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Genesis 5:4, Hebrews 2:10

Other Sons and Daughters

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
September 8, 2022

We only know three of the children of Adam and Eve by name: Cain, Abel, and Seth. But there were others. Adam lived a total of 930 years, and verse 4 tells us, “The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters.” When Cain was cast out of the presence of God and his family he was afraid that some might want to take vengeance on him for the murder of Abel. You might wonder who he worried about. This verse gives us the answer. I’m sure that over a period of 800 years and in good health Adam and Eve could have had many children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren. Cain obviously took a wife from amongst these, but there were many others that might have desired to get even with Cain. Utley observes, “Cain feared for his own life. The rabbis say that he was afraid of the animals. However, the context seems to imply that his own relatives, who would be ‘go’els’ (blood avenger) for Abel, would kill him. This would imply that Adam and Eve had many unnamed children.”

There have been many wild speculations concerning Cain’s wife. It appears that Cain was already married at the time of his crime against Abel and he took his family with him when he was expelled to the land of Nod. But that too is speculation. There has even been the suggestion of other non-Homosapien humanoids at the time from which Cain took a wife. Utley finishes his comments on this by saying, “There is a very interesting discussion of Adam and Eve’s relationship to other pre-historic humanoids in Kidner’s The Tyndale Commentary on Genesis and Bernard Ramm’s discussion of anthropology in The Christian’s View of Science and Scripture. This verse implies many other rational creatures. For a discussion of humanoids and their dates of occupation of the ancient Near East see R. K. Harrison’s Introduction to the Old Testament, pp. 147–163 and Who was Adam? by Fazale Rana and Hugh Ross. If Cain married a non-Homosapien without God’s Spirit, then Gen. 6:1–4 would be a mixing of God’s special human creation with bipedal animals instead of humans with angels.”[1]

As Genesis five continues with the genealogy of Seth leading to Noah, the phrase “he had many other sons and daughters” is repeated nine times, once after each of the descendants. The writer of Hebrews, being well versed in the teaching of the Old Testament, very likely had the refrain of “many sons and daughters” in mind when he spoke about how “Jesus Christ has been made complete through his exaltation in a manner that anticipates God bringing many other sons and daughters to glory” in Hebrews 2:10. The many other sons and daughters in Seth’s line are all to be brought to death, but those in the line of Christ are brought to glory and eternal life with Christ.

[1] Utley, Robert James. 2001. How It All Began: Genesis 1–11. Vol. Vol. 1A. Study Guide Commentary Series. Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.

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Genesis 5:4

Quality of Life

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
September 7, 2022

In Genesis 5:4, we’re introduced to the long life-spans of the ante-diluvian characters. It tells us, “The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters.” He was 130 years old when Seth was born, making Adam 930 years old at his death. Some that will follow in the genealogy will even live longer than Adam. Methuselah lived to be nearly 1000 years old. One of Carasik’s ancient Jewish commentators says, “It is unclear whether all the children lived these unusually long lives, or whether this applied only to the named ones, who did not pursue the bodily appetites that shorten one’s life. Maimonides certainly thought so.”[1] He was a 12th century “Jewish scholar, physician, and philosopher, the most influential Jewish thinker of the Middle Ages.”[2]

Who am I to argue with one of the most influential Jewish thinkers? Yet, there are other records of people who lived during this time who lived long lives. Matthews writes, “Although there is no satisfactory explanation of the long life spans before the flood, there are Sumerian lists of kings who purportedly reigned before the flood with reigns as long as 43,200 years. The Sumerians used the sexagesimal number system (a combination of base six and base ten), and when the numbers of the Sumerian king list are converted to decimal, they are very much in the range of the age spans of the preflood genealogies of Genesis. The Hebrews, like most other Semitic peoples, used a base-ten decimal system as far back as writing extends.”[3] Most modern conservative commentators attribute the long life to the climate conditions that existed before the flood. Afterward, the canopy that protected man from the aging rays of the sun was gone and the lifespan of man was reduced.

Exell argues that it isn’t the length of one’s life that is important but the content. He says, “We cannot measure a man’s life by the number of years he has passed in the burden and battle of the world. A long life may be lived in a very short space of time, and a number of years may be the chronicle of a brief life. Man’s truest life is spent in and measured by deeds, thoughts, sympathies, and heroic activities. A man may live a long life in one day. He has been instrumental in the salvation of one soul; then, in that day, he has lived a short eternity. A man who writes in a year a thoughtful book, which shall instruct and culture the minds of men, lives a century in that brief space of time. The schoolmaster who teaches a boy to think, the minister who helps men to be pure and sound, the gentle spirits who aid by visitation and prayer the sorrowful and the sick, are the world’s most extended lives; these are the world’s true Methuselahs.”[4]

[1] Carasik, Michael, ed. 2018. Genesis: Introduction and Commentary. Translated by Michael Carasik. The Commentators’ Bible. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society.

[2] Lagassé, Paul, Columbia University. 2000. In The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. New York; Detroit: Columbia University Press; Sold and distributed by Gale Group.

[3] Matthews, Victor Harold, Mark W. Chavalas, and John H. Walton. 2000. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament. Electronic ed. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

[4] Exell, Joseph S., and Thomas H. Leale. 1892. Genesis. The Preacher’s Complete Homiletic Commentary. New York; London; Toronto: Funk & Wagnalls Company.

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Genesis 5:3, Romans 5:18-19

The Image and Likeness of Adam

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
September 6, 2022

Interestingly, Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters, but only three of the sons are mentioned by name in the Bible. Cain was the firstborn, and he murdered his little brother Abel. We don’t know how old Adam was when either of them was born, but we do know how old he was when Seth was born. Genesis 5:3 says, “When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.”

Adam was created in both the “likeness” and “image” of God as was recorded previously in Genesis. This was how God created him and placed him in the Garden of Eden with his wife Eve. But when he chose to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, either the likeness or the image was permanently marred, and that marred “likeness” was transmitted to all generations that followed. Sarna observed, “What constituted ‘the image of God’ in the first two human beings was transmitted through procreation to all future generations.”[1] All human life is sacred and is created in the “image” of God. But, since all human life proceeds from Adam, the marred “likeness” or “sinfulness” of Adam has been passed on to all humanity as well. Thus, Paul teaches us that “in Adam, we all sinned.” But Christ was born of a virgin. He was not conceived in the “likeness” of Adam but by the Holy Spirit and did not inherit original sin. Augustine argued that the virgin birth broke the bond of “sexually transmitted original sin.”[2]

Guzik makes this relevant to you and me. He writes, “Even as Seth was in Adam’s fallen image and likeness, so also is every one of us. We are all sons and daughters of Adam, born fallen even as Adam was fallen. It would be redundant to say it, but every other person has been born in Adam’s image and likeness except Jesus.”[3] This is why Paul gives us all hope in Romans. Paul explains our plight regarding original sin by explaining the role of the second Adam, Jesus. In Romans 5:18-19, Paul writes, “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience, the many will be made righteous.” It’s no wonder Paul is “not ashamed of the Gospel.” It is the power of God for salvation for all who believe!

[1] Sarna, Nahum M. 1989. Genesis. The JPS Torah Commentary. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.

[2] Ferguson, Sinclair B., and J.I. Packer. 2000. In New Dictionary of Theology, electronic ed., 643. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

[3] Guzik, David. 2013. Genesis. David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible. Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik.

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Genesis 5:2, Leviticus 19:18

Brothers and Sisters All!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
September 5, 2022

Genesis 5:2 tells us that our species received its name directly from God. Adam named the animals and his wife Eve. But as a species, as the couple to populate the entire earth, God named the pair with one name. The verse says, “Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.” It’s a bit confusing because the same word refers to a single man and becomes his personal name. But the use of the word is broader at times. Grudem observes, “God gave the human race a name that, like the English word man, can either mean a male human being or refer to the human race in general.”[1] Carasik goes further by saying, “They were created to be human, not animals. The female too is ‘Man’ in this generic sense, which of course was applied to both sexes.”

ar that children are a blessing from God. But they can also be a curse, as with Cain and his lineage. He becomes nothing more than an animal when one lives a fleshly life, with his belly crawling along the ground like the serpent of Genesis Chapter three. And all the fleshly appetites direct his every action and attitude. But God also created mankind in his own image and likeness, and there is a higher aspect to humanity. Carasik goes on to say, “Naming them in this way distinguished them from all the other creatures. Humans, though their bodies are made of earth—the adamah that gives them their name—have a higher soul. One who is drawn after the earthly side of his nature forfeits, as it were, his higher dimension. Just this was true of Cain and his descendants, another reason they are not mentioned here.”[2]

All humanity comes from the original couple, Adam and Eve. Although I think the current thought amongst some scientists got some of the details wrong, they seem to endorse this view. One website says, “The myth that Adam and Eve were the first man and women on Earth may have been proved true — as all humans are descendants of a single couple, scientists say. Scientists have said that we sprang from a solitary pair of adults — who lived 100,000 to 200,000 years ago — after a catastrophic event almost wiped out the entire human race. The findings were made by scientists who surveyed the genetic ‘bar codes’ of five million animals — including humans — from 100,000 different species.”[3] The ancient Rabbis who took all this from the biblical record also believed that it’s the basis for the Golden Rule found in Leviticus 19:18, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Sarna says, “By tracing all humanity back to a common parentage, this phrase conveys the idea that the ‘Golden Rule’ is logically indefensible without the presupposition of the absolute unity and equality of the human race as created by God.”[4]

[1] Grudem, Wayne. 2002. “The Key Issues in the Manhood-Womanhood Controversy, and the Way Forward.” In Biblical Foundations for Manhood and Womanhood, edited by Wayne A. Grudem, 30. Foundations for the Family Series. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

[2] Carasik, Michael, ed. 2018. Genesis: Introduction and Commentary. Translated by Michael Carasik. The Commentators’ Bible. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society.

[3] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/all-of-mankind-may-have-actually-descended-from-a-single-couple/articleshow/66823465.cms

[4] Sarna, Nahum M. 1989. Genesis. The JPS Torah Commentary. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.

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Genesis 5:2, Psalms 127:3-5

A Blessing or a Curse

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
September 4, 2022

Genesis 5:1 reminds us that human life is sacred to God. We are all created in the image and likeness of God, and the miracle is naturally transmitted to all humans at conception. Every human being is a miracle. In the next verse, God reminds his readers that at creation, “Male and female, he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.” The blessing refers back to Genesis 1:28, which recorded the details of God’s blessing on the man and the woman. It says, “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” The blessing also looks forward to the rest of chapter five, which records the children in the line of Adam and Eve from their son Seth. The Bible is full of pronouncements of the blessing of God involving children. In Psalm 127:3-5, the Psalmist sings, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!”

That children are a blessing is a specific theme in the Bible. An article in the Ashland Theological Journal explains, “The Old Testament affirms the biological family, which is assumed to be the basic unit of society. Israelite society was structured along kinship lines. Much of Old Testament law regulates and protects family life. But more than this basic affirmation and pragmatic regulation, the family is regarded as a source of divine blessing. This perspective begins in Genesis when God creates and blesses the first family and gives them the command to be fruitful and multiply. Children are a blessing from the Lord.”[1] But God doesn’t always bless couples with children. Does that mean they are cursed? Not at all! The Feinberg brothers correctly argue, “While children are a blessing from the Lord, it may be his will for some not to have them. It is no embarrassment or disgrace for a couple to remain childless.”[2]

Chapter five continues to recount the blessing that came to Adam and Eve through Seth, Abel’s replacement. Chapter four of Genesis gave us the line from Cain, which was anything but a blessing to Adam and Eve and served to be the source of God’s destruction of all humanity through the flood. Whereas a godly offspring is indeed a wonderful blessing, an ungodly offspring brings much sorrow. Van Gemeren observed this truth and the ancient Jewish teachings regarding it. He writes, “Sirach holds that a single child who performs the Lord’s will is better than a thousand who do not (v. 3). An analogy follows: ‘For through one intelligent person a city can be filled with people, but through a clan of outlaws it becomes desolate.’ Character comes before quantity; better to die childless than have wicked children—regardless of how many.”[3]

[1] Colijn, Brenda B. 2004. “Family in the Bible: A Brief Survey.” Ashland Theological Journal Volume 36 36: 73–74.

[2] Feinberg, John S., and Paul D. Feinberg. 1993. Ethics for a Brave New World. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

[3] VanGemeren, Willem, ed. 1997. In New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis, 3:677. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

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Genesis 5:2, Isaiah 5:20

Woe to those…

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
September 3, 2022

Genesis 5:1 reminds us that human life is sacred to God. We are all created in the image and likeness of God, and the miracle is naturally transmitted to all humans at conception. Every human being is a miracle. In the next verse, God reminds his readers that at creation, “Male and female, he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.” The most obvious observation is that God’s image is shared equally by women and men. God made both man and woman in his image. Neither man nor woman is made more in the image of God than the other. The Bible places both man and woman at the pinnacle of God’s creation from the beginning. Neither sex is exalted, and neither is depreciated.

It’s such a disappointment to find ourselves in a world where this simple, obvious truth, that God created us as “Male and Female,” needs to be defended. “The Bible has plenty to say about human sexuality. Most basic to our understanding of sex is that God created two (and only two) genders. All the modern-day speculation about numerous genders—or even a gender ‘continuum’ with unlimited genders—is unbiblical. No matter if the gender distortion has a genetic, hormonal, physiological, or psychological cause, the Bible clearly and consistently labels any sexual activity outside of marriage or not between a man and a woman as sin, rebellion against God’s plan.”[1] But to hold this view is to be anathema in our culture. You are called names, ridiculed as homophobe bigots, and excluded from the mainstream of society in many ways. My, how things have changed in just 50 years. It’s not the homosexual who is shamed! It is the Bible believer.

Here is a recent Washington Post Headline: “TIME magazine honors transgender celebrity as one of its Women of the Year.” The article goes on to say, “The honor comes with tensions rising over transgender women taking honors and titles designated for biological women as the transgender-rights movement flexes its considerable clout in politics, sports and entertainment. Others include collegiate athlete Lia Thomas, who has smashed women’s swimming records, and ‘Jeopardy!’ champion Amy Schneider, who was hailed by media outlets as the show’s winningest female contestant. Both were born male and transitioned as adults to female.” Isaiah 5:20 says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”

 

[1] Got Questions Ministries. 2002–2013. Got Questions? Bible Questions Answered. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

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Genesis 1:27, 5:1

In The Likeness of God

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
September 2, 2022

Before he lists the names in Adam’s genealogy from Seth, he reminds his readers of one significant fact. He looks back at the very beginning of the creation of man and says, “When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.” In Genesis 1:27, we read, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” In this verse, it says, “When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female, he created them.” Hughes explains this well. He writes, “This retrospect reminded the descendants of Seth that the fall had not obliterated the image of God in them (cf. 9:6). And because they were image-bearers, they had the unparalleled privilege and potential. First, as image-bearers, they had the capacity to hear God’s word, which is something no other creature except angels could do. Second, as image-bearers, they were charged to rule the earth in God’s stead (cf. 1:26, 28). And third, the image of God in them suggested the possibility of an intimate spiritual relationship as children of God.”[1]

The word “image” is used in the first Chapter, whereas a different Hebrew word is used in Chapter five, translated as “likeness.” Irenaeus, around 150 A.D., distinguished between them by saying, “He argued that the image of God is our reason and volition, and the likeness of God is our holiness and spiritual relation to God. As a result, the likeness of God is lost in the fall and regained in redemption. Still, all humans are the image of God by their capacities of reason and will.”2 Augustine, Aquinas, and Calvin also suggest it is the “image” of God that has been significantly marred by the fall but not destroyed and can be salvaged through redemption through faith in Jesus.

Although some want to argue that one or the other, the image or the likeness, refers to our physical bodies (see Mormon Theology), most will agree that neither refers to the human body but is like God in a non-physical sense. And still, again, some point to Jesus, God in the flesh, and argue that this is what God wants for us all and that at the end, that is the way it will be. When we “see Him, we will be like him.” Whatever way one might understand the “image” of God, the sanctity of human life cannot be missed. Allen Ross says, “The ‘image’ of God was passed on seminally to the descendants, for the text states that Adam begat Seth in his image. In other words, the spiritual and intellectual capacities that God had given to the parents are passed from generation to generation by natural reproduction.”[2] Upon conception, another human being in the image or likeness of God is created and is sacred to God and should be sacred to us as well.

[1] Hughes, R. Kent. 2004. Genesis: Beginning and Blessing. Preaching the Word. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

2 Irenaeus, Against Heresies, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, ed. A. Roberts and J. Donaldson (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1953).

[2] Ross, Allen, and John N. Oswalt. 2008. Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Genesis, Exodus. Vol. 1. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

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Genesis 5:1, Malachi 3:15, Revelation 20

The Book of Life

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
September 1, 2022

Genesis Chapter four gives us the line of Cain. His descendants did some great things with the domestication of livestock, music, and metallurgy, which produced weapons of war. The advancement of Cain’s line will be picked up again in Chapter six, but Chapter five goes back to Adam and gives us his lineage through his younger son Seth. Verse 1 says, “This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.” The Hebrew word for “book” was used to refer to any written record. There has been some controversy over the idea that Moses had some documents that served as sources from which he wrote Genesis. This verse seems to mention the view. It’s not heretical to think that there could have been earlier documents from which Moses took much of his information. I’m sure some oral traditions were passed on, but only things of fundamental importance would have been written down. If Moses had a written source, as is implied in this verse, Boice is right when he says, “This is the oldest written document in all history.”[1]

The importance of this document is that it lists people by name. We get bored with the genealogies in the Bible, but they were important enough for God to have them inscribed in a book. The names that Chapter five of Genesis lists are the names of the godly descendants of Adam. God never forgets those who love and fear Him. He knows them all by name. At the end of the Old Testament in Malachi 3:16, the prophet writes, “Those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name.” Then near the end of the New Testament in Revelation 20, there is another book called “The Lamb’s Book of Life.” In that book is recorded the names of all believers! I’m in that book!

I remember studying the list of names that the Navy published in 1974 of those to be advanced to Chief in the coming year. I was very interested in that list of names! Having my name on that list meant a lot at the time, but very little now. What matters now is that it’s written in the “Lamb’s book of life.” In Philippians 4:3, Paul assures his fellow workers and all Christians, “…whose names are in the book of life.” When Jesus’ disciples returned from the journey to surrounding towns, they were rejoicing over the power they had over demons. In Luke 10:20, Jesus told them, “Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

[1] Boice, James Montgomery. 1998. Genesis: An Expositional Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.

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