October 22, Genesis 5
... and he died... and he died... and he died....
- Genesis 5:3, 8, 11
Reading isn't always reading, is it? I admit there are times when the words are racing past my eyes, but I’m not paying much attention. I am
processing it on one level. I recognize the words; my internal narrator is pronouncing them even though Evelyn Wood says I shouldn’t. But my mind isn’t really focused on what I'm reading. Maybe I'm thinking about a steak or some really good coffee. Maybe I'm calculating something about money or time in my head. I would be hard pressed to write or speak intelligently about the text I'm reading because I'm not really paying attention to it at all.
It's also important to know the nature of the material you’re reading, the purpose behind the author's words. We don't read a fantasy novel and a history textbook the same way. Sometimes I want to laugh. Sometimes I want to learn. That makes a difference in how I read.
The Bible is a long story. It is easy to let our minds wander when we're reading something really long. Some of the names in the story are hard to pronounce. This may frustrate and distract some readers from seeing what's important about the text. And unless we keep in mind what kind of story the Bible tells, we're susceptible to misunderstanding or missing the point of the narrative.
The Bible is neither calendar nor clock. It's not intended to be a way to determine the age of the earth or the end of the world. It's primary purpose is to enlighten, not to entertain. It is both mystery and history. It is allegorical and historical. But at its core, the Bible is a story. It is a redemption story. It’s the story of how God worked through generations across centuries to redeem the devastated and broken human family through Christ.
Genesis 4 traced the line of Cain, showing how his descendants moved farther away from God and closer to total ruin in each succeeding generation. Genesis 5 rewinds to Adam and traces another line of descendants through another son of Adam named Seth. Ten generations of fathers and sons are named. They are born, they grow up and have children of their own. They live incredibly long lives in a time closer to the original perfect genetics of their first parents. The world's population swells. Most of those sons and daughters born are unnamed and unknown. But these ten names form a chain connecting Adam to Noah, the one who by God's grace will survive when God destroys the world with a flood and reboots the human race.
The most prominent feature of this chapter is the little phrase "and he died." Like a tolling bell, the death knell sounds again and again. No matter how long they lived, they died. The notable exception to this rule was Enoch, seven generations downline from Adam. Enoch disappeared from the world at the tender age of 365 years. In a world going from bad to worse, Enoch struck a sharp contrast. He walked with God. And God took him, sparing him from death. But all the kinfolks and neighbors went right on dying.
Adam's family tree forks into the Cain line and the Seth line to trace the thread of God's redemptive purpose. The deliverer that God promised Mother Eve would come through her son Seth's descendants. But the Redeemer's arrival was still many centuries away. In the wisdom and power of an eternal God, the Redeemer would come into the world at just the right time (Galatians 4:4).
God's word to Adam and Eve back in the garden was right. The serpent's beguiling lie was wrong. Sin brings death. The human family is vast in number and seemingly infinite in variety. But the Bible says we're all in the same ill-fated boat. We're headed for death because of sin in our lives. That's important to know. When it comes to redemption stories, we must feel the ruin to appreciate the redemption.
Copyright © 2021 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—October 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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