Amidst the narrative between the fall and the flood, three crucial passages illuminate the profound anticipation of the promise of Genesis 3:15. This promise, concerning the advent of the seed of the woman, was to bring salvation from sin and triumph over the serpent. The first instance is Eve’s exclamation at the birth of her first son. While most translations state, ‘I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord,’ it’s important to note that much of this phrase is added by translators. As Arnold Fruchtenbaum points out, the literal rendering of the Hebrew phrase should be ‘I have gotten a man: Jehovah’ (Genesis 4:1). This reveals her expectation that Cain would be their deliverer, a hope that was ultimately dashed.
In Genesis 5:21, the Righteous Enoch, the one who walked with God, named his son Methuselah. The name has been interpreted to mean, “When he dies, ‘it’ will come,” referring to the flood. However, it seems that a few generations later, Lamech, the father of Noah, misinterpreted the prophecy to refer to his son Noah. Fruchtenbaum argues, “Lamech clearly hopes that Noah, meaning ‘comfort,’ will be the longed-for Messiah. It is clear from the ages and years given in Genesis 5 that Lamech was 56 years old when Adam died. Lamech would, therefore, have been given a clear firsthand account of all that happened in the Garden of Eden and all the words that God had spoken.” Lamech’s words at Noah’s birth make this misinterpretation evident: “Lamech called his name Noah, saying, ‘Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands'”(Genesis 5:29). He, like Eve, expected Noah to be the great deliverer, but he was mistaken.
In Genesis 6:1-4, we read about “sons of God” that cohabit with women and produce the Nephilim creatures. I believe they are fallen angels. Peter and Jesus’ brother Jude both refer to them during the time of Noah as angels who left their own domains. You see, the prophecy talks to us of the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, Satan. Let me rest on the comments of Arnold Fruchtenbaum (a Messianic Jew). Arnold writes, “In order to try to corrupt the Seed of the Woman, at Satan’s command, fallen evil angels, ‘the sons of God,’ intermarry with human women, foreshadowing the supernatural conception of the Antichrist… The results of these marriages were grotesque creatures—the Nephilim. It was the appearance of these diabolic creatures which brought the judgment of the Flood upon the earth. By means of this flood God destroyed all the Nephilim and preserved a line through which Messiah would be born.”