Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. This is study #5 of Genesis, chapter 5 and we are continuing to look at Genesis 5:3-5:
And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.
At this point we are going to begin investigating the Bible’s calendar of history as God has placed a calendar within the Bible. That is not just a possibility and it is not just someone’s perspective or just Mr. Camping’s point of view – it is a fact. It is a Biblical fact that God has placed a calendar within the Word of God, the Bible. We will see the first part of that calendar here in Genesis, chapter 5. Actually, the Bible’s calendar is twofold. The first part in this chapter lists 10 generations from Adam to Noah. Noah was the tenth generation and then came the flood. We read of Enoch in the Epistle of Jude that he was the “seventh from Adam.” So Enoch was the seventh generation and Noah was the tenth generation and the number “10” points to completeness, in which God completed the first part of His calendar and that calendar came to a conclusion with the flood.
After the flood, using the family of Noah, God began keeping track of time according to the lifespan of certain individuals and continued His Biblical calendar. So, here in Genesis, chapter 5 we have the pre-flood calendar. Later on, in Genesis 9, 10 and 11, we will see the post-flood calendar and it is interesting how God speaks of the world as though there were two worlds. He identifies the world that “then was” and perished in the flood in the Book of 2Peter as He speaks of those 6,023 years of history that led up to the day of the flood. Then there is a “second world,” so to speak, after the flood and God continued his calendar and the Bible records history and when we lay it all out, the Bible gives a complete Biblical calendar, both pre-flood and post-flood, that will take us through to the days of Abraham.
Once the time of Abraham is reached, God focuses on the family of Abraham, which becomes the nation of Israel and then the time runs through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Israel enters into Egypt for 430 years and then they come out of Egypt and they are in the wilderness for 40 years and then they enter the land of Canaan. Then God gives us the period of the judges, with timelines for that period of time. Then following the judges, God allowed the nation of Israel to have kings and God gives timelines for the kings that bring us down through history until the destruction of Israel in the North and Judah in the South, which was the end of the period for the kings. Then we have timelines that project and bring us from the Book of Daniel to the time of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so forth. So the Bible established the birth of Christ and the year He went to the cross, and so forth. We have a Biblical calendar of history that goes from creation all the way to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us take a closer look at the calendar God has given us in Genesis, chapter 5. Again, it is a calendar that can be laid out from Adam and goes thousands of years. The only question (which we will not look at now) is how we align the Biblical calendar with our current Gregorian calendar, but we will address that question later.
Again, it says in Genesis 5:3:
And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:
We have already talked about the 130-year mark. It was 130 years from creation. But now let us talk about the phrase “called his name.” It is obvious in this case that the immediate father of Seth was Adam because there was only Adam and Eve. We will find that this phrase is made up of two Hebrew words, “qârâ” and “shêm.” The word “qârâ” is translated as “called” and it is Strong’s #7121. The word “shêm” translated as “name” is Strong’s #8034. Whenever this phrase is used, it indicates an immediate father/son relationship and this is a very important thing for us to understand because we are trying to see how God has laid out his calendar and how He has laid out the generations from Adam. It is basically going to fall into three different areas:
In the Bible an individual can be said to be the son of another individual, but is not an immediate son. For example, it says in Matthew 1:1:
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Was Jesus Christ the immediate son of David? Was Jesus the immediate son of Abraham? Of course, he was not; Jesus was born some 2,000 years after Abraham and about 1,000 years after King David ascended the throne, so there is no way He was a direct son. But, again, when there is a later descendant of an individual, that person can properly be called the son of the ancestor. That is how God can hide information and “cloud the issue,” especially since it was God’s plan to keep the Biblical calendar of history hidden on the pages of the Bible throughout most of history. Only when we reached the time of the end did God open the Scriptures and reveal the Biblical timeline to His people, primarily through opening the understanding of Mr. Camping back in the 1970s when he wrote the book, “Adam When?” You may be able to find it online. It is very, very helpful to see how it is all laid out and how the Biblical calendar of history is in view in the early chapters of Genesis.
God can use the word “son” when it does mean an immediate father/son relationship or He can use the word “son” and it can mean a father/grandson or father/great grandson or it can even indicate a descendent several generations later.
Let us look at a couple of verses. It says in Genesis 21:3:
And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.
Here is our phrase “called the name,” from “qârâ – shêm.” We know that Isaac was an immediate or direct son of Abraham.
It says in Genesis 25:25-26:
And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.
Both Jacob and Esau had their names called by their parents and we know they were the immediate sons.
It says in Genesis 29:32-33:
And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely JEHOVAH hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me. And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because JEHOVAH hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon.
We would find this phrase “called his name” with all the sons she bore.
It says in Genesis 30:8:
And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali.
It says in Genesis 30:11:
And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad.
In these two verses, they are referring to sons born to their handmaids, but insofar as the phrase “called his name” and how it is used what is significant is that they were children born right at that time and not later descendants. For all intents and purposes, the way these children were born to the surrogates was viewed as though they were their own children. Rachel looked upon the child Naphtali as her own child because he was born to her maid and Leah looked upon Gad as her own child because he was born to her maid. These children were not born a hundred years later, but they were born right at that time and the phrase “qârâ – shêm” refers to an immediate father/son relationship in the Biblical calendar.
So, back in Genesis, chapter 5 when Adam begat a son in his own likeness and “called his name” Seth, it says in Genesis 5:4:
And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:
The timeline is not going through Adam. What I mean by that is that we are not to count up all of Adam’s years as 930 years in terms of the calendar of history because God is not relating the calendar with Adam after the 130-year mark. Once Eve gave birth to Seth when Adam was 130, the calendar then follows Seth and not Adam, so Adam’s 800th year or his total lifespan of 930 years is something we could come up with a date for, but that is really a side note and it is not significant as far as the Biblical calendar of history is concerned.
We wonder why God tells us that Adam lived 800 years after he begat Seth. When we break down the number “800” it is “4 x 5 x 40.” The number “4” points to the furthest extent; the number five points to the atonement; and the number “40” points to testing. As we look at Adam as a type and figure of Christ, we could tie that in with what God does at the time of the end of the world after 13,000 years. It is the furthest extent of the Gospel and the atonement is in full view because all those Christ atoned for became saved. And, of course, testing is in view as God severely tries and tests His people at the time of the end of the world.
As far as the 930 years it is a number that breaks down to “10 x 3 x 31.” The number “10” points to completeness and the number “3” points to purpose. I do not know what the spiritual meaning of the number “31” is, although I have seen that number several times when we break down larger numbers. Just because we do not know what the meaning is does not mean it does not have a meaning, but I do not understand what it is.
God is giving us the lifespan of Adam and Adam then died. He was not murdered like his son Abel. Adam died and this is the first death recorded in the Bible that was not a result of murder, so we can see that this death is just further fulfilment of what God had said to Adam and Eve concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: “For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” And they did die, spiritually, but physical death also entered into the world and it came to them personally when their bodies began to age. Because of the perfect condition of Adam’s body and the world, it took a long period of time compared to our relatively short lifespan today of seventy or eighty years. To live 930 years is a long time, but they had the “sentence of death” within and their physical bodies began to weaken and see corruption until they finally gave out. The perfect “human machine” that God had made was a body that was absolutely good and perfect and would have functioned perfectly if there had been no sin. Sin is why there is corruption. Things rust and break down in this world. Cars break down and things decay. It is because of the working of sin. Finally, it will bring death: “The wages of sin is death.” Now Adam had died physically. The Bible does not tell us of Adam’s spiritual condition. He may have been a child of God or he may not have been a child of God. If he was not a child of God, then at the point of his death he ceased to exist and that was it. He is gone forever. His body would have turned to dust and his conscious being is gone forever. His thoughts perished in that very day and he died like a beast. That is the language of the Bible. It is a sad and tragic thing that Adam died, but it is the way of the world. It is how every generation concludes until the time that Christ comes.
It goes on to say in Genesis 5:6:
And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos:
The number “105” breaks down to “3 x 5 x 7.” The number “3” points to God’s purpose. The number “5” points to atonement. The number “7” points to perfection.
Then it says in Genesis 5:7-8:
And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.
Here, it says that Seth begat Enos, but it does not say “called his name” Enos. The phrase “qârâ – shêm” is missing, so we have to search everywhere in the Bible for all available evidence to see if this was an immediate father/son relationship. We do not have to search very far because it said in Genesis 4:26:
And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of JEHOVAH.
Here, the phrase “qârâ – shêm” is present. He called his name Enos, so the early generations are Adam to Seth; then when Adam was 130 it went from Seth to Enos. Enos was born when Seth was 105. As we are trying to keep track of this Biblical calendar, we have the 130 years of Adam and now we go 105 years to Enos. When Enos was born to Seth, the age of the earth was 235 years (130 + 105) from creation.
The number “235” breaks down to “5 x 47,” and, again, as far as I know the number “47” is not a number of which we know the spiritual meaning.
At this point in time, Adam is still alive and Seth is alive and Enos is alive because it is only 235 years from creation. Adam would not die until he was 930, so he is going to live almost 700 years more from the point of the birth of Enos. All three men are alive, but God is not going to attach the Biblical calendar to all three men, just as Adam’s lifespan went to the wayside, so, too, when Enos was born Seth’s lifespan will go to the wayside insofar as the Biblical calendar is concerned. Enos is going to be the Biblical calendar patriarch going forward and the one we will track as far as his lifespan. In verse 7, it said that Seth lived after he began Enos 807 years and he lived to be 912 years old. Again, the 807 years is not significant, nor is the 912 years. They play no part in the Biblical calendar of history and once Enos was born the calendar is now following his days.