Today we will cover Genesis chapters 4 and 5. In chapter 4 we read about the episode of Cain murdering his brother Able. We need to explore this a little further than the Sunday school version.
Genesis 4:3-5 “3 In the course of time Cain brought tothe Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.”
God sees what is happening and warns Cain against his resentment toward his brother, because he followed God’s instruction for an offering. Cain wanted to do it his way with what he was good at. Are you willing to bring God the offering He desires, instead of the offering you want to bring?
Instead of following God’s instruction, Cain goes from one sin to another, falling deeper and deeper into the hole that his sin has dug. If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you should do is put down the shovel. Cain needed to put down the shovel of sin and humble himself in order to please God.
He should have taken his produce to his brother and bought a lamb to offer to God. But pride was his issue and God addresses it.
Genesis 4:6-7 “6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
In other translations including the king James, instead of using the word “it’s and it” it says his and him. What is this talking about? They are saying the same thing. Sin is pointed back to the original rebel satan. Cain was supposed to rule over satan, but instead, he gave into the author of sinful pride and kills his brother. But why? Cain is mad at God but he kills Abel. Because Abel tried to warn him to follow God’s commands.
Genesis 4:8 “8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.”
Notice that they had a conversation first. And that conversation eventually led to Cain plotting to murder Abel. He was so man at what Abel said to him that he decided that when they went out to the field away from mom and dad, he would end the issue.
Just like a lot of the other prophets in the Bible, Abel was killed because he proclaimed God’s instruction. Yes, I said Abel was a prophet. Look at how he is listed as the first prophet...by none other than Jesus.
Luke 11:49-51 “49 Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ 50 so that the blood of all the prophets,shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against
this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel to the bloodof Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.”
Abel’s warning his brother Cain of his error did not sit well with Cain. Abel’s death as an innocent man, was the second picture of Jesus. The first being the killing of an animal to cover Adam and Eve. Abel was innocent in terms of his argument with his brother, but not in terms of being sinless. He was a shepherd and brought his best to the altar...like Jesus.
Hebrews 11:4 “4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts.And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.”
As a prophet Abel’s faith in God still speaks to us today. Faith in God has always been the way of salvation.
So, Cain murders Abel and then God confronts Cain and asks him what happened, just like He did when He confronted Adam and Eve.
Genesis 4:9 “9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?”
Instead of being honest and owning up to what he has done,
Cain lies and then tries to insinuate that God’s question is out of line. How disrespectful had Cain become towards God? You would have to be pretty sure of yourself to be that caviler towards God when He is speaking directly to you. Arrogance always follows pride.
Genesis 4:10 “10 And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.”
God asks again, not because He doesn’t know, but to give him an opportunity to confess and ask for forgiveness. God then pronounces judgment on Cain, but even in that Cain is not put to death for his crime, but allowed to live with a protection against any man taking vengeance against him. God’s grace is shown in abundance toward Cain.
So, that’s the end of the Cain and Abel story. Let’s move on.
Genesis 4:25-26 “25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.”
Right after this, in chapter 5 we get to part of the Bible that most people skip over. It’s the genealogy from Adam to Noah. I don’t know about you, but for me a genealogy was a snooze fest when I started reading the Bible. When I came across one, it was an immediate “skip to the next part.”
Now why in the world would we care about a bunch of people that we are told almost nothing about, except their names? It’s because nothing is in the Bible without reason. If it’s there, there is a reason. God doesn’t waste any words, and today as we get into the timeline from Adam to Noah we’ll see how that is clearly illustrated.
These days we don’t give much thought to a person’s name. Parents pick their child’s name based on what they like or based on honoring a relative or bible character. But It was not this way originally. In the beginning, names were very important because they had meaning. It wasn’t just something you called someone, it was much deeper.
When a parent named a child in ancient times, they were very careful to select names which related to the child. This could have to do with the nature of their birth, something prophetic about their life to come, or any other number of significant factors. For example, let’s look at the first 4 people.
Adam - ManGenesis 3:17 “17 And to Adam he said...”You may not have realized it, but this is the first mention of the proper name Adam in the bible. Up until this point God had just called him “the man.” Adam is a Hebrew word that just means “man or mankind.” It is more of a description than a proper name.
Genesis 5:1-2 “1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness ofGod. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.”
Over some time the word Adam began to be used to refer to a specific man...the first one. Today, we think about the word Adam as a first name, but It was originally just a description.
God gave Adam the authority to name what He had created, including Eve.
Eve - Life/LivingGenesis 2:23 “23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
Adam named Eve “woman,” again as a description of who she was, not as a proper name. The first time we see her called Eve is later. And it’s because her proper name had a meaning.
Genesis 3:20 “20 The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.”
Cain - Possession or AcquisitionGenesis 4:1 “Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”
His name meant acquisition because he was given from God.
Abel - Breath or VaporGenesis 4:2 “2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.”
Abel’s name prophesied that he would not have a long life. But that was to be the normal situation for a prophet. God gives Adam and Eve another son to replace Abel.
Genesis 4:25 “25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.”
And now we come to the genealogy in chapter 5. This list takes us from Adam to Noah. We are given ages of the fathers at the births, and also their total lifespan...so we are able to put together a timeline of this genealogy. Here is an important thing to remember: they lived much longer than we do today. Adam lived 930 years.
But why are these people called out from all the others? And why are we told more about some of them than others? You will see that obviously there were lots more children born between Adam and Noah. Let’s look into that.
Seth - Compensation or AppointedGenesis 5:3-5 “3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named himSeth. 4 The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. 5 Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.”
There is 130 years for all the stuff to happen that we have already talked about. Adam and Eve in the garden walking with God, the rebellion of Satan and the removal from the garden after the fall. Seth is now the third son of Adam, and although we are not told much about him, he’s the one listed in this line from Adam to Noah...and it’s because of his name. Seth means “appointed.”
Enosh/Enos - Mortal ManGenesis 5:6-8 “6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh. 7 Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters. 8 Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died.”
There is something very important we learn about the life of Enos in the last verse of chapter 4, it’s how humanity starts going off the rails before the flood. More on that nest week. For our purposes today it’s enough to understand that Enos means mortal.
Kenan - Sorrow or LamentGenesis 5:9-11 “9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan. 10 Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan 815 years and had other sons and daughters. 11 Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died.”
He’s probably named this because his father Enos sees the way humanity is headed. “Kenan means sorrow.”
Mahalalel - The Praised GodGenesis 5:12-14 “12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel. 13 Kenan lived after he fathered Mahalalel 840 years and had other sons and daughters. 14 Thus all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died.”
This name is made from 2 parts. The first is Mahalal, which means “blessed” or “praised,” and the second is El, which is the name for God. Mahalalel means “the praised God.”
Jared - Descent (Shall come down)Genesis 5:15-17 “15 When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared. 16 Mahalalel lived after he fathered Jared 830 years and had other sons and daughters. 17 Thus all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died.”
This name has both great news and disaster prophesied from it.
We will see the great news today and the disaster next week.
Jared means “shall come down.”
Enoch - TeachingGenesis 5:18-20 “18 When Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered Enoch. 19 Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.”
Enoch was a teacher and he walked with God. He plays an important role in next weeks lesson on the flood. Enoch is the first man recorded in the Bible who did not die. Suddenly one day he was not there, because God just took him. This was because he pleased God. And we learn in the New Testament in Hebrews that he did that by having faith.
Enoch means “teacher."
Methuselah - His death shall bringGenesis 5:21-24 “21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. 22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.”
Over the next couple of verses we’ll see more about Methuselah. His big claim to fame is that he is the longest living human ever. This name again has both good and bad prophetic meaning. Methuselah means “his death shall bring.”
Lamech - In DespairGenesis 5:25-27 “25 When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech. 26 Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech 782 years and had other sons and daughters. 27 Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died.”
This name is one which we still retain in our language today in the form of “lament” or “lamentation.” When it was given, Lamech’s name describes the situation of humanity.Lamech means “in despair.”
Noah - RestGenesis 5:28-31 ”28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son 29 and 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 ourhands.” 30 Lamech lived after he fathered Noah 595 years and had other sons and daughters. 31 Thus all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.”
Lamech was prophesying about his son, that through him, God would bring comfort and rest to those who walked with Him regarding the atrocities of those days.
That is the end of the genealogy, and now we have all the pieces of the puzzle. Let’s put them all in place and see the picture.
(Adam) Man (Seth) (is) appointed (Enos) mortal (Kenan) sorrow, (Mahalalel) (but) The praised God (Jared) shall come down (Enoch) teaching (Methuselah) His death shall bring(Lamech) those in despair (Noah) rest.
There it is. The message of salvation. God hides His plan in plain sight. God Himself, in the form of Jesus will come to earth and rescue mortal man. God reveals His next move.
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