Bible In A Year: Genesis (Chapters 5 - 9)

Genesis 5–6 confronts us with the reality of death and the hope of rest. As the genealogy repeats “and he died,” we see the weight of the fall, yet Noah’s name points to humanity’s longing for deliverance. This episode explores patience, false hopes, and the promise of true rest still to come.

Transcript

Welcome And Series Aim

Phil Porter 0:00

You're listening to Teach Me the Bible podcast. Our mission is to help the people of God understand the Word of God. Join us each Monday and Thursday for new episode releases. Listen to our full library of content at teachmethebible.com or by downloading the Teach Me the Bible app from any app store. You're listening to Teach Me the Bible Podcast. Well, everybody, welcome back to Teach Me the Bible Podcast. My name is Phil Porter. I'm sitting alongside Dr. David Klingler. And uh we are going to pick up today in chapter five. We're going to do a quick summary and then go into uh chapter six. And so uh today um we're just continuing the story. Uh you are now uh literally at the end of the month. You've kind of got to the point where you are uh one month in. You haven't stopped, hopefully, this New Year's uh run of yours. And hopefully you don't see it as that. Hopefully you see it as spiritual growth, understanding the word of God. And and uh that's what I always look forward to in these uh sessions. And so uh today I'm really encouraged to go uh through chapter five. I had some questions last time um about come this the years and some of the things. So I'm excited to dive into uh today. If you want to know more about teaching the Bible, you can always go to our website, teachme the Bible Podcast.org. Uh best way also that you can get all of the resources just to download the app. Um that is the simplest way. You can listen to it in your car, you can uh have extra resources. We're gonna be doing some extra things that are coming up, answering theological questions, tough things that are uh that people would normally ask. We're also gonna do, you know, um you've talked about David, just uh basic questions. What is the Bible? Uh what translation's the best? Right. Things like that. So please um download the app and uh kind of join the network there because that will put you in a in a in a place where you can receive uh more resources. But for today, we are in uh Genesis chapter five. Yep, chapter five.

Tracing Seth’s Line To Noah

Why “And He Died” Matters

Enoch Walked With God

Lamech’s Hope And Noah’s Name

Seam From Genesis 5 Into 6

Sons Of God And Daughters Of Men

Nephilim As “Fallen Ones”

Men Of Renown And Rising Evil

God’s Grief And Noah’s Favor

Post‑Flood Rest And Burnt Offerings

Human Government And Justice

Dr. David Klingler 2:03

And uh as we pointed out um uh last time uh when we were talking about chapter four, chapter four follows chapter three. Well, chapter chapter six follows chapter five, and uh and so you you you kind of just have to keep this this story going. Chapter five, verse one actually begins kind of the the new section. This is the book of the uh the the generations of Adam, the Toledote. Maybe if you've been around Bible discussions much or Genesis, you've you've heard of the Toledo. Well, the Toledote that comes from Yelid, the word Yelid. Uh we we've seen this word already used back, actually, it was back in chapter uh chapter two. Uh um, this is the account of the heavens and the earth in the day that they were created. That this is the account, this is the toledote. This is what the heavens and the earth brought forward. Uh, and now we're going to talk about what Adam brought forward. So, what the heavens and the earth brought for what the Lord brought forth from the heavens and the earth, all the animals and the fish and sea and all that stuff. Uh, and Adam. Adam was brought forth, formed out of the dust of the ground. Now we're going to talk about the things that were brought forth from Adam and and um said uh this is the book of the generations of Adam or the the Toledo of Adam in the day that God made Adam, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and he blessed them and named them Adam in the day that they were created. And when Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness. Remember, let us make man in our own image in our own likeness and let him rule. And so uh, and then it's going to say, and he had other sons and daughters. Uh, you know, so he uh became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and he named him Seth. Uh and when Adam, um after Adam became the father of Seth, um uh the he lived for 800 uh years, and he had other sons and daughters. So so the text is singling out Seth, um, kind of setting him aside, and says, and he had other sons and daughters. Well, we're tracking, remember, Seth was the replacement seed uh for um for Abel, who Cain killed. And so we're we're tracking this genealogy, and it's important to see where this genealogy goes. This genealogy goes all the way down to Noah. Um Noah's gonna get on the boat. Noah, his wife, singular, his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their three wives, one for each, uh, not three wives each, but one for each, are going to get on the boat. So eight people are going to get onto the boat, and the text is going to be very specific about that. Why? Uh, because Lamek is over there multiplying wives and killing people, right? Uh, and and so you've got one side, everyone's doing uh by the time we get to chapter six, everyone is doing what Lammock started. The bad Lammock, multiplying wives, killing people. Okay. Um so this contrast in chapters four and chapter five between Enoch and Lammock, Enoch and Lammock, Enoch building a city to make his name great. Uh that's what begins in chapter four, verse 17 with Enoch from Cain. By the time we get to chapter 11, everyone's doing that. Everyone is building a city to make their name great. Uh, what begins with one person in uh Lammock in chapter four, verse uh you know 20 uh you know 23, around there, verse 19, multiplying wives, taking two wives, and killing people. Now everyone is doing in the flood. And so that contrast between the Enoch building a city, Enoch walking with God, Lammock multiplying wives and killing people, and the Lammock we're gonna be introduced to in chapter five, who is Noah's father, is gonna set up the contrast of the next two scenes, the flood scene and the tower of battle scene. Okay. Uh and so uh so there's things that you see all the way through this genealogy. Um uh verse five, well, first of all, verse four, Adam had other sons and daughters, and he died. Seth had other sons and daughters, and he died. He had Enish, then had other sons and daughters, and he died. Uh, then Enish had um uh Kenan and he had other sons and daughters, and he died, and Kenan had Mahalalah, and he had other sons and daughters, and he died, other sons and daughters, and he died. Why does it keep saying and he died and he died, and he died, other sons and daughters, and he died, other sons and daughters, and he died? Uh the story is tracing this one genealogy. I get asked all the time, well, where did uh Cain's wife come from? Where did Seth's wife come from? Um other sons and daughters, other sons and daughters. Cain is in the other sons and daughters camp. Um uh the uh the other sons and daughters were in the other sons and daughters' camp. And so the story is not trying to tell you uh it's not concerned about where did Cain get his wife. Uh the story is concerned about uh the uh the development of these two teams and the enmity between them. Okay. Uh we mentioned uh you you asked last time about these long ages. You're gonna see after the flood that the ages get uh get progressively shorter. Um and uh and throughout history they've until at least recent times, they've they've gotten shorter and shorter. Um and so we asked uh some will ask, well, why such long lives uh back then? Uh there's a couple answers for that. Some people say that they weren't long lives, these are just exaggerations. I I don't think that you can uh uh do that. Um we certainly have long lives at the end of the story, in the Millennial Kingdom, for example, if someone dies at a hundred years of age, as he's died as a uh as a mere child. Um but uh but the better question is why such short lives now? Um man was created to live forever. Uh and and we're trying to get back to live forever, eternal life on the earth. Uh this is why man was created. Uh, and and so that's what was lost. And you're watching this, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died, and other sons and daughters all the way through here. So, so instead of why such long lives, I like the question why do we live such short lives now? And you know, I'm 50 uh about to be 53, and man, those years go fast. They are flying. And it seems like you know, you go to sleep a few times and you're 54, and then you go to sleep a few times and you're it just it just keeps getting faster and faster. Uh maybe because you don't remember anything. Maybe that's but yeah, but um but anyway, all the way through the other sons. Now there's there's two uh what I'd call expansions or two, you know, narrator gets in and says, okay, let me let's talk about this person a little bit more. One is Enoch and the other is Lamak. Same thing he did back in chapter four with Enoch and Lammock. He gave more detail than just listing the names. And so we want to pay attention where the narrator gives more attention. It says, and Enoch walked with God, for he was not, and God took him. This is in verse 20, uh verse 24. Enoch walked with God. Um we're going to be uh introduced to that type of language all the way through the rest of the of the story of Genesis and really the rest of the Old Testament to walk with God, to walk according to the word of the Lord. That's the uh you know, that's gonna kind of the uh become the language of the uh of the text. Uh and then uh the other one is Lammock. Lamac w lived 182 years, became the father of a son, and he called his name rest, Noah, saying, This one will give us rest from our work and from the the toil. That word for toil of our hands, that's the same word that was back in 317. They translated toil in 317. Uh, it's actually the same word that's used in 316, 317, and here in 529. Um in three uh three sixteen they translate it as uh pain. Um uh you know, but the word is from it's ettev on, it's from it's from ettev. Uh it's it's it's uh it's not physical pain, it's not toil, it's uh uh sorrow, grief. Okay. Uh the same word is going to be used in 6 uh 6. In fact, all this all the language of 529 is going to be used in uh chapter 6, verse 6. It's great irony here. The Lord was sorry that he made the man on the earth and he was grieved in his heart. Uh verse uh back to 529. Uh this one will give us Noah, give us rest arising from the toil of our hand. Well, they're translating it rest. It's actually uh comfort. Uh they he names him rest, Noah. Uh, and then he says, this one, the the New American Standard translates it will give us rest, uh, as if it's the same word, but it's actually not. Uh he called his name Noah Rest, saying, This one will give us Naham, comfort, uh, comfort from uh from our labor, um uh and uh our work or our labor and from the the sorrow of our hands arising from the ground, which the Lord God has cursed. And so Lamak is looking for the one who will fix the problem, who will fix the problem of man, uh remove the sorrow and restore rest. He's looking for the 315, 316 promised one. And Lammock had other sons and daughters, and Noah lived one uh a hundred and uh uh five hundred years uh old, and he became the father of Shem and Ham and Japheth. And it came about when men began to multiply on the face of the earth that daughters were born to them. Now, this is a variously interpreted passage, okay? And one of the things that I want to point out is that in the Hebrew construction, uh we have this construction where and then this happened and this happened and this happened, and and uh, if you're uh looking, if you're watching this video, we can show this to you. Uh but it's all green. Uh all I have color-coded this, so you know, and then this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened, and we call it preterates. It's preterite, preterite, preterite, preterite, preterite. Uh, and it just continues right into chapter six, right? The green continue, in other words, there's no division between chapter end of chapter five and the beginning of chapter six. The story is continuing. And in fact, the chapter six, verse one is a good summary of what's just happened. It came about when Adam began to multiply on the face of the earth, daughters were born to them. Well, that's exactly uh, you know, other sons and daughters, and other sons and daughters, and other sons and daughters. That the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were Tove, and they took to themselves wives, whomever they chose. Um, some will teach that this is these are you know angels or fallen angels or something like that, the sons of God or angels. Um but if you go back to uh chapter five, um God uh uh in the day that God created man, he made him, God made man in the likeness of God. And Adam had a son in his likeness, and he had a son in his likeness, and a son and a son and a son. And so the the son language uh and the grammatical construction, you can't divide those two. In other words, uh the the son of God, it goes it's it's it goes right back to chapter five. Okay. Uh you get the same thing. Uh in uh in Luke chapter three, he does the same thing. This is the genealogy as son of Joseph, son of Eli, son of son of son of all goes all the way down, son of Enos, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God. And someone say, Well, the son is not actually in there. Well, because it's assumed, right? Son of Joseph, of Eli, of Mattat, of all the way down. Son is assumed all the way through Luke's genealogy of chapter three, uh, and it ends with son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God, right? Uh, and so he's using the same genealogy that's using in chapter five. Um, so we're not talking about angels here. We're talking about uh the sons of God. These these sons saw the daughters of men, uh, that they were beautiful, and they took to themselves wives, whomever they chose. That's exactly what Lamac was doing, the exact same language of what Lammock was doing, the bad Lammock, back in chapter 4, verse 19, taking multiple wives and killing people. Uh and the Lord said, My spirit shall not strive with Adam forever, because he has flesh. Uh, nevertheless, his days will be 120 years. Uh the Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also afterwards. Uh, some will take this, I think you know, this is giants or something like that, or um these half-breeds. They all there's all kinds of goofy stuff going on out there. The word Nephilim actually is nothing more than a transliteration. Um, and um and it's used throughout the rest of the the scriptures, it's used a bunch. It says the Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterwards, after what, after the flood. Um, it's used of people who fall in battle, the Nephilim, all of the fallen ones that day in battle were X number. It's used all through the script, but they translated that as the fallen ones or something like that, all who fell. But here they're not translating it, they're transliterating it. Does that make sense? Yeah. Uh, and so if they would do just the fallen ones were on the earth in those days and also afterwards, no one would have any goofy view of what an what the Nephilim were, right? Uh the word is used uh several times. Um and it uh came about that uh when the sons of God came into the daughters of men, they bore the children of them. Uh these were mighty men, men of old, men of renown, um uh literally men with a name, uh, making a name for themselves. This is what was going on in chapter four and chapter uh uh and now we're you know now we're it's happening in chapter six that uh that people were making a name for themselves. Uh they were uh building a city to make their name great, that type of thing. And uh and uh these were mighty men, men of old, men with uh men of renown. Uh the giants, well, where does the giant thing come from? It's from Gygantas. It's it's where we get it comes from the Septuagint translation of these mighty men, men of old. These were men with a name, these were famous men, they were giants, right? We do we do the same thing. Um, you know, you you'll hear that, you know, he was a giant in his day, you know, that type of thing. You know, Babe Ruth was a giant. He wasn't ten foot tall and bulletproof. Not saying he was a giant, he was saying he was he was famous, he was he was huge, he was big, he was and these were mighty men, men of old, men with a name, literally. Um And so the Lord saw that uh the the wickedness of man was great on the earth. Notice that it's not the wickedness of angels. Uh the man was flesh, the wickedness of man was great on the earth, that every intent of the thought of his heart was one evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he made Adam, made the man on the earth. Doesn't say he was sorry he made angels. Uh, I mean, if angels are the problem, that's you know, um, and he was grieved in his heart. Now, here's the contrast, um, uh, or the irony, I guess, from 6-6 to 529 that we mentioned earlier. Um Noah thinks, or Lamak thinks that Noah's the one who's going to bring rest. Okay. Um that he's going to bring comfort, Naham. Uh the Lord was Nakham. Uh, it's the same word. Uh, and so Lamak thinks that Noah's the one who will bring comfort. It's a word play here. Uh, but actually, Noah doesn't bring comfort to man. Uh, the Lord was sorry that he made the man on the earth. Um Lamak uh expects Noah to remove the grief and sorrow of man, but here in 6.6, the Lord was sorrowful or grieved in his heart that he made the man on the earth. And he said, I will blot man out whom I have created from the face of the earth, from man and from animals to creeping things, to the birds of the sky, I'm sorry that I made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Now, uh this story continues. Say, well, why why is he named Noah? If you go to the end of the story, if you go to uh to the end of the flood you know scene, uh Noah, they come out of the flood, the dry land, uh they come off the off the boat. Uh Noah went out, his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him, and every uh this is in chapter uh eight, verse eighteen, and every beast and every creeping thing, and every bird and everything that moves on the earth went out by their families from the ark, and Noah built an altar to the Lord, and he took every clean animal and every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar, and the Lord smelled the soothing aroma. That soothing aroma uh is uh that's from our word that's that comes from Noah's name. He he uh the Lord smelled the restful aroma. Uh and the Lord said to himself, I will never again curse the ground on account of man uh for the Intent of his heart is evil from his youth. I will never again destroy every living thing as I have done. And so the irony is Noah doesn't bring rest to man. He's not the promised one, but he does bring rest to God's wrath. He he brings an end to God's wrath. And so the Lord says, All right, I'm not going to judge man again, but from now on, man will judge man. Okay, this is chapter chapter nine. And so what happens in the flood? The Lord wipes out uh man from the earth. The intent of their heart was evil all of the day, all of the time. They're multiplying wives, they're killing people, they're not doing what they were created to do. So he judges them, he wipes them off the face of the earth. Uh uh Noah and his family get on the boat, they come off the boat, and immediately on the other side of the boat, um it all starts over again, right? Just as in Genesis chapter 3, uh Adam ends up naked and ashamed. Now Noah's going to end up naked and ashamed. Adam needed a covering, Noah needs a covering. Uh nothing has changed. Evil begins to multiply on the face of the earth again. The fallen ones were on the earth in those days and also afterwards. They show right back up. The flood didn't wipe out Team Satan, in other words. They show right back up in Noah's line. Uh in uh uh you know, certain uh the Satan, the serpent is deceiving again, uh, and so the problem shows right back up. Um couple notable differences um uh coming out of the flood, chapter nine, uh God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, for the fear of you and the terror of you shall be on every beast of the earth and every bird of the sky, and from everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you, I will give it to you, as I gave the green plant. Only you shall not eat the flesh with its life, uh, that is its blood. I will surely require your life blood from every beast I will require it from every man, every man's brother I will require require the life of a man. Whoever sheds a man's blood by man shall his blood be shed, for he is in the image of God, he made Adam, he made man. As for you, be fruitful and multiply, populate the earth abundantly and uh and multiply upon it. And and um and so you're getting this recommissioning, kind of this restating of be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. But here's the difference uh that now man is going to judge man, God's not going to judge man, man is going to judge man, and you're seeing this institution of human government where man is going to rule over man. Uh, if man uh kills another man by man, his blood will be shed. Uh, and so uh and so we're we're heading towards nations, we're heading towards human government. Um and so we're waiting for this one, Genesis 3 uh, who's going to come on the scene, who's going to judge on behalf of God, um, and uh and fix all this mess. So so the the problem's not getting better, it's getting worse, right? The story is just continuing to to disintegrate um and uh coming out of uh out of the flood, uh it has not gotten any better. Uh in fact, uh we uh on the other side uh uh you get uh the cursed side, accursed is Canaan, uh and and um this is in chapter uh chapter nine, verse uh verse twenty-five. Uh cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants he shall be to his brothers. Uh he said, Blessed be the Lord the God of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant. And may God uh enlarge Japheth and let uh him dwell in the tents of Shem. And so so we're we're tracking the line now. Shem is the one, so keep your eye on on Shem and uh the rest of the these, you know, the the other two, Japheth and particularly Canaan, uh is going to populate the nations uh that Israel is going to interact with, the sons of Ham. This is down in chapter 10, verse 6, where Cush and Mitzraim and Put and Canaan. Uh 66, Mitzraim is Egypt, right? And so all of these uh these um these names are gonna show back up uh in the story uh and we're gonna be introduced to them. So so chapter six, six through nine, actually chapter five through chapter nine is the Lord saying, Okay, everybody is multiplying wives, everybody's killing people, uh, we're gonna fix this. We're gonna wipe man. He was sorry he made man on the earth, we're gonna wipe man off the earth. Um but Lannox over there saying, Noah's the one. He's the one who's going to fix it. Well, Noah's not the one who fixes it. In fact, Noah fails just like Adam did. He ends up naked and shame just like Adam did. Um, but he does bring rest to God's wrath. In fact, that restful aroma, that soothing aroma that we talked about back in uh uh chapter uh chapter eight, verse twenty-one. Uh this is uh uh in Leviticus uh chapter one. This is the uh uh uh the the uh the the sacrifice or the the offering uh that Israel is going to be commanded to uh to give um is a reminder. This is uh the burnt offering, they translate it the the burnt offering. Uh this is uh the burnt offering begins in Genesis chapter 8. Uh and so all of these things that are happening in the story. Remember, we aren't the original reader, Israel was the original reader. Uh and so Israel's uh it needs to learn. Here's why we do what we do, here's why we do burnt offerings in the land, because uh Noah gave a burnt offering after uh the flood, and it brought a stop to God's wrath and judgment of man. And so we're gonna continue to do that uh as Noah did. We're gonna continue to give uh first uh uh firstborns as Abel did. We're going to value the fat portion as Abel did, we're gonna pay a tithe as Abram did to Melchizedek. In other words, all of these stories are developing to explain why Israel is going to do what they do in the land. Remember, Israel's the reader here. So next time, we're gonna pick it up in uh in chapters 10 and chapter 11, and that's gonna take us right into the to the uh uh the Tower of Babel uh and right into uh to Abraham, and we're gonna be talking about Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the nation Israel and and the whole story, probably more of the story that we're we're familiar with uh in the in the book of Genesis.

Phil Porter 27:05

Yeah, and for Noah, I know that going along and just as you're talking, kind of going through uh Noah's account, or not account, but his story, um there just seems to be a lot there. Like, you know, I I remember growing up as a kid, you know, being told about the story of Noah, and these people were bad people, and they were making fun of Noah, building the boat, and there's a lot of a lot of added into the story stuff to make it entertaining. Yeah, and and it's it's there was a a specific purpose. What I loved, I think, from today, I just wanted to recap, was that the name rest was the rest from God's judgment. That was so key for me today. I was like, oh, oh my gosh. He wasn't he wasn't the promised one. No, we're still looking for the promised one who will bring rest.

Dr. David Klingler 28:01

Yeah. So it was kind of a another false, false alert, right? Okay. You know, Cain's the one. Cain's not the one. Yeah. Uh Noah's the one. Noah's not the one. Uh Isaac is I Isaac's not the one. Uh, and you're gonna see this over and over and over throughout the story, but the story is looking for this one. We're tracking down this genealogy. Who you know, is this the one? Is this the one? Is this the one? Uh, and every time that it's not, um, the Genesis 3.16, in sorrow you shall bring forth sons becomes more and more meaningful. Oh, absolutely. And he died.

Phil Porter 28:34

Because everybody who's having this son, that they're like, oh, this is I mean, you can read his father clearly thought, you know, in 529, hey Noah, this is the guy.

Shem, Nations, And The Next Line

Dr. David Klingler 28:47

Yeah, he's gonna remove the curse of the ground, he's gonna get us back uh, you know, to the tree of life, he's the one who's gonna restore all this, and uh, and he's clearly not. Um but he does play a role, and now the plot develops. And so now that you know that he's not the one, uh, and then the way the narrator shows you that is he's naked and ashamed. Uh, now what about his sons? And now we're gonna pick up the genealogy of his sons. Now, why do we need to know about that? Well, why does Israel need to know about that? Well, because first of all, they're direct descendants from the genealogy that's coming out of um Shem, uh that's gonna lead all the way down to this their patriarch, Abram, whose name is going to be changed to Abraham, and all of the others' descendants are going to be the nations that are around them. Uh, all of the the Canaanites, uh, you know, Egypt. Uh there they need to know whose side those people are on. Uh, and uh, and so we're still playing out the two sides, the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, and it's going to develop onto a national scale uh between Israel and the nations as this story develops.

Phil Porter 29:56

Yeah, I think that's uh important thing for our listeners is um these names matter, and there are there's a track to this. And so if you're maybe a little confused still, go back and start tracking yourself. Track the seed of the woman, track the seed of the serpent, and you'll find that man was building a name for themselves, but there's another side that's waiting for the promised one, it's not building anything uh on their own account. And so thank you, David, for helping us get through that. And for all the listeners today, we're gonna gear up and for next week, start in uh chapter 10, uh start tracking Shem and uh that line there. And so uh there's a lot more helpful material coming. A lot coming. So uh thanks, David. For more resources, visit teachmethebible.com or download our app from any app store. You can partner with Teach Me the Bible in helping the people of God understand the Word of God by subscribing and sharing with others. Thank you for listening to Teach Me the Bible Podcast.