GENESIS – An Expositional Overview of the Beginning of God’s Revelation: Chapter Five

Contributing commentaries by Sonny Islas and James Fire

Chapter Five – by James Fire 

What we are holding in our laps is the Bible; we get the term ‘Bible’ from the Latin word biblos, meaning book. And we sometimes refer to this message from God as ‘The Good Book’.

In all actuality, this book comprises a library of books – 66 books, written by more than forty different writers, over thousands of years of time, across three different continents, in three different languages. The writers comprised of a wide array of people from all walks of life: everyone from kings and priests, to prophets and seers, to noblemen and statesmen, to ranchers and shepherds, generals, fishermen, judges, etc.

And as they wrote these books, very few of them had access to the other writers and their writings, so they couldn’t ‘compare notes’ and find out what the others said about the many subjects of the Bible.

And yet for all of these variables, when one reads this book, it reads like it’s not from a wide range of authors, but from a single author – and that’s because it is!

2 PETER 1:20-21
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

This verse tells us that we are not free to interpret the Bible any way we want to; its not of any “private” – or personal, interpretation. How then do we interpret the Bible? By carefully examining what it says and comparing the text with other passages in the Bible that relate to that same subject matter. Essentially, we let the Bible interpret itself – it’s self-explanatory, especially for those of us who are born again of the same Spirit of God that inspired these “holy men of God” Who guided them to write exactly what God had in mind – not at all what the writers had in mind!

If you were to attempt an experiment and repeat this phenomenon that is the Bible: say you were to gather 40 different writers to write 66 different books on all the subjects that the Bible deals with. And for the sake of argument, let’s fore go the different languages and the thousands of years, but keep the writers isolated and select these writers from men of all different walks of life (just like the writers of the Bible).

You collect their writings and combine them together in a single binding. How would this book read? Undoubtedly you would have a confusing, contradictory, quagmire of contrary assertions and statements.

This testifies of the miraculous engineering in God’s construction of His Holy Word. Because while this book has these 40 different writers, you will find that the names of places, cities, people as well as certain expressions and events, are all correlated and develop unified themes throughout the entire Bible.

Do a study on the little town of Bethlehem (“how still we see thee lie”!); you will learn that the Hebrew meaning of this town is from Bet’ – or house, and lechem – or bread. “The House of Bread”. Where was Jesus born?

And what did He say of Himself in JOHN 6:48? “I am that bread of life.”

When the Bible addresses the last days, the time of tribulation and the coming of the LORD, we see this phrase, “a woman in travail” used by David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea and Micah as well as the LORD Jesus Himself and the apostle Paul.

These things are not coincidences but are evidences of design by the LORD God.
Later on, in GENESIS 22 we see Abraham prepared to offer up Isaac as a burnt sacrifice to God. In this chapter, Abraham is a biblical type for the Father, Isaac for a biblical type of Jesus His Son. At the conclusion we read how Abraham and the two young men that accompanied Abraham and his son to Mt. Moriah left the place, but we don’t read about Isaac going with them. Of course, he did, but he isn’t mentioned. 

In Chapter 23 Sarah, Isaac’s mother dies – and we still don’t read anything about Isaac! He’s missing from the text. Did he miss his own mother’s funeral? Of course he didn’t. But it’s interesting that he isn’t mentioned in the text at all. It’s not until GENESIS 24 that we read Abraham sends his servant off to find a wife for Isaac, which he does, and he brings her to Isaac and this is where we next see Abraham’s son – when he receives his bride, Rebekah. So here we see Rebekah as a type of the church.

Christ died for our sins, resurrected, ascended into heaven and the next time we see Him is when He is brought together with us, His bride. See the connection? Incidentally, the name of Abraham’s servant, that brought Rebekah to Isaac is Eliezer. What does his name mean? “Comforter” – a name of the Holy Spirit, who draws us to the LORD Jesus our Bridegroom when we believe the Gospel!

Speaking of the Gospel, let’s go ahead and read this chapter and discover the Gospel message: And did we find it? That’s because it’s not there to the naked eye. What we have here are ten names, from Adam to Noah and each of these ten names has a Hebrew root-word, that when discovered, will surprise the reader!

GENESIS 5:1

1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

So, the LORD calls “their name” Adam; that is, He is referring to Adam and his wife as “man” or mankind – humanity. And this is what the name Adam means: “man”

GENESIS 5:3
And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, and after his image; and called his name Seth:

Adam’s third son, Seth is born; Eve called him that in:

GENESIS 4:25
25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

Seth means “appointed”.

GENESIS 5:4-5
4 And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: 5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.

Adam lived to be 930 years old! That’s a long time! How many years did Methuselah live? 936 years; he beat Adam by six years. How many of Adam’s lineage, these nine men that came after him were around before Adam died? All the way up to the birth of Noah!

Adam had all these generations to tell his story from “the beginning” – and these men, living for several hundreds of years could easily and accurately transmit that story to Noah, who would tell his sons, who, after the Flood, would be able to tell that same story!

GENESIS 5:6-7
6 And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos: 7 And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters: 8 And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.

Enos means mortal, or frail or miserable.

GENESIS 5:9-10
9 And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan: 10 And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters: 11 And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died.

And what does Cainan mean? “Sorrow, or dirge” (a sad song, accompanied by mourning, sometimes at a funeral)

GENESIS 5:12-14
12 And Cainan lived seventy years and begat Mahalaleel: 13 And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters: 14 And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died.

Mahalaleel is from two different Hebrew words: mahalal – “to praise or to be blessed” and el – the name for “God” – so Mahalaleel means “the Blessed God”

GENESIS 5:15-17
15 And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared: 16 And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters: 17 And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died.

Mahalaleel’s son was Jared – which means “to descend” or “to come down”. There are some that believe Jared was born at the time when the scary business of GENESIS 6 took place, involving fallen angels which came down to Earth and cohabitated with women.

GENESIS 5:18-20
18 And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch: 19 And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 20 And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.

Enoch means “teaching”. He was the first of four generations of prophet/preachers. The first prophecy concerning the Second Coming of Christ was actually given by Enoch, way back in the beginning chapters of GENESIS!

JUDE 14-15
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

GENESIS 5:21-24
21 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: 22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: 24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

The name Methuselah comes from two different Hebrew words, muth, meaning “death” and shalach, meaning “to bring” or “to send forth”. Therefore, Methuselah means “his death shall bring.”

Methuselah’s father was given a prophecy of the coming Flood Judgment; as long as his son was alive, the judgment of the flood would be withheld. Methuselah’s life is a symbol of God’s mercy in His forbearance, mercy and grace regarding the coming judgment of the flood, which did come after this man’s death. How fitting that his lifespan is the oldest in the Bible; a demonstration of the goodness and patience of the LORD!

GENESIS 5:25-27
25 And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech. 26 And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters: 27 And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.

We use the name of Lamech as a root word for one in the English – lamentation. The meaning of Lamech indicates “extreme distress, sorrow, grieving as for a deceased beloved”. To lament is to sorrow or to despair.

GENESIS 5:28-32
28 And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: 29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed. 30 And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters: 31 And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died. 32 And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Here again the text tells us what the name of the person means – Noah means “rest”, and it can also mean “comfort” or “relief”.

So now that we have the meaning of all of these ten names, lets put them all together and see what it tells us:

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.

YET THERE IS STILL MORE TO DISCOVER UNDERNEATH THE TEXT:

As mentioned before, the first five books of the Bible are known as the Torah.  In Hebrew the word Torah is represented by the letters TORH.

In the Hebrew text of the book of Genesis, if you take the first (“T”), then count 49 letters, the next letter (the 50th) is (“O”); the next 50th letter is (“R”); and then the next 50th letter is (“H”). In other words, after the first “T”, in 50 letter increments, we find the letters spelling “Torah.”

In the book of Exodus, we see the same thing. What a coincidence (Jewish rabbis insist that “coincidence” is not a kosher word)!

However, this amazing pattern is not seen in the third book of Moses, Leviticus.

In the fourth book of the Torah, the book of Numbers, we discover this 49 letter interval works with “HROT,” that is, TORH backwards.

A similar 49 letter interval also appears in the fifth book the Torah, the book of Deuteronomy. However, in the book of Deuteronomy the interval starts in the fifth verse instead of the first. Why the fifth verse? 

According to the Talmud the book of Deuteronomy doesn’t begin until the fifth verse where it states “On the other side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound the Torah”.

In the middle book, the book of Leviticus, it doesn’t seem to work either way. But if you count in seven letter increments, it does work for YHWH, the sacred name of God (“Yahweh” or “Jehovah,” translated “LORD” in the King James Version).

It appears that the Torah (TORH) always points toward the Name of God.

The use of seven with the name of God shouldn’t surprise us, with Sabbaths of days, weeks, months, and years, and the many other heptadic (patterns of sevens) structures throughout the Bible.  But why the intervals of 50?

According to mathematician Daniel Michaelson:

“The number 50 has several important meanings in Judaism. Every fiftieth year is a jubilee year; the Torah was given 50 days after the Exodus from Egypt.

“At this point, a skeptical reader would exclaim that the whole system is nothing but a coincidence… ‘I’m sure,’ this skeptic would continue, ‘you would be able to find such words and systems in any book.'”

In his article, Codes in the Torah, professor Michaelson addresses in detail the mathematical probability of these Torah codes and concludes that “the probability of such a coincidence is about one in three million!”

The above observations on the Torah are taken from the article by Berean Publishers, A Hidden Torah Secret (note: TTUF does not necessarily agree with everything as taught by this ministry). 

Now, it’s quite exciting to see these sorts of discoveries, however, a word of caution. If you delve deeply into this sort of Bible Code studies, you can easily get overwhelmed with these things and much of this is not without controversy. Scholars are divided on the legitimacy of many of these Bible codes.

It we want to know if the Bible is true, these sorts of things can lend some support, but the main stay of the Christian’s faith is not, and should not be, in these kinds of studies, but in the straight forward study of God’s Word and the clear truth that it teaches.

We will continue to study the straightforward and clear teaching found in God’s Word next time, when we get into this very strange event found in GENESIS 6.