, not even one”
and Romans 3:23 reminds us that “All
have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God“.
The apostle Paul describes our dilemma and our hope in Romans
chapter 7, “Wretched
man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!“.
So how do we develop this faith to trust God? Romans 10:17 tells
us, “faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God“.
May the Holy Spirit of God increase our faith by the hearing of His
word today.