FROM ADAM TO NOAH:  TEN GENERATIONS

Genesis 5

Victor M. Eskew

 

I.           Title of Genesis 5

 

A.   From Adam to Noah:  Ten Generations

 

The writer intends to get his readers to Noah.  In Genesis 5:32, the writer stops the repetition found previously within the chapter and stops at Noah and his sons.

 

B.    And He Died…

 

This phrase is found 8 times in the chapter (Gen. 5:5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 27, 31).

 

C.   One Did Not Die (Gen. 5:24)

 

And Enoch walked with God:  and he was not:  for God took him.

 

II.         Key Verse:  Genesis 5:5

 

And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years:  and he died.

 

Why this verse?  This verse sets the stage for the end of all humanity.  We, too, face this simple end.

 

III.       Outline of Genesis 5

 

i.               Adam (Gen. 5:1-5)

ii.              Seth (Gen. 5:6-8)

iii.            Enos (Gen. 5:9-11)

iv.            Cainan (Gen 5:12-14)

v.              Mahalaleel (Gen. 5:15-17)

vi.            Jared (Gen. 5:18-20)

vii.           Enoch (Gen. 5:21-24)

viii.         Methuselah (Gen. 5:25-27)

ix.            Lamech (Gen. 5:28-31)

x.             Noah (Gen. 5:32)

 

IV.        Lessons from Genesis 5

 

A.   The text reveals that God “called their names Adam,” referring to Adam and Eve (Gen. 5:2).

1.     Thus, woman takes upon her her husband’s name.

2.     This is of vital importance because the church is the bride of Christ (II Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:22-23; Rev. 21:2, 9).

 

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepar-ed as a bride adorned for her husband.

 

3.     Question:  Whose name should this bride, the church, wear?  Shouldn’t she wear the name of her husband just as Eve did?  If so, she should be called after the name of Jesus Christ.

 

B.    Regardless of how long a man lives, the simple phrase, “and he died,” will be his end (Heb. 9:27).

 

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.

 

C.   The cycle of a man’s life can be briefly stated as follows:  he is begotten, he lives, and he dies.

 

D.   There was a population explosion on the earth.  Each of the patriarchs begat “sons and daughters” (Gen. 5:4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 26, 28, 32).

 

E.    Enoch’s life is differentiated from the other patriarchs before him.  

1.     Of them, it is said:  “And __________ lived.”

2.     Of Enoch, it is twice said:  “And Enoch walked with God” (Gen. 5:22, 24).

3.     Which do we do?  Do we just live?  Or, do we walk with God?

 

F.     We have our first hint of an afterlife in this chapter (Gen. 5:24).

 

And Enoch walked with God:  and he was not; for God took him.

 

1.     “God took him” is the key phrase.

2.     Enoch did not cease to exist; God just took him.

 

G.   Two questions:

1.     The text says that Adam “begat a son in his own likeness, after his image.”  Is this the same image and likeness that Adam had received from God? (See Gen. 5:1 and Gen. 1:26-27).

2.     In what way would Noah bring comfort (Gen. 5:29)?

 

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.