Genesis

Lesson 14 w/AnswersChronology and Ancestry

In the previous lesson we concluded our study of Genesis Chapter 4, including the murder of Able by his brother Cain. In the closing verses of Chapter 4 we read that Adam and Eve had another son whom they named Seth. Furthermore, Seth had a son named Enosh, and Chapter 4 closes with the assertion that, "at that time people began to call on the name of the LORD." (Genesis 4:25-26)

Beginnings

Seth and His Descendants

In this lesson we will study Seth and his descendants, as they lead first to Enosh, then eventually to Methuselah, and finally to Noah and his three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Genesis 5:25:26)

As we begin this lesson, I need to point out that a common mistake that many of us make when reading the early chapters of Genesis is believing that Adam and Eve only had three sons—Cain, Able, and Seth—when in fact they had many children, both boys, and girls, who grew up to be adults. These offspring, in turn, multiplied and continued to spread throughout Eden and Nod.

Read the following scriptures and respond to the associated questions:

  1. Read Genesis 3:20 and Genesis 5:4 and note what each of these verses tells us about Adam and Eve’s offspring.
    1. ANSWER 1: Genesis 3:20 tells us that Eve will become the mother of "all the living."
    2. ANSWER 2: Genesis 5:4 tells us that Adam "had other sons and daughters."
  2. In fact, Adam and Eve had many children; and all of those children would also go on to have many children as well. The following references all indicate this reality. Can you identify how we know this from the following verses? Please reference Genesis 5:4,7,10,13,16,19,22,26, 30; and Genesis 11:11,13,15,17,19,21,23, and 25.
    1. ANSWER: All of these verses end with the words, "…and had other sons and daughters."
  3. In Genesis 5:1-3, what three things does this text indicate to us about the humans God created?
    1. ANSWER 1: We were created in his image.
    2. ANSWER 2: We were created as male and female.
    3. ANSWER 3: God named us "mankind." [NIV]

The three things referenced above are significant in that they indicate right from the beginning of creation that the theory of evolution is wrong, period. We were created as humans on Day One, we were male and female humans, and we are collectively called mankind. There is not one scintilla of evidence or indication from these three verses that evolution had any role at all in creation. We need to hold on to that fact, as embodied in Genesis 1:1 ("In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.") and in Genesis 5:1 ("…God created mankind.").

Again, in Genesis 5:3-20, we see that Seth had a son, Enosh; then Enosh had a son, Kenan; then Kenan had Mahalalel; then Mahalalel had Jared; and then Jared had Enoch. As mentioned earlier, in each reference these fathers all also had "other sons and daughters," in addition to the son being cited in the verse. Note that our interest in this study is not their ages, nor the age of the earth, but rather the descendants that God is pointing out to us from Adam to Jesus. So far, these descendants lead to Enoch (in verse 20).

Enoch is an interesting person because something unique happened to him. Read Genesis 5:21-24 and note the following.

  1. What are two unique things that are revealed regarding Enoch?
    1. ANSWER 1: He "walked faithfully with God." This is unique because from Cain and his descendants (Genesis Chapter 4) through Seth and his descendants (Genesis 5:1-21), we see no one referred to as "walking faithfully with God." Enoch was unique among all of the descendants of Adam and Eve to this point.
    2. ANSWER 2: Secondly, Enoch was taken up to heaven alive and was never seen again. No other event like that happens in the Old Testament until Elijah is taken up to heaven without experiencing death (see 2 Kings 2:11-12). Jesus was also taken up to heaven, but he was a resurrected Jesus at the time, having already paid the price for our sins by dying on the cross prior to his resurrection and ascension to heaven forty days later (see Luke 24:51). A similar event will happen at the rapture (see 1 Thessalonians 4:17). What is important to note in the Genesis 5 passage is that Enoch’s walk with God was such that he never saw death. So, imagine the testimony, teaching, and witness of Enoch as he raised his family and interacted with others in the pre–flood world. In the study of End–Time prophecy—specifically in Revelation 11:3-12—we note the two final witnesses who are to be martyred for Christ just before his return. Some believe that those two final witnesses will either be Enoch and Elijah (because they have not experienced death), or they will be Moses and Elijah (representing the Law and the Prophets). Or perhaps it means something else. We take a closer look at it in our End–Time study.

From Enoch we encounter Methuselah, who had Lamech, who had Noah. Methuselah was Noah’s grandfather.

Read Genesis 5:25-31 and the other passages referenced below and respond to the following.

  1. How old was Methuselah when Noah was born? (see Genesis 5:25-28)
    1. ANSWER: Methuselah was 187 years old when he fathered Lamech, and Lamech was 182 years old when he fathered Noah. This means that Methuselah was 369 years old when Noah was born.
  2. Who was Methuselah’s father? (see Genesis 5:21)
    1. ANSWER: His father was Enoch who "walked faithfully with God." This means that all of Enoch’s children, including Methuselah, would have been taught about God and would have witnessed how their father was living a godly life. They were all without excuse.
  3. What does the Bible tell us about Noah in Genesis 6:9?
    1. ANSWER: It asserts that Noah was a "righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God." It seems that even though Enoch fathered Methuselah, and Methuselah fathered Lamech, that neither Enoch’s son nor grandson followed after God until we come to Noah. We will discover this to be particularly true when we study the days before the flood, when only Noah and his family are saved from judgement.
  4. How old was Methuselah when he died? (see Genesis 5:27)
    1. ANSWER: He was 969 years old.
  5. How old was Noah when the flood came? (see Genesis 7:6)
    1. ANSWER: He was 600 years old.
  6. How old was Methuselah when the flood came? (see Genesis 5:25-31, 7:6)
    1. ANSWER: He was 969 years old. He was 187 when he fathered Lamech, and Lamech was 182 when he fathered Noah. This means that Methuselah was 369 years old when Noah was born, and Noah was 600 years old when the flood came, at which time Methuselah would have been (369+600=) 969 years old. Taking the Biblical ages at face value then, he would have died just prior to the flood or perhaps in the flood; the Bible is silent on this question.
  7. How old was Lamech when he died? (see Genesis 5:30-31)
    1. ANSWER: Lamech was 777 years old when he died, five years before the flood. This means he, Methuselah, and all their relatives would have witnessed Noah and his family building the ark and proclaiming that judgment was coming on the entire earth.

All of this would mean that during the one hundred and twenty years prior to the flood, when Noah was "a preacher of righteousness" (2 Peter 2:5) to the lost world that judgment was coming, Methuselah and his descendants would have been alive during this time to hear Noah’s message, and yet the Bible tells us that only "eight souls were saved" (1 Peter 3:20). We do not know Methuselah’s or Lamech’s relationship to God—the Bible is silent—however, we can believe that Lamech was still walking with God in his father Enoch’s steps, as Lamech prophesied about his son Noah in Genesis 5:29: "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.’" [NIV]

Genesis Chapter 5 concludes with the statement that after Noah turned 500 years old, he fathered three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. We are not told if Noah had other children; the focus of the passage is on Noah and these three sons. They and their wives will become the beginning of the new post–flood world.

As we conclude this study of Seth’s lineage through to Noah, consider and respond to the following question.

  1. Of Noah’s three sons mentioned in scripture—Shem, Ham and Japheth (Genesis 5:32)—who was the oldest, and who was the youngest? (See Genesis, 9:24 and Chapter 10 (referred to as the Table of Nations); note in particular Genesis 10:21.)
    1. ANSWER 1: Japheth is listed as the oldest in Genesis 10:21, and his descendants are listed first in order in Chapter 10.
    2. ANSWER 2: Ham is the youngest son of Noah. He will be the one who finds his father drunk and naked sometime after the flood. He is cited as the youngest in Genesis 9:24.
    3. ANSWER 3: We can then infer from the above references that Shem was the middle son of the three sons. Therefore, Japheth the oldest, Shem the middle son, and Ham the youngest of the three sons.

The next lesson in this study is entitled "The Beginning of the End of the Beginning," as mankind slides so far into sin and away from God that God thinks about destroying everything that He has created. Despite this, we are introduced to Noah, who Genesis 6:7-8 tells us "…found favor in the eyes of the Lord."

Have a blessed week.

In Christ,

Wes

[2022]

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