Last week we examined the gospel of Christ in Genesis 3, where we saw how Adam and Eve tried to cover their sin by the works of their hands (sewing fig leaves together to cover their nakedness), but it was wholly inadequate and only God Himself was able to provide a covering of sufficient value through the sacrifice of a living being. This was a direct shadow and prophecy of what Christ would do about 4,000 years later on the cross of Calvary.
This week, we’ll stay in Genesis as we look at the genealogy of Adam to Noah. If you’ve read Genesis 5 you may have skipped passed all the names of people born and the number of years they lived. However, as we study the Bible more carefully, we see that every word is there for a reason and it behooves us to dig in and see what God wants to reveal. Such is the case with these genealogies from Adam to Noah.
Looking at the genealogical record in Genesis 5, let’s examine the expanded meaning in each Hebrew name from Adam to Noah:
--------------------------------------- Hebrew | English | Meaning -------------------------------------- 讗指讚指诐 | Adam | Man / Human 砖讈值转 | Seth | Seat / Appointed (lit: buttocks) 讗直谞讜止砖讈 | Enosh | Mortal man, implies weakness 拽值讬谞指谉 | Kenan | Dwelling / possession 诪址讛植诇址诇职讗值诇 | Mahalalel | Shining of God / light of God 讬侄专侄讚 | Jared | Descend / shall come down 讞谞讜止讱职 | Enoch | Dedicate 诪职转讜旨砖讈侄诇址讞 | Methuselah | His death sends / a weapon sent 诇侄诪侄讱职 | Lemech | To be made low* 谞止讞址 | Noah | Rest / brings relief
When we string these names together and add English contextualities, we get:
Man is appointed a mortal dwelling, but the light of God will come down dedicated; His death sent to those made low to bring rest.
What do you see? The gospel! Jesus Christ, God incarnate, the light of the world, came down to earth to die, dedicated as a sacrifice and covering for sin to save us mortal humans from death and give us eternal rest and peace (John 1:1-5, John 8:12, Matt 20:28, 1 John 2:2, Rom 4:25, Matt 11:28).
Let’s spend some time meditating on the magnitude of God’s sovereignty and how His plan of salvation was designed and instituted even before He created Adam in the garden, even before He laid the foundation of the earth (Eph 1:4). The gospel of Christ has always been part of “His-story!”
~Associate Pastor Jeremy Preece
*= for those of you who like to dig into your interlinear concordances and dictionaries, you’ll notice that Lemech’s name is shown to mean “powerful.” After much scouring through various Hebrew resources, I found the original Hebrew word is difficult to interpret because its root meaning is uncertain, so some ancient-Hebrew linguists render it as a verb in the form of 诪讜讱, which is “to be made low” or “to make low.” Using “powerful” it is still easy to see the gospel when we render the sentence as “His death sent powerfully to bring rest.” Whichever your view, I pray you can see and appreciate the marvelous beauty of God’s masterpiece embedded in the names of our ancestors.
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