First, I was busy with work. During this period, I bought a Genesis commentary penned by Arnold Fruchtenbaum and I took some time to finish reading it.
Anyway, it was a good thing as I have picked up an interesting insight on how Genesis was compiled by Moses. Moses authorship of the Tanach was already authenticated by Jesus in the New Testament. I think that is sufficient. Fruchtenbaum mentioned in his commentary that Genesis was a compilation of 11 books or records of Toldah ("genealogies" or "generations") as follows:
Genesis 1:1 to 2:3 - Prologue
Genesis 2:4 to 4:26 - Records of Generations of the Heavens and the Earth
Genesis 5:1 to 6:8 - Records of Generations of Adam
Genesis 6:9 to 9:29 - Records of Generations of Noah
Genesis 10:1 to 11:9 - Records of the Generations of Shem, Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and sons born to them after the flood
Genesis 11:10 to 11:26 - Records of the Generations of Shem
Genesis 11:27 to 25:11 - Records of the Generations of Terah
Genesis 25:12 to 25:18 - Records of the Generations of Ishmael
Genesis 25:19 to 35:29 - Records of the Generations of Isaac
Genesis 36:1 to 36:8 - Records of the Generations of Esau
Genesis 36:9 to 37:1 - Records of the Generations of Esau (Edom)
Genesis 37:2 to 50:26 - Records of the Generations of Jacob
Reading Genesis based on this structure will help clarify many issues, one which I had discussed earlier was on the supposed two creation accounts and the other, we will discuss in Chapter 6 about Noah.
Chapter 5 began the 2nd Toldah of Genesis - that of Adam. Here the chapter traces the genealogy of Adam all the way to Noah.
Many people have used this genealogy to make the case that there are missing links to justify an older Earth but the important thing to note here is that specifically for this genealogy in Chapter 5, there is no room to make the case (there will of course be other genealogies with "gaps" in them). The reason being that for each of the "father", this chapter listed the age of the father before the "son" was born. Hence this chapter listed a strictly direct lineage.
The 10 generations are as follows:
Adam (930 years old) - Man
Seth (912 years old) - Appointed
Enosh (905 years old) - Man frail and miserable or Mortal
Kenan (910 years old) - Propagate, Increase
Mahalalel (895 years old) - Praise of God
Jared (962 years old) - Descent, Come down
Enoch (365 years old*) - Initiated, Dedicated or Instruct, Make Wise
Methuselah (969 years old) - [His] Death, shall bring
Lamech (777 years old) - Strong Youth or To Make Low
Noah (950 years old) - Rest, Comfort
Putting them in a chart (from www.creationscience.com), we have the following:
Chuck Missler claimed that there is a redemption message hidden in this genealogy but it seems to be a stretch based on the commonly accepted interpretations which I have listed above. Two names are particularly problematic for Missler - Kenan and Lamech. Hence I will not make too much out of Missler's interpretation.
Having said that, even with the "conventional" interpretations listed above, we can still derive a form of the redemptive message. Again, we should not be dogmatic about this other than to note that it is just a possibility given that the meaning of some of the proper names cannot be determined with a high degree of certainty.
Nevertheless, we can make the following key observations on the supposedly "boring" genealogy in Chapter 5:
(a) First thing we can note is that all the people of the pre-flood era lived very long lives, up to 800-900 years. This was reduced dramatically post-flood by 50% for Noah's immediate children (400-500 years) and another 50% within the 2nd generation (200-250 years). The general consensus is that the pre-flood environment seems to be conducive for greater longevity. While some have also speculated that sin and the inter-breeding at this stage contributed to the decreasing ages, the genealogy in Chapter 5 of the first 10 generations does not bear this out, with Lamech as the sole exception.
(b) Two persons stand out in this geneology. The first is Enoch for several reasons: (1) He was the only one mentioned in the geneology to have "walked with God"; (2) His death was not recorded but the Bible said that "God took him", introducing the concept of translation which was to be repeated for Elijah and the believers before the Tribulation; (3) Enoch was the first recognised prophet in the Bible according to Jude (v14-15); (4) The prophetic message was imbued in Enoch's son, Methuselah, whose name meant "[his] death, shall bring". In fact, his death triggered the flood (see chart above); (5) The book of Hebrews also listed Enoch as a man of faith: By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would 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. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. [Hebrews 11:5-6]
(c) It is of interest to note that Methuselah has the longest recorded life (969 years) in the Bible, showing God's patience with his creation.
(d) Similar to the observations of word plays in the earlier chapters, while the meanings of the names are not altogether certain, what is certain is that they are Hebrew names, indicating that the first language was the Hebrew in orign.
(e) Adam lived till the time that Lamech was 56 years old. This meant that the accounts of creation and early lives were able to be transmitted faithfully all the way up to Noah's time.
(f) The genealogy is a historical fact attested to by later biblical writers (1 Chronicles 1:1-4, Luke 3:36-38) and there is no need to allegorise the list or speculate about the particular numbers with regards to the ages of the people listed.
Chapter 5 ends with the introduction of the main character who will dominate the next 4 chapters, Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth.
No comments:
Post a Comment