BIBLE FOR YOU!--No.18!--Genesis Chapter 5!       DO 2732  10/90
--Bible Classtime with Grandpa!

Genealogy from Adam to Noah!

         1. Genesis Chapter 5, Verse 1: "This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created Man, in the likeness of God made He him; male and female created He them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created." That's sort of a little preface or introduction to this Chapter.

         2. (Verse 3:) "And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth." It skips completely over Cain and Abel here. (Techi: Yes, so if you just read this Chapter you'd think that Seth was their first son. Did Seth look exactly like Adam, or at least a lot like him? Is that what it's driving at by saying he "begat a son in his own likeness"?) Yes, he must have looked like his father Adam. (David: That's interesting.)

         3. Now here we start discovering a chronology in this genealogy. This is a list of the fathers and sons and how old the fathers were when they had the son and how long they lived after they had the son; therefore we can compute their age.

         4. (Verse 4:) "And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years." So how long did he live all together? (David: 930 years.) That's right. Boy, they lived a long time in those days! (Verse 5:) "And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died." (Techi: It's so funny how it says, "And he died." It sort of sounds like, "Oh, poor guy, he died.") Well, they would have lived forever if they hadn't sinned.

         5. (Verse 6:) "And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos. And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years." So all the days of Seth were how many? Can you figure it out? (Techi: Would it be 912 years?) Yes, exactly right. "And he died." Boy, that must have been a relief after living so long! (Techi: Imagine living for almost a thousand years!) Yes, and it lists some guys here who are going to even beat Seth!

         6. (Verse 9:) "And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan: And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters." See, they don't mention all of them, just the most outstanding and the most famous or important ones. (Techi: It would take quite awhile to mention them all.)

         7. (Verse 11:) "And all the days of Enos were"--what? Just look at the Scripture. (Kids: 905 years.) Right!

         8. (Verse 12:) "And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel. And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters." See, they give you the most important man and the most important son, probably their first son. "And all the days of Cainan were"--how many? (Kids: 910.)

         9. (Verse 15:) "And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared: And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters." And all of his days were how many? (Techi: 895 years.) It seems like they're beginning to live a little shorter.

         10. (Verse 18:) "And Jared lived 162 years and begat Enoch. And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Jared were"--what? (David: 962 years.) Right! We're getting a date through this for Creation, because it's telling us approximately how many years have passed.

         11. (Verse 21:) "And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters." The most important thing about Enoch is that it says "he walked with God," so he must have been a Godly man. (Verse 23:) "And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years." He didn't live very long on Earth. But he "walked with God and he was not; for God took him." (Techi: Amazing! He lived really short on Earth compared to the others.) I remember one preacher saying that Enoch walked with God until he was so near God's Home, God said to Enoch, "Why go back, Enoch? Just come on Home with Me!" That's a cute way of putting it, isn't it? (Kids: Yes!)

         12. Wow! How about this next one! (Verse 25:) "And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech: And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died."

         13. There used to be a saying, "My goodness, he's as old as Methuselah!"--Because he's the guy who lived the longest of any man in the Bible--969 years! (Techi: At least that we know of.) (David: Jared comes pretty close with 962!) That's right. Well, I'll expect you to be able to tell me how long Methuselah lived altogether. (David: OK! And what else is the test going to consist of?) I'm also going to ask you why this Chapter is important, because it establishes a date for what? (Techi: Creation!) Yes, because we can put this all together and add in some other figures we get in the Bible, and figure out almost exactly when Creation was!

         14. (Verse 28:) "And Lamech lived an hundred and eighty and two years, and begat a son: And he called his name Noah, saying, 'This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed.' And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Lamech were"--how many? (Techi: 777!) That's a nice number, isn't it?

         15. (Verse 32:) "And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth." Now either that means he had triplets, or he was five hundred years old when he had Shem, the eldest, and later had Ham and Japheth. You can take your choice. But he was five hundred years old at this time. (Techi: Amazing!--Being 500 before you have your first son!) Yes! How about that? (Techi: Or maybe he had other sons before that?) No, he didn't have any other sons, and we know that by what? (Techi: That there were only three sons that went into the Ark!) How many souls was it? Peter speaks of it later. (David: Wasn't it eight?) Yes, "Eight souls were saved by water."--1Pet. 3:20. (Techi: He had three sons and their wives, that makes six.) And Noah and Mrs. Noah, that makes eight! OK!

Closing Prayer

         16. So our next test will be on this Chapter, and you're really going to have to know these answers because they're going to be worth 10 points each! Praise the Lord! Who's going to lead us in the closing prayer?

         17. (Techi: Amen! Thank You Jesus! Praise You Lord! Thank You Jesus for this class that we had with Grandpa, and thank You for making it so much fun, Lord! Please bless Grandpa for teaching us, Jesus. We pray that You'd help us to learn and study this Chapter, Jesus, so we'll be able to do well on our test.--In Jesus' name, amen!)

         18. And continue to remember these, don't just forget'm!--Because on your final exam for the semester I'll possibly take one question from each Chapter to ask you again to see how well you remember. I'll take the most important question from each Chapter. But don't worry about it, because I'm sure you'll remember the most important ones. Praise the Lord? OK! God bless you and make you a blessing for knowing so much about the Bible! You've really done well!