Bible Study Genesis Part 56-And He Died

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Maybe it's tied with the other one.

It's like tied for first place with Ephesians was our first one.

Genesis is our second.

Although we're going to Romans next, that one, I'm writing it out now.

That one's going to be pretty good too.

So I guess I just love God's word.

It is in me.

I can't shake it.

I remember the first time I went to a Bible-centric church.

The number of times I got the chills just listening to somebody tell me how true God's word is, how it all works together.

How I, you know, I've been going church to church most of my life, and I knew some things, but now when it all came together because God's word is so perfect, it is so all together meshing, it made like all the difference in the world to me.

And that's why we have started this ministry 15, 14, 15 years ago, because we felt like we had to share that same love, that same excitement of God's word.

And that's what we're doing here.

We've been doing it a long time.

Now we're going verse by verse through the entire Bible.

It's going to take us about 357 years, but we'll get done.

We'll get through it.

No problem whatsoever.

We hope that we can finish the whole Bible within my lifetime.

Who knows?

I don't know.

We'll give it a shot.

Anyways, we're in the book of Genesis.

We've worked through the first four chapters.

Last week we just got started with the fifth chapter.

That's where we're picking it up now.

We had only just gotten started with verse three, so let's pick it up there.

Let's continue.

I'll read it first.

And Adam lived in 130 years and begat a son in his own likeness after his image and called his name Seth.

Now, if you're trying to find things to not like about the Bible, I think this verse is going to suck you in.

We already talked about the age thing, you know, the hundreds of years old before he had his first child.

We already talked about that last time.

That sure to set a few people off.

But as we move on, there's more that will likely upset those who demand that God communicate in a certain way.

Listen, the problem with most of the critics of the Bible is that they want it to be a specific thing.

They want to categorize the Bible, put it in a box that they can approve of.

I mean, they call Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars history, they call Shakespeare's King Lear a drama or a tragedy or a simply theater.

They call Webster's dictionary a reference book.

Well, the Bible isn't so easily defined, and the hater's gonna hate.

Now, I don't often quote Taylor Swift, but when she's right, she's right.

Now, what are they gonna hate about?

Well, here again, God mentions the birth of Seth.

Why did he do that?

Well, clearly he's got something to say about him.

He was, according to God, begotten in Adam's likeness after his image, and called his name Seth.

Now, let's just get this out of the way real quick.

Adam called his son's name Seth.

That's what Genesis 5.3 tells us.

And here again is where the enemies of God like to cry foul.

They say this is an example of the inconsistency of the Bible.

Over in Genesis 4.25, we're given the impression that Eve was the one that named the boy Seth.

Here in chapter 5, it says Adam applied the name to their son.

What gives?

Well, like so many things we've come across thus far, there's no easy answer.

But as I said, we are going to deal with everything as best we can.

Now, always remember, part of the problem is that we're dealing with very ancient documents written in very ancient languages.

So sometimes we'll have incomplete answers because we're just not as familiar with those very old languages as we'd like to be.

So I'm going to give you a short, perhaps inaccurate answer, but one that is based on some evidence.

First of all, I'd like to say that almost none of the resources I consult on a regular basis even address this issue.

That, as you've heard me say, is a mistake.

Saying nothing is dangerous because it appears to the outside world that we're trying to avoid problems in Scripture.

That just gives the devil too much ammunition.

It makes people doubt.

It makes people wonder if we're truly committed to scripture.

Well, we are here, and so we're going to go through these things.

So the problem that we have is that here in Genesis 5.3, there's this statement.

And Adam called his name Seth.

But in Genesis 4.25, as I said a moment ago, we are told, but not directly, that Eve called his name Seth.

Now, let's not spend too much time here, but let's not skip it either.

Now we'll start with, and this is how I recommend you do everything that's problematic.

Start with the things we know and then work our way outward.

First of all, we know that God's word is true without error and is always consistent.

There is no contra, there are no contradictions in the Bible.

Now, the other thing we know is that our ears and our brains hear in this verse a contradiction.

Finally, as far as this case is concerned, we also know that what we read from Genesis 5:3 out of the King James and really any other English language Bible is a translation.

Genesis 5:3

Now, this fact alone makes casually studying the Bible and casually judging the Bible to be a problem.

The word called in the phrase called his name Seth is translating the Hebrew word kahra, and it's very often used in the Old Testament.

However, it does not always mean that something is being named.

Now, most of the time, it simply means saying something about something.

Yes, it's sometimes used in the sense of giving something a name, but it doesn't have to mean that.

For example, sometimes when I see my wife, I'll say, Hey, beautiful.

Now I haven't changed her name.

I just happen to be declaring or proclaiming that she's easy on the eyes.

I call her beautiful in a way that makes it sound like it's her name, but only because her beauty is an outstanding quality that she possesses.

And being beautiful just seems to be a part of her.

She is so beautiful that we can identify her as such.

That's sort of how this word ca-ra is sometimes used.

Now, let me quickly quote the respected biblical Hebrew resource, the theological word book of the Old Testament.

Now, this is the part of the definition of the word when it's used as a way to give something a name, such as is inferred in Genesis 5.

Quote, frequently, the name given, listen closely, indicates a primary characteristic of the thing named.

And that's precisely what I'm doing when I call my wife beautiful.

It isn't her name, but it's a characteristic that I've given to her that sounds like it's her name.

Now, what does that have to do with both Adam and Eve calling his name Seth?

Well, since the Bible cannot contradict itself, we must conclude that either Adam or Eve named their son Seth.

Listen to me, this is the important part, while the other one simply called him Seth.

Does that make sense?

Now the pulpit commentary about the only resource that seemed to even address this is saying this.

It states that Adam, when he called his name Seth, did so, quote, probably concurring in the name selected by Eve.

Now I'm not exactly ready to concede that Eve was the one that initially selected the name, but I think you see the point.

The boy was named Seth by one of his parents, and the other one agreed and called him that.

So when we see that that he called his name Seth, it's not saying he named his son Seth, but he called him that.

Seth, by the way, means appointed, as you remember us remarking.

And he's called that because to his parents, Seth was appointed, given as a replacement following the tragedy of the two previous sons, one having been murdered and the other banished.

So since it's not likely that both Adam and Eve named him Seth at the same time, I'm fairly certain they collaborated and agreed somewhere along the line.

Perhaps Eve was the first one to call him that, to vocalize that, to give him that moniker and its meaning, but it's nowhere really stipulated with certainty.

Now, why why did we go through this abnormally long exercise on what appears to be a minor point?

Now, I'll agree that we spent some time, and I'll agree that in the grand scheme of things, the naming of Seth is not high on anyone's vital facts list.

But as I've said to you in the past, when we're going through these difficult topics, that we do so because I want you to get used to trusting all of Scripture.

I want that to be your first reaction.

Trust Scripture.

If somebody were to come up to me and say, hey, Catherine just robbed a bank, I'm not going to just believe what they say because I know her.

I've already created a relationship with her.

I already have experience with the type of person she is.

When we hear something that is disparaging, we say, that can't be.

There has to be something else.

Maybe someone that looked like Catherine or something along those lines is the one that robbed the bank.

When you get used to trusting Scripture, telling yourself scripture is right, there's no way there's an error, then you go to the next step and try to figure out what may be going on.

That's what I want us to get into the habit of doing.

You have to, we have to do it that way.

We have to know that the Bible is always right and true and error-free.

And then verify or resolve the problem in that light.

Just because there may seem to be a difficulty, we must never go directly to impugning the integrity of Scripture.

There's always an explanation as to why there appears to be an issue with a passage.

And that explanation never involves concluding that God's word is wrong.

It's never wrong.

The problem is never with the Bible, it's always with our understanding of the Bible.

We cover the things that the critics love to attack so that we can get in the habit, confidently get into the habit of defending the integrity of Scripture.

That's very important.

We have to make sure that we convince ourselves that we're standing on a solid foundation.

We must realize that.

Okay.

Now we're actually not done with verse 3.

Here it is again.

And Adam lived 130 years and begat his, begat a son in his own likeness after his image and called his name Seth.

He begat a son, listen, in his own likeness.

Now, of course, the same thing can be said of all of his children.

They were all, not just Seth, all Adam's descendants, and that includes you and I.

We are all made in his, in Adam's likeness.

Adam was made in God's likeness, but his sin permanently marred that image.

What Seth got and what we get is God's image marred by Adam's sinfulness, making it, listen to me, uniquely Adamic, as the Bible would call it, or Bible scholars call it, meaning or meaning of Adam.

That's why our likeness looks like it does now.

Now, let me re-emphasize that part of Adam's likeness still has some of God's likeness in it, but now God's full likeness, God's full likeness is hidden within us, and it rarely makes an appearance.

Now, let me admit that it's not spelled out specifically that way in Scripture, but I believe it can be ascertained.

Okay, I just wanted to make sure I pointed out to you that statement about Seth being made in Adam's likeness, because that is what we are all made in.

We are made in Adam's likeness.

Adam was made in God's likeness.

He got God's likeness, it got marred by sin.

Now we are in Adam's likeness.

Is it wrong when people say, hey, man was created in God's likeness?

No.

But it is a marred likeness.

Otherwise, we would not be sinners.

If it were not for the changed likeness, the changed nature, there would have been, as I've said to you many times, no need for the Bible, no need for Jesus.

He would have stayed the Son of God without having put on a body, no need for anything to have happened that has happened, because we would have stayed in God's likeness.

Unfortunately, now, like Seth, we have Adam's likeness on top of it.

That was an intentional statement.

God wanted to make sure that he was giving us a permanent reminder that sin has changed us from what we were meant to be, and that we still carry with us Adam's sin-marred image.

God will never let us forget that because if we do, we won't likely take him up on his offer to change it.

We think if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Well, it's broke.

So let's keep moving.

Verse 4 and the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were 800 years, and he begat sons and daughters.

And all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.

Now, just a few comments here, and then we'll probably wrap up the rest of this chapter.

Now, we're going to make short work out of this one since it's not very detail-heavy.

And all the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died.

I have always told you that the Bible is so subtle when it gives us earth-shattering statements, and he died.

He wasn't supposed to die, but he did die.

Just like God said he would.

And you know this is incredibly sad.

The man who at some point must have known he was supposed to live forever is now dead.

But what's worse, I'm sure he knew he had no one to blame but himself.

Can you imagine?

And I mean that.

I want you to imagine.

Try to imagine those last few moments of Adam's life and how excruciating it must have been for him spiritually as well as physically.

His head was probably full of memories of the only good times the human race has ever had.

He must have been able to remember that moment when he saw that beautiful garden for the first time.

His mind was no doubt drifting back to the time when he and his only ever wife were free of sin and well taken care of and guided by the Creator himself, even if those moments were distant, few, and fleeting.

I mean, how can you forget something like that?

He could surely still remember walking with God in the cool of the day.

He may have been thinking about the time so long ago when he and God were friends.

And now he's alone and dying.

We don't even know what happened to Eve.

She's not even mentioned anymore.

Sure, he had lots of kids, but they couldn't do much to comfort him.

And probably, in fact, probably the opposite.

Every time he looked at one of them, he saw that they were all like him now, sin stained and mortal.

He knew they were going to die too, and it was his fault.

As much as he may have wanted to, he couldn't pass on the legacy of walking with God, a legacy of being protected and fed and taken care of in a garden, in the garden.

His only lasting legacy was sin and ruin and death.

He failed his children, he failed their children, he failed us all.

Beyond tragic.

Not something you want to leave this life thinking about.

Now I suggest whenever you get a chance, try and see the humanity in these characters.

It will make them real to you.

And when you do, you're going to start to realize that these stories relate directly to you.

Though this is a short chapter, there are still many things to talk about, especially in these first few verses.

So let's stop here for tonight, and then we'll pick it up right there next time.

See you then.

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It is our prayer that this will be so for all of our listeners.

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