Genealogies are not the most exciting part of the Bible. We often get bogged down in them while we’re trying to read through the Bible. All those names can get discouraging. Why do they have to be so hard to pronounce? And what is the point of the genealogies anyway? Well, it turns out they have a point (or they wouldn’t be there, right?) and that point isn’t just for the people of that time to be able to trace their family tree. The genealogies had meaning both for the people then and for us today.
Yesterday in the evening service we worked our way through Genesis 5, a linear genealogy which serves to move the narrative from Adam to Noah. It highlights ten generations. Along the way we met some interesting characters, most notably Enosh, Enoch, Methuselah, and Lamech. One of the things this genealogy did for the people coming out of Egypt is to bear witness to the fact that their religion was already an ancient religion. But more than that, the genealogy served as a witness to the faithfulness of God. No matter how wicked and violent the world had become through the descendants of Cain (their genealogy is in chapter 4) they could rest in the fact that God is faithful. He will keep his word.
What word? The word of promise found in Genesis 3:15:
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
That promise of a godly offspring who would defeat the serpent and reverse the evil brought upon the world is the promise that gave them hope through dark years. The genealogy bears witness to God’s faithfulness even through those dark years. What we can take from that is that no matter how dark the days in which we live, God is faithful. He will keep his promises.
Throughout the genealogy we are given hints about the future. For example, we know from the end of chapter 4 that in the days of Enosh people began to call upon the name of Yahweh. The legacy of Enosh was the institution of formal public worship. Enoch’s legacy was similar in that he walked with God and God took him up to heaven. This serves as a reminder that there is something better that awaits the people of God and that one day we will all be restored into his presence in spite of our sin.
There’s even more to the Enoch story. Enoch was the seventh from Adam through Seth. As such he serves as a contrast with the seventh from Adam through Cain—the Lamech of chapter 4. In him we found the world’s first tyrant, a violent man who did not need God. He represents the seed of the serpent. Enoch of chapter 5 is his opposite in every way. Lamech also, (there are two Lamechs, one descended from Cain but the other descended from Seth) stands in direct contrast to his evil cousin.
The Lamech of chapter 5 is the son of Methuselah. When he fathers Noah he expresses a lament and a hope. It goes like this:
When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”
Lamech longed for a better world. Lamech longed for the promises of God to come to fruition. His evil counterpart of chapter 5 was all about getting as much as he could from this life at the expense of anyone and everyone else. This Lamech is not satisfied here, for he knows there’s something better coming. He longs for relief from sin and the curse. Would he find it, as he hoped, through his son Noah? No.
And yes. Though Noah is not the one to usher in that new world, he lives to typify the one who will. Noah will find grace in the eyes of the Lord. He will become a new Adam in a new earth, one in which the evil of the previous world has been washed away in judgment. Alas, Noah will bring with him into that new world his old Adamic nature, and so the new world will be as doomed as the old. But Noah does bring hope because through Noah God’s promise to Adam and Eve is being kept. Through Noah that seed, that offspring, will come, and it is he, Jesus, who will ultimately usher in a new world that is free from sin—for all those brought into it will have had their Adamic natures eradicated and replaced.
Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.—1 Corinthians 15:49
While Lamech hoped in Noah for respite from his toil, it would ultimately be in a son of Noah that he and all God’s people would find that respite. That son, Jesus, said…
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”—Matthew 11:28-30
Eight times in Genesis 5 we read the phrase “and he died,” reminding us of sin and its curse. But woven into that bitter narrative is the sweet promise that God is keeping his word, working his purposes, and bringing about his redemption in history. His people will be saved, and restored, and ultimately taken up to be with him.
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.—Hebrews 11:5-6
You can find the audio to that sermon here: Genesis 5 - The Seed of the Woman