The Life of Christ
The Genealogy of Christ (Part 2 of 6)
by
Rev. Mark Perkins, Pastor
Denver Bible Church
326 E. Colorado Ave.
Denver, Colorado 80210
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Enosh
Enos is the Greek rendering of this name, which is more correctly
pronounced Enosh. The Greeks were indiscriminate in their rendering
of the Hebrew sin and shin, and that is why the difference.
There is one significant fact about this man: his life marks
the beginning of the great apostasy of the antediluvian civilization.
Gen 4:26, "to Seth also a son was born, and he called his
name Enosh. At that time men began to cry out against the name
of Yahweh."
The word for 'begin' in this verse is h.Uh.al, and it means to
pierce or penetrate something for the first time. It had a universally
negative connotation. It referred to rape, and other horrible
crimes that included penetration. It referred to the abuse of
land, and even pollution. In the context of Gen. 4:26, it means
to begin something that should never begin. It is, in essence,
a rape of something that was innocent.
The verb 'to call' also can be used in the negative sense. qArA'
means in its basic form to call or summon someone. However, in
its more severe connotation, it has the sense of crying out,
or screaming against someone, and that is how it is used here.
The inseparable preposition 'bh' is attached to shEm Yahweh in
the final part of the verse. This preposition can have many meanings,
but the one that fits best here is 'against'.
The word shEm is translated 'the name of'. The ancient Hebrews
believed that a person's name represented his very essence (WKRP).
Therefore, during Enosh's lifetime, there was a great bitter
outcry against the name of the Lord. This was the beginning of
the great period of apostasy and idolatry that would characterize
the antediluvian civilization.
Enosh himself is not associated with the bitter outcry - it is
likely that he remained faithful to God in spite of public opinion
about Him.
Cainan
Although spelled C-a-i-n-a-n in Luke's translation, this is the
Hellenization of Qinan of the Hebrew.
We have no other information on this man, other than his place
in the line of Christ.
Mahalaleel
He is the son of Cainan (Kenan). There is no other reference
to this man in the Bible.
His name literally means, "to the praise of God".
Enoch
Now we have someone we can talk about.
Genesis 5:22-24 tells his story:
"Enoch lived with God for three hundred years after the
birth of Methuselah (his son). Thus all the days of Enoch came
to three hundred and sixty five years. Enoch lived with God,
and he was not, for God took him."
Hebrews 11:5 provides us with further interpretation:
"By faith Enoch was transferred [to heaven] so that he should
not see death; and he was not found because God took him up;
for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he
was pleasing to God."
Jude verses 14 and 15 quotes from the apochryphal book of Enoch,
and it says,
"And about these also Enoch, in the seventh generation from
Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with many
thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgmeent upon all, and
to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they
have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which
ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."
When he was sixty five years of age, Enoch was transferred -
body, soul, and spirit - to the presence of God in heaven. There
he stayed for three hundred years, at which time his soul and
spirit were painlessly removed from his body, and he was transferred
to paradise.
Enoch also was a prophet while he remained on planet earth, and
he talked about his own generation, as evidenced by his prophecy
recorded in Jude's epistle.
Enoch lived in a time of great apostasy. This time began during
the life of Enosh, and was fully developed by the time Enoch
came around.
The apostasy of that time was unbridled, since the Mosaic law
had not yet been written.
Rom. 5:20, "And the Law came in the side door, so that the
sin might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all
the more."
The time included a tremendous amount of demonism, even to the
point of sexual relations with them. The demons were attacking
the genetic line of Christ, hoping to pollute His human genetic
purity and thus destroy His role as mediator.
Therefore, they seduced human women (and only women), and impregnated
them. By the time of Noah's life, all but Noah's family had succumbed.
The human women were weakened by their hatred of God (see Enosh),
and easily enticed by the attractiveness of these demons.
There was great violence, and the human race was in a constant
state of war. The half-angelic humans had great superhuman powers
(see Hermes, Aphrodite, Apollo, Neptune,etc.), and they were
superintelligent and superattractive (see Helen of Troy and Aphrodite)
as well.
Many strange and terrible creatures roamed the earth, the brood
of demons. Their fossil record remains - thanks to the great
fossilizing powers of the flood.
It was in this time that Enoch lived, moved to maturity following
the plan of God, and was transferred to heaven by the omnipotence
of God.Enoch did not see physical death because of his maturity,
and he stands as a precursor to resurrection.
Although Enoch was not truly resurrected, his transfer to heaven
was very much like a resurrection.
During all his time in heaven, Enoch stayed in his human body,
yet face to face with God. It is probably a comment on his maturity
that he was able to stand it, though in his sinful body.
After three hundred years of life with God, he was then transferred
to paradise, under the earth.
At the resurrection of Christ he was transferred to heaven along
with all the Old Testament Saints.
Methuselah
Methuselah is Enoch's son, and Lamech's father. His name means
"man of the dart". It is an intriguing name, but we
do not have the foggiest idea why.
Methuselah has the distinction of being the oldest man in Biblical
history, and perhaps of all time.
Long life was a sign of blessing during Biblical times, and was
synonomous with quality of life. This being true, then Methuselah
represents the quality of eternal life within Christ's line.
Lamech
Lamech forms the link between Methuselah and Noah. He lived to
the age of 777.
Nothing else is known of Lamech, but if he raised Noah, it is
likely he raised him right.
Noah
Gen. 6:1-2, "Now it came about, when men began to multiply
on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them. The
sons of God [fallen angels] saw that the daughters of men were
beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they
chose."
This is the period of history which we have studied so closely
the last few sections. Again, it was exceptionally degenerate,
with little in the way of checks and balances.
Gen. 6:3, "Then the Lord said, "My Spirit shall not
contend in man forever, because he is flesh in his going astray;
but his days will be one hundred and twenty years."
God the Holy Spirit was working non-stop during that time. He
was contending with the souls of the human race, convicting them,
judging their acts, so that they might turn to God through Jesus
Christ.
From this moment on, there would be one hundred and twenty years
and no more.
Gen. 6:4, "The Mephilim were on the earth in those days,
and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters
of men, and they bore children to them. Those [children] were
the mighty men who were of old, men of renown."
This verse makes the origin of the Nephilim quite clear. They
are the offspring of fallen angels and human women.
It also identifies the Nephilim with the age of heroes, made
famous by the oral tradition that came through Noah and his sons.
Gen 6:5-7 gives us God's evaluation of this period of time:
"Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great
on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually.. An the Lord was sorry that He had
made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. And the
Lord said, 'I will blot out man whom I have created from the
face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and
to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them."
The revelations of Divine emotion in this passage are really
anthropopathisms. These are the assignment of human emotions
to God in order to explain some aspect of Divine policy. It is
an easy way to explain the doctrine of dispensations to the uninitiated.
God did not grieve, and He was not sorry. It only appeared so
because of the dispensational change of policy. It was time to
judge the present civilization and move on to the next.
It was all a part of the Divine outline of history, and it did
not mean that God did not know about this apostasy in eternity
past.
It is true that this was not God's direct will for the people
of this time, and that he was saddened by their negative volition.
Gen. 6:8-9 tells us God's evaluation of Noah,
"But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord... Noah was
a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God."
The "eyes" of God represent his evaluative abilities,
measuring Noah to His standards of righteousness.
The only way that Noah could have done so is through God's grace
plan, including belief in the future savior, Jesus Christ.
That Noah walked with God is a sure indication of his fulfilment
of God's post-salvation plan.
Gen. 6:10-22 records God's plan for the destruction of life on
planet earth, and Noah's salvation. A flood will come, so Noah
will need a boat. The waters will come from above and below the
earth - Gen 7:11.
Noah will save many of the earth's animal species - Gen. 7:13-16.
Many others will be destroyed - Gen. 7:21-23.
Due to the intermingling of salt and fresh water, and the amount
of silt in the water, all but the hardiest of the fish would
be killed as well.
Thus Noah and his family were preserved; while the others died
to await their future judgment.
Noah's three sons and their wives repopulated the earth, and
began the post-diluvian civilization.
Shem
Shem was a voyager on the ark, and the firstborn son of Noah.
He cared for his nephew Canaan after it was discovered that he
had been abused by his father Ham, Genesis 9:20-27.
In that account, He is called blessed by Noah - a recognition
of his spiritual maturity.
Christ's Genealogy from Shem to Abraham
Introduction
When Noah began the building of the ark, God made a covenant
with him.
Gen 6:18, "But I will establish My covenant with you; and
you shall enter the ark - you and your sons and your wife, and
your sons wives with you."
Entering the ark was equivalent to entering in to the covenant
with God. The covenant was continued when Noah made his sacrifice
at the landfall of the ark - when he left the ark (this was really
the first ark of the covenant).
Gen. 8:20, "Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took
of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt
offerings on the altar."
God spells out the details of the covenant:
Gen. 8:21, "And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and
the Lord said in His heart, 'I shall not again personally cause
the cursing of the earth because of man. There is evil in the
imagination of man from his infanthood. And I shall not again
personally cause the destroying of every living creature as I
have done."
So, God makes a promise to Noah, and to the entire human race,
even to you and I in this passage. He will never again flood
the earth with water.
This is the background to the verb which is translated 'cursing'.
qalal means to diminish something. When it is used of water,
it means to drain it.
It is this same verb which is used to describe the draining of
the water after the flood.
The word used for 'earth' is Adamah. Adamah in the feminine means
earth and all its inhabitants, and so it is here.
The final part place the blame squarely where it belongs: on
man.
Therefore, this is a promise, specifically, to never flood the
earth for what man has done.
The second part has to do with the destruction of all life. God
will not destroy all life on the earth.
Notice the comment in between: There is evil in the imagination
of man from his infanthood."
In spite of man's evil imagination, God will not again destroy
the earth and its inhabitants. Man's imagination is evil from
infanthood, and note not from his youth.
In Gen. 8:22, the future conditions of the planet are defined:
"While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold
and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not
cease."
With the tilting of the earth's axis, all of the named conditions
will exist. This is in contrast to the previous stable conditions
of the planet. The environment is going to be rougher from here
on out.
Man's relationship to the animal kingdom is changed by the new
covenant, as described in Gen. 9:2-4.
"And the respect of you and the terror of you shall be on
every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything
that creeps on the gournd, and all the fish of the sea, into
your hand they are given. Every moving thing that is alive shall
be food for you; I give all to you, as I did the green plant.
Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, its blood."
The change means that the beasts will respect good human beings,
and be terrified of the bad. In all cases their subordination
is required. It is because of fear that animals are violent.
All animals are now O.K. to eat. The lifeblood of that creature
must be drained before it is eaten, but that is the only requirement.
The third part of the covenant had to do with capital punishment.
Gen. 9:5-6, "And surely I will require your lifeblood; from
every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every
man's brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's
blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God
He made man."
This is crucial, for before the flood there was no capital punishment,
which is the major restraint on criminal activity. Capital punishment
is ordained from this moment forward. If man or beast kills a
man, he will be killed by man.
This would be a major difference from before the flood. Man is
now responsible for policing himself, which provides a restraint
on the function of the old sin nature.
The fourth part of the covenant is the sign of the promise.
Read Gen. 9:8-17
So the covenant is made and the transfer is made to post-diluvian
civilization. Let's pick up the line of Christ again with Shem.
Shem
Shem was the son of Noah. He was about 98 years old when he entered
the ark with the rest of his family. He fathered many children,
including Arphaxad, who would carry the line of Christ.
The land occupied by the descendants of Shem (Gen. 10:21-31)
encompasses all of what would become the Jews under the covenant
of Abraham. It includes Syria, Chaldea, parts of Assyria, Persia,
and the Arabian peninsula.
Noah predicts that the people of Canaan would serve under the
Semites.
Arphaxad, or Arphachshad
He was born two years after the flood, conceived not long after
the ark hit dry land.
He apparently settled in the mountainous country in the Northeast,
and we really do not know much else about this man.
Cainan
Cainan was the son of Arphaxad. He is not mentioned in the original
table of nations in Gen., but for some reason Moses skipped him
and went to his son, Shelah. Nothing else is known about this
man.
Shelah
The son of Cainan; the father of Heber.
Heber
This man's name means 'fellowship'. In the Hebrew, it is really
Eber.
The son of Shelah, the father of Peleg.
He is the founder of the Hebrew race, and he gave his name to
it, Gen. 10:21.
Peleg
His name means division, and it was during his lifetime that
the nations were divided.
The first crisis of the postdiluvian civilization was due to
the tower of Babel. When God put down that attempt, the nations
of the earth were formed, and the earth divided into geographical
national boundaries for the very first time.
Reu
He is the son of Peleg and the father of Serug. His name means,
'friend'. Nothing else is known.
Serug
He is the son of Reu. His name means 'shoot, or tendril' in the
Hebrew. There is an ancient city by this name, and it may have
something to do with this man.
Nahor
Do not confuse this man with the brother of Abraham. This Nahor
lived in the 23rd century B.C., and is the grandfather of Abraham.
His name means snorting or snoring.
Terah
He was born in Ur of the Chaldees. His name means 'antelope'.
Joshua 24:2 tells us that this man was involved in idolatry.
He did take place in the big move to Canaan, with the rest of
the family. He died about 2100 B.C.
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