Adam was an old man - 2007-01-03 22:32
Genesis 5
It’s true. He was old. Don’t argue with me about it. I can’t change the facts. Prove it you say? Fine. I would like to enter Genesis 5:5 in as Exhibit A:
So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.
That is old. I love the fact that it points out that he died. Very important.
Exhibit B. I never thought of doing this before, but I decided to find out how many generations Adam could have known before dying. He was 930 years old when he died.
He had Seth (son) at 130, so we are down to 800 years left of life.
Seth had Enosh (grandson) when he was 105 (now at 695).
Enosh had Cainan (great-grandson) at 90 (down to 605 years left).
I believe we are going to be seeing quite a few “greats” by the end of this…
Cainan had Mahalalel (great-great-grandson) at 70 (535).
Mahalalel (also known as “the-one-with-much-phlegm” I hope God has a sense of humor) had Jared (great-great-great-grandson) at 65 (470 years left).
Jared had Enoch (great-great-great-great-grandson) at 162 (now at 308).
Enoch had Methuselah (great-great-great-great-great-grandson) at 65 (243).
Methuselah had Lamech (great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson) at 187 (56 years left).
Lamech had Noah at the age of 182 (not enough time for Adam to meet Noah…)
I never realized that Adam knew eight generations of children and was almost old enough to have met Noah (if family stayed in the same place and kept up with each other – which I have no idea if they did or not…) Interesting.
Genesis 6
Angels did what?!? Verse 2 says:
that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.”
The sons of God are identified elsewhere in the Bible as angels (mainly in Job). I didn’t know angels were able to take human wives…
Sadly, God was disappointed in us as a human race and decided to wipe us out. Thankfully Noah caught his eye and God spared him and his family.
One verse that I particularly liked in Genesis 7 was verse 16:
So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.
How awesome would it be to have the person of God come and shut the ark which He commanded you to build. Talk about feeling safe…
One quick side note before switching to Matthew: the Bible is not a nice book. Already we have had Cain kill Abel, children under 2 being slaughtered, and the human race killed (in one of the worst ways to die in my opinion). Not the happiest book to read.
Psalm3
I’m not sure if anyone else has felt this way about the Psalms, but David seems to be sad or despairing about the people who hate him or his enemies. Right near the end of the chapter he gets a bit gruesome or dark. For instance:
Psalm 2:11-12a
Serve the LORD with fear, And rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Psalm 3:7b
For You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone; You have broken the teeth of the ungodly.
Ouch. Not too nice.
But then the following lines in both chapters go like this:
Psalm 2:12b
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.
and
Psalm 3:8
Salvation belongs to the LORD. Your blessing is upon Your people. Selah
He just turns the mood around so quickly…
Nice insight bro! I love how Enoch just disappears. Apparently God found favor in him and his work was done. How cool is that!?
Those parts of the Psalms I do believe is after David’s son Absalom takes over and David flees for his life. Interesting point of view knowing that was going on at the time.
That is a helpful piece of knowledge. I too found it pretty amazing that Enoch didn’t die. I wish God could find that kind of favor in me as well. Not just so I wouldn’t have to die. It was just be neat that He could like you that much. Thinking about it, God does like me that much. But I didn’t have to do anything except accept His invitation to be part of His family. And being Presbyterian, I really didn’t have a say in the matter, did I? :)