Read Genesis 5:1-6:8 at Bible Gateway.
I study the Torah every year using the teaching tools of Scripture. (Why?)
The Hebrew paragraph divisions are as follows:
Gen 5:1-5 s Mortality of Adam
Gen 5:6-8 s Mortality of Seth
Gen 5:9-11 s Mortality of Enosh
Gen 5:12-14 s Mortality of Kenan
Gen 5:15-17 s Mortality of Mahalalel
Gen 5:18-20 s Mortality of Jared
Gen 5:21-24 s Enoch walked with God and did not die
Gen 5:25-27 s Mortality of Methuselah
Gen 5:28-31 s Mortality of Lamech
Gen 5:32-6:4 p Holy Spirit will not strive with flesh forever
– Exile from YHVH, from family, and from life, follows from walking with flesh; but life follows from walking with YHVH
Gen 6:5-8 p Exile from the earth is the consequence of sin, but Noah found grace in the eyes of YHVH
Gen 5:1-6:8 sx9+p+p
1a) Gen 5:1-2, Elohiym created mankind in the likeness of Elohiym and blessed them;
1b) Gen 5:3-20 sx6, The seed of Adam in his own likeness and after his own image;
1c) Gen 5:21-24 s, Enoch, the prophet of God who prophesied judgment;
central axis) Gen 5:25-27 s, All the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years;
2c) Gen 5:28-31 s, Noah, the savior of God through judgment;
2b) Gen 5:32-6:4 p, Seed of the sons of God – mighty men of renown – the nephilim;
2a) Gen 6:5-8 p, YHVH will destroy what He had made for man’s wickedness grieved Him.
Now why would the life of Methuselah be the central axis of the entire parashah? Follow with me. The father of Methuselah was Enoch. He was a prophet of God (Jude 1:14-15) who prophesied that two judgments were coming on the world because of sin and the wickedness of man. The first judgment would be by water, and the second would be by fire. When his son was born, he embedded a prophecy within his name, for Methuselah means, “When he dies, it comes.” In other words, in the year of his son’s death, the first judgment, the judgment by water, would come upon the earth.
It just so happens that if you do the math recorded in the genealogies in Gen 5 and 6, you discover that the Flood of Noah did in fact come upon the earth in the year of Methuselah’s death.
But that is not the most amazing part. Methuselah, we learn from the central axis, lived 969 years. He is the longest lived person in the Bible. So at his birth, the prophet of God prophesied, that at his death, judgment would come. And then God caused Methuselah to live longer than any other patriarch, including Adam of the perfect DNA. What was He doing?
He was delaying judgment because of mercy … to give time, time, and more time, for the Holy Spirit to convict concerning sin and righteousness (Gen 6:3, Joh 16:8), for repentance, and turning, so as to escape the judgment that was coming.
So many people charge the God of the Old Testament with being angry, vengeful, wrathful, and judgmental, and they use this very section of Scripture to back up their claim. I, on the other hand, see the greatness of His mercy … extended to the maximum possible limit … ♥
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