Literature types in scripture include narrative, poetry, law, prophecy and history. The book of Genesis falls into the narrative category. This is fairly easy reading for us because it is like reading a story. However there are parts of the Biblical narrative that are challenging for us to read. We encounter one type in Genesis 4 & 5– the first genealogy.
When I first encountered a genealogy in scripture I was confused. Later I either skimmed or skipped those passages, thinking that they really don’t apply to me anyways. Choosing to copy all the scripture for myself, I now was committed to not skip or skim through these parts of scripture and I learned a few things.
Why Should I Care About Genealogy in Scripture
Genealogies are not in scripture by accident. Biblical authors had a purpose for inclusion of these records. A very important purpose is to track the lineage of the Messiah (savior) that was to come. At this point in the story we see the very beginning of this plan which starts at Genesis 3:15.
” And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.”
Genesis 3:15
These were God’s words to Adam and Eve when telling them the punishment for their sin. They were to be separated from God, cast out of the garden, have toil in their work, pain in childbirth and were going to die. However in the midst of the punishment God gave them this promise. A future child of the woman would defeat sin and death. This promise is the first prophesy in scripture. Keep this in mind as you read genealogies further in the story.
Patterns are Key to Learning through Geneology
Biblical authors were very deliberate on what they included and you can observe this in the patterns that are present. As I copied Genesis 5 there was a definite pattern.
When [name] lived [number] years they had [name of son].
After he became father of [son] he lived [number] years he had other sons and daughters.
Altogether [name] lived [number] years and then he died.
As I was copying this passage it was really obvious when the pattern was broken. Genesis 5:21-24 is an example of this. According to this verse Enoch did not die. “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more because God took him away.” This made me ask the question “Why was this significant enough for the authors to include?”
My study Bible notes pointed me back to chapter 4. This contains the genealogy of Cain (the one who killed his brother). When you read this genealogy there is no real pattern and no mention of how long anyone lived. It is just a list of father and son until you get to Lamech. However, if you count the generations in both genealogies you do see a pattern; Lamech is the 7th son from Adam through Cain and Enoch is the 7th son from Adam through Seth.
Seven in scripture is a significant number. A common pattern used by Biblical authors is that anything in a multiple of 7 signals completeness. We see this first in the story of creation. The authors were really clever to use this idea when writing these two genealogies. Lamech was totally evil. In fact if you look in his genealogy there is no mention of God at all. On the other hand, Enoch was so good that God did not allow him to die.
It is through the line of Enoch that salvation through the flood occurred as Enoch was the great grandfather of Noah.
So as you can see patterns are very important when reading genealogies. We will explore more about patterns in genealogies further in future posts.
Genealogy Mapping
To entertain myself as I copied the genealogy of Seth I decided to draw out the lifespans of everyone on graph paper. I wrote their name, and drew a line (to scale) of how long they lived. I started the son’s line underneath the father’s at the year their son was born. As I looked at my completed graph I noticed several things that blows my mind.
First, lifespans after the flood were way shorter than before. This meant that before the flood it was possible to know your great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather personally. You could have heard him telling stories from the good old days that were 400 years ago.
Second, if you look carefully, Methuselah the grandfather of Noah, could have heard and relayed stories directly from Adam. In addition, Noah could have shared stories with his son Shem and Shem could have actually known Abraham and relayed those stories to him. As I thought about it, I realized that means that there were fewer generations to relay the stories between Adam and Abraham than I had originally assumed.
As I considered this idea, I have more confidence that the scriptures as the written history of the nation of Israel are valid. If people lived longer you would have the validation of eyewitness testimony to things long ago. This works in the new testament as well. The 4 gospels, (Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John) were written anywhere from 50-90 AD. This means that there were people still alive who could validate the gospel accounts of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. God is so good to include this genealogy and timeline for us in scripture.
Check it out for yourself
As you can see there are more to Genealogies than meets the eye. Take your time to read through them and notice the patterns, or lack thereof, and let your mind question why the author chose to include it. Try it for yourself. I would love to hear from you what you learn! If you are new to my blog check out my welcome page and sign up to receive new content.
Deb
One response to “The First Genealogy”
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Thank you for sharing,
Thank you for sharing,