Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Noah's Flood - Part III

Genesis 5 is a rather boring chapter in the Bible. It is one of those chapters that is often skipped because of all of the begats. However, there is something very interesting hiding just beneath the surface; and unless you know it’s there you’d never see it. So let’s take a close look at these otherwise overlooked names and their respective meanings. The following I give credit to Chuck Missler.

Adam

The first name, Adam, comes from adomah, and means "man." As the first man, that seems straightforward enough.

Seth

Adam's son was named Seth, which means "appointed." When he was born Eve said, "For God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew."

Enosh

Seth's son was called Enosh, which means "mortal," "frail," or "miserable." It is from the root anash: to be incurable; used of a wound, grief, woe, sickness, or wickedness. (It was in the days of Enosh that men began to defile the name of the Living God. )

Kenan

Enosh's son was named Kenan, from which can mean "sorrow," dirge," or "elegy." (The precise denotation is somewhat elusive; some study aids unfortunately presume an Aramaic root synonymous with "Cainan.") Balaam, looking down from the heights of Moab, employed a pun upon the name of the Kenites when he prophesied their destruction.

Mahalalel

Kenan's son was Mahalalel, from mahalal, which means "blessed" or "praise"; and El, the name for God. Thus, Mahalalel means "the Blessed God." Often Hebrew names included El, the name of God, as Dani-el, "God is my Judge," Nathani-el, "Gift of God," etc.

Jared

Mahalalel's son was named Jared, from the verb yaradh, meaning "shall come down." Some authorities suggest that this might have been an allusion to the "Sons of God" who "came down" to corrupt the daughters of men, resulting in the Nephilim ("Fallen Ones") of Genesis 6.

Enoch

Jared's son was named Enoch, which means "teaching," or "commencement." He was the first of four generations of preachers. In fact, the earliest recorded prophecy was by Enoch, which amazingly enough deals with the Second Coming of Christ.

Methuselah

The Flood of Noah did not come as a surprise. It had been preached on for four generations. But something strange happened when Enoch was 65, from which time "he walked with God." Enoch was given a prophecy that as long as his son was alive, the judgment of the flood would be withheld; but as soon as he died, the flood would be sent forth. Enoch named his son to reflect this prophecy. The name Methuselah comes from two roots: muth, a root that means "death" ; and from shalach, which means "to bring," or "to send forth." Thus, the name Methuselah signifies, "his death shall bring."And, indeed, in the year that Methuselah died, the flood came. Methuselah was 187 when he had Lamech, and lived 782 years more. Lamech had Noah when he was 182.7 The Flood came in Noah's 600th year. 187 + 182 + 600 = 969, Methuselah's age when he died.It is interesting that Methuselah's life was, in effect, a symbol of God's mercy in forestalling the coming judgment of the flood. It is therefore fitting that his lifetime is the oldest in the Bible, symbolizing the extreme extensiveness of God's mercy.

Lamech

Methuselah's son was named Lamech, a root still evident today in our own English word, "lament" or "lamentation." Lamech suggests "despairing." (This name is also linked to the Lamech in Cain's line who inadvertently killed his son Tubal-Cain in a hunting incident. )

Noah

Lamech, of course, is the father of Noah, which is derived from nacham , "to bring relief" or "comfort," as Lamech himself explains.

Now let's put it all together:

Hebrew---------English

Adam------------Man

Seth-------------Appointed

Enosh-----------Mortal

Kenan-----------Sorrow

Mahalalel--------The Blessed God

Jared------------Shall come down

Enoch----------- Teaching

Methuselah------His death shall bring

Lamech----------The despairing

Noah-------------Rest, or comfort

“Man is appointed mortal sorrow but the blessed God shall come down teaching that His death shall bring the despairing comfort.”

Here is a summary of God's plan of redemption, hidden here within a genealogy in Genesis! You will never convince me that a group of Jewish rabbis deliberately "contrived" to hide the "Christian Gospel" right here in a genealogy within their venerated Torah!

5 comments:

Alex said...

If you can't be convinced, then you have closed your mind and discussion with you would be pointless.

Pax.

Joshua Elsom said...

The reason I could never be convinced is not because I am closed minded. The reason no one could ever convince me is that there is no way that it would ever happen.

You do understand that Judaism does not accept Trinitarian Theology? By saying that "God's death shall bring" the Noahic geneaology is prefiguring the God/man Jesus dying to bring comfort to the despairing.

So I could easily rephrase the final statement to read,"You will never convince me that a group of Jewish rabbis deliberately "contrived" to hide Trinitarin Theology right here in a genealogy within their venerated Torah!

So the point is that no Jew is ever going to conspire to hide a "false" messiah in the Torah. Just would not happen.

That misunderstanding aside; come on now my skeptical friend what do you think about that? You have to admit that is kind of interesting, no? The Gospel of Jesus Christ hidden in the names of Noah's family back in Genesis? Genesis was written centuries before Jesus walked the earth.

So Alex, is your mind closed?


BTW, I thought your profile was funny. I love how you threw in how you "like to cook" and "you like dogs" for good measure. I think you must be a pretty funny guy.

Drop by any time.

Sam said...

Love it! Kind of reminds me of something... oh yeah, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness"... Even genealogies!

ExPatMatt said...

Joshua,

Apologies for the scattershot comments I've been leaving all over your blog; I only recently found it so I'm just testing the waters (so to speak). No intention of being a troll.

This is actually a very interesting thread you've pulled out of Genesis - I like it.

Joshua Elsom said...

Thanks ExPatMatt.

No apology needed. I hope you stick around. I've got a lot more to share, much of it just as interesting as what you've already read. I believe that God has left us hidden treasure in His Word, this being but one example. And it is these little bits of treasure that I think makes it possible to show that the Bible had to be engineered by a supernatural being that is outside our dimensionality.