Week 5 Genesis to Jesus - a Renewed Creation Through Noah

1

Week 5 Genesis to Jesus - A “Renewed” Creation through Noah

Part 1

Genesis 3:15 (RSV2CE) 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Here we have what some have said is the first Gospel proclaimed, the “good news” of a redeemer who is to come through the seed of the woman. It is also important to note that the seed of the serpent is proclaimed in this passage as well. How do we know that the seed of the woman is a redeemer, or an overcomer? There is an obvious hint in this passage, did you see it? God prophesy’s that the woman’s seed will bruise the head of serpent’s seed, and the serpent’s seed will bruise the heel of the woman’s seed. Which bruise do you think would be fatal?

It is important to point out, all those crucified in Roman times, had a unique marker on their body that proved how they had died. Crucifixion forced blood to collect in the heels of all its victims, “he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” This struggle or enmity between the two seeds is a clear picture of the struggle between good and evil, two lines of descendants that will come into great conflict as our salvation history plays out.

1 John 3:11–12 (RSV2CE) 11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, 12 and not be like Cain who was of the Evil One and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.

Cain kills his brother Abel, out of both anger and envy, and the evidence in Genesis 3 is very strong that it is premeditated murder. Chapter 4 then progresses to the point of introducing the beginnings of civilization with the development of tools to build with, nomadic herdsman, and of all things, musical instruments from this evil line of Cain. That line of descendants brings us to a man named Lamech, this fine fellow introduces to the world polygamy when he takes two wives, and he also takes murder and violence to a new level.

Chapter 5 tells us of the line of Seth, another son that Adam and Eve brought into the world, and he replaces the good line of Abel that was cut off by the seed of the serpent, Cain. Here is where we read of the amazing life-spans of these early humans, some of them 900+ years. In our modern times, it is hard to understand this, so I copied for you some of Scott Hahn’s notes on how the Church views this confusing chapter of the Bible. First, I copied Genesis 5:5, and then Scott’s notes.

Genesis 5:5 (RSV2CE) 5 Thus all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.

And here is Scott’s notes: Genesis 5:5 nine hundred and thirty years: Adam’s age falls within the range of 777 (Lamech, 5:31) to 969 years (Methuselah, 5:27) that characterizes the era before the flood. There is as yet no positive solution to the mystery of these enormous life-spans. Modern anthropology holds that the human species (called homo sapiens) is around 40,000 years old, that prehistoric man lived a fairly short life, and that human longevity slowly increased rather than decreased over the millennia. The Bible, however, as well as ancient Near Eastern writings (e.g., Sumerian King List) concur in giving the ancients an immensely long life, especially before the flood. Various approaches have been taken to explain this phenomenon in Genesis. (1) Some take the ages at face value and maintain the literal truth of the genealogies; however, this results in putting Adam less than 2000 years before Abraham and makes the human race only about 6000 years old. (2) Others have proposed converting the “years” into “months”, but this creates a situation in which some of the figures are children at the time they are said to bear children of their own. (3) Still others take the names of the Patriarchs to refer to “clans” rather than individuals, yet this fails to explain why some of the names clearly concern individuals, such as Adam, Cain, Enoch, and Noah. (4) Perhaps the best hypothesis, and one that would help to explain both the biblical and Near Eastern data, is that giving primeval figures extremely long lives was a way of conceptualizing the great antiquity of mankind. In other words, this may be simply a literary technique used to assert the remarkable age of the human race itself. Hahn, S., & Mitch, C. (2010). Genesis: With Introduction, Commentary, and Notes. (Revised Standard Version and Second Catholic Edition, Eds.) (p. 25). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.

Short answer, we don’t know. But this chapter also shows the first evidence of a person who was assumed into heaven without suffering death, the man named Enoch.

Genesis 5:23–24 (RSV2CE) 23 Thus all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

We know two things about Enoch, he walked with God, and God took him. This is a very good verse to point to when our protestant brothers doubt the assumption of Mary into heaven, surely, she walked with God. Didn’t God have a right to take her in much the same way that He took Enoch? The Church believes this verse shows some precedence when It comes to Our Blessed Mother being assumed into heaven.

What significance would you attach to these verses at the end of chapter 5?

Genesis 5:28–31 (RSV2CE) 28 When Lamech had lived a hundred and eighty-two years, he became the father of a son, 29 and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground which the LORD has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the toil of our hands.” 30 Lamech lived after the birth of Noah five hundred and ninety-five years, and had other sons and daughters. 31 Thus all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years; and he died.

What do we already know about the number seven in the Bible? It is a sign of covenant between God and man. There are a lot of sevens in the life-span of Lamech, the father of Noah, the next covenant maker, and breaker. Noah becomes the main character of the renewal of the covenant that God had made with Adam of Eve. We call it a second covenant, but man broke the first covenant with God, and God in His faithfulness renews that covenant with the last righteous man on earth, Noah. We will see this pattern of man breaking the covenant with God, but God keeping His covenant vows, and then having to renew that covenant with another man in the line of succession going back to the Garden of Eden. At the same time evil is progressing in the earth, so is good progressing and growing, first through Abel and then through Seth and his descendent Noah. Each successive generation is getting a clearer image of who God is, and how much He loves us.

St. Augustine, in studying these same chapters, describes these two lines in conflict as the good line through Seth and now Noah, and the evil line through Cain and now Lamech. St. Augustine called the evil line the City of Man, and the good line, the City of God. Good men follow the love that God is and become immersed in that love, while evil man follows a life of total self-centeredness and ultimate destruction. The conflict between these two lines, these two cities, becomes intense in chapter 6 of Genesis.

Here we come to the second edition of this pattern of mankind breaking the blood covenant and God being faithful to keep it. The Hebrew word “hakeem” speaks to the renewing of an existing covenant, if the author had used the “barat” that would indicate a brand-new covenant. Scott describes it as getting your driver’s license at 16 (barat), but then renewing it (hakeem) at age 20. That is why we call it the Old Testament, or more precisely the Old Covenant, and not the Old Covenants. Over time God’s people gradually begin to see God punishing their covenant breaking as a father disciplines his children. God continually makes all things new, He doesn’t make all new things.

A loving father disciplines his children, he doesn’t wipe them off the face of the earth. God could have started over many times, but He doesn’t, He takes what He has and makes it new again. The original covenant is renewed and expanded four times in succession all the way back to the Garden, leading up to the New Covenant sealed in the precious blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. This is a powerful and wonderful way to see the whole context of the Bible. If you can grasp this during the several weeks of this class, you will be way ahead of most Christians.

Once again, the parallels between the covenant with Adam, and the renewed covenant with Noah are clear. Early chapters of Genesis speak of “deep waters” and then God releases the “waters of the deep” as He brings about the flood. Don’t miss this pattern of man being saved through water, as we will see it over and over, leading up to the waters of baptism. The “sevens” once again show up with Noah, God creates everything in 7 days in the original covenant, and later on the flood comes after seven days. The Ark comes to rest on Mt. Ararat after 7 months, and Noah sends out the dove every seven days.

Noah after leaving the Ark sacrifices the clean animals that God commanded him to bring with the other animals, seven pairs of each. But we are not done with the parallels yet, covenant sacrifice shows up again as God renews His covenant, Adam and Eve are covered in the skins of animals as they are banished from the Garden.

Noah sacrifices those clean animals we spoke of earlier, and he plants a vineyard, the image of a garden. Adam and Eve eat forbidden fruit and their nakedness is exposed, while Noah partakes of the fruit of the vineyard and his nakedness is exposed. The sign of the original covenant is the sabbath, the sign of the renewed covenant is a rainbow. Covenant vows including both blessings and curses are spoken in both the original and the renewed, on and on and on it goes.