Genesis Post 16 - Likeness and Genealogy (Chapter 5)

Continuing on in Genesis, we come to chapter five, which includes a whole bunch of names and numbers.  About five years ago, I wrote a blog post about the hidden gospel message in the names.  You can access it here.   I have done a deeper study on the name Enoch, and have made a correction to that post based on what I discovered.

Genesis 5 says something interesting that I had not noticed before.  The chapter begins by telling us that Adam and his wife were created in the likeness of God.  But then verse three says this:

And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.

This is food for thought.  Adam was created in the image of God Himself.  Sin then entered the world, and Adam's children were begotten in Adam's likeness, which now included the fallen sin nature.  Adam's likeness, or image, changed because of sin.  So, are we still image-bearers of God today?

Consider the following scriptures:

1 Colossians 1:15 says:
He [Messiah] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation
(Other scriptures also confirm that the Messiah is the perfect image of God)

1 Corinthians 15:49 says:
And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

Colossians 3:10 says:
and [you] have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge, according to the image of Him who created him.

Romans 8:29 says:
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

2 Corinthians 3:18 says:
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Whoa.  So it appears that until we are born again, we bear the image of fallen Adam.  And once redemption happens, we are remade into His image and the lifelong process of transformation begins at that moment.

Remember, God is all about restoring that which was lost.   It is the main focus and purpose of the entire Bible.

Another interesting thing about chapter five is that we can easily figure out when Noah was born, because of all the math in the chapter.  It clearly tells us how old all the patriarchs were when the next one in line was born.  We are even told how old each one was when he died.

Here is the tally of the math from Adam to Noah:

Adam - 130 years when he had

Seth - 105 years when he had

Enosh - 90 years when he had

Cainan - 70 years when he had

Mehalael - 65 years when he had

Jared - 162 years when he had

Enoch - 65 years when he had

Methuselah - 187 years when he had

Lamech - 182 years when he had 

Noah. 

According to this biblical math, Noah was born in the year 1,056.  How interesting that Noah was born only 126 years after the death of Adam.  These ancient ancestors, for the most part, knew each other! All these ancestors had many other sons and daughters, so it is easy to see that the population of the ancient world was plentiful.

We are then told at the end of chapter 5 that Noah was five hundred years, and he begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  Were they triplets?  Or are we just not told Noah's age when he begot each one?  It is not clear.  But it is evident that something major is about to happen on the biblical stage.  Stay tuned!

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