Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. This is study #12 of Genesis, chapter 5 and we are going to read Genesis 5:28-32:

And Lamech lived an hundred 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 JEHOVAH 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 seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died. And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Again, the Biblical calendar has worked its way down from creation to this point where Noah was born when his father Lamech was 182. It is the year 5423 from creation, a year we recognize as 5590BC. It is the 10th generation from Adam. Noah is the 10th calendar reference patriarch and it is God’s full intention to destroy the first world which has reached its planned completion in Noah’s 600th year. We will read about this later. Early in the next chapter God will reveal His intention to destroy the world and He will command Noah to build the ark.

At this point there is going to be a break in the genealogy. There will be a pause in the giving of the Biblical calendar, which will be attached to Noah’s lifespan. He was the calendar reference patriarch up until two years after the flood when the Biblical calendar will resume and Shem will become the Biblical calendar reference patriarch. In Genesis 6, 7, 8 and 9 we will read of the time before the flood; then we will read of the actual flood; and then we will read some early history that occurred after the flood after Noah and his family came out of the ark. Again, God is going to bring things to completion and then time will continue after the flood and God will establish a new calendar after the flood beginning with Shem.

Let us just look at some of the information here in these last few verses of Genesis, chapter 5. Again, it says in Genesis 5:28:

And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:

If you break down the number “182” it works out to “2 x 7 x 13,” and the number “2” relates to the caretakers of the Word of God; the number “7” points to perfection; and the number “13” relates to the end of the world. So Noah was born after 182 years and he was the person God would use as He brought an end to the first earth, which is a type and figure of the end of the world that will come in our day and finalize the destruction of this creation.

We read in Genesis 5:29 that Lamech “called his name” Noah and we know that indicates an immediate son. It says in Genesis 5:29:

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 JEHOVAH hath cursed.

This must have constantly been on the minds of people during pre-flood days because they were not that far removed from Adam. They had a completely different perspective than people do today because they knew true history. It had been passed down from their fathers before them. They did not have to go back that far before they came to Enos whose father was Seth whose father was Adam. Of course, we have access to true history, too, because it is recorded in the Bible, but we also have a world that denies this and fabricates ridiculous theories. I do not think that was what was going on then. There may have been certain individuals that tried to deny the truth, but it was just too close to the beginning (of this world). These things had been handed down from generation to generation and the generations had not really stretched out all that far, so they understood that there was the creation and that Adam was created and they understood there was a Creator, eternal God. They also understood that God cursed the ground because of man’s sin. It was declared to Adam back in Genesis 3:17-18:

And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; horns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

This was reiterated to Cain when God pronounced His judgment against him, in Genesis 4:11-12:

And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

The early men of the world understood that the ground was cursed because of sin, so Lamech was 182 and he bore his son and called his name Noah because “This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which JEHOVAH hath cursed.”

It is interesting that after the flood when Noah and his family came out of the ark it says in Genesis 8:21:

And JEHOVAH smelled a sweet savour; and JEHOVAH said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

So in Lamech’s statement it is interesting that he refers to Noah as one that would comfort them “concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which JEHOVAH hath cursed.” The name Noah means “rest,” and as a result of what God did through Noah, it is true that there would be comfort and a sort of respite from the curse upon the ground after the flood. God had poured out His wrath and it as though it has produced a new earth and when Noah and his family came out of the ark the first world was gone and they entered into a “new earth.” It is actually a picture of the new heaven and new earth and in that new heaven and new earth there will be no more curse upon the ground or upon the earth. God tells us that in Revelation 22:3:

And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

God is speaking of the new creation that will only happen when this present earth is destroyed and that is why this statement is made in Genesis, chapter 8 because when Noah comes out of the ark after the first earth is destroyed it represents the elect of God entering into the new heaven and new earth that is no longer under a curse. When we analyze everything Lamech said it is actually sort of a Messianic reference because the Lord Jesus Christ will ultimately bring His people into the completion of their salvation and into “rest,” which will take place in the new heaven and new earth. There will be no more curse upon man or upon the creation because it is a completely new creation and a completely new creature created perfect in both body and soul.

Let us look a little bit more at Noah’s name. The name “Noah” is Strong’s #5146 and it comes from Strong’s #5118, which means rest. Strong’s #5118 is only found a handful of things, but it is identical to Strong’s #5117, which is also translated as “rest.” So I think it is better to say that Noah’s name comes from #5117 and this word is used in Exodus 20:11:

For in six days JEHOVAH made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore JEHOVAH blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

JEHOVAH rested. It is the related word to the name “Noah.” His name means “rest.” I have mentioned this before, but I will mention it again that it seems significant that God destroyed the world 6,023 from creation. For instance, we know that in 2Peter, chapter 3 God relates the flood and a timeline, as He warned Noah of the time of the flood, saying, “For yet seven days,” and He relates it the destruction of the second world in 2Peter 3, verse 8: “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” We are familiar with the time path from the flood in 4990BC to the year 2011AD, which was exactly 7,000 years to the day. Again, God warned that in seven days He would bring the flood waters and 7,000 years later He brought the beginning of the Day of Judgment. But if we follow that same sort of methodology (one day is as a thousand years), then from creation to the 1000th year of creation would be like one day; then the 2,000th year would be the second day, and so forth, and when you would get to 6,000 years the first day after 6,000 years would be as though you were entering into the “seventh day” from creation. The first six days of the week are 6,000 years and then comes the seventh day of the week or 7,000 years.

What did God establish from the first week of creation? He worked six days and on the seventh day He rested, according to what we just read in Exodus 20, verse 11. He rested the seventh day and He made it holy, the Sabbath day. It was Saturday throughout the Old Testament period and it was not changed until Christ arose from the dead early that Sunday morning, when the Bible literally says, “In the end of the Sabbaths,” and then refers to the first of the Sabbaths (the Sunday Sabbath), after 11,000 years of history. But it is very possible that from the creation God had in mind to allow the world to continue until the 6,000-year mark and then when in millennial terms the “day” turned to the seventh day He would destroy it in observance of Sabbath. So God caused Lamech to name his son Noah, a man that would bring about Sabbath rest and he would be the one that would comfort us for the work and toil of our hands.

Of course, Noah is being called a “rest,” but we know that Christ is our “rest.” Noah is being used as a figure of the Lord Jesus Christ and he is also someone that from the time of his birth until the point of the flood in his 600th year…and, by the way, the number “6,000” is “6 x 10 x 10 x 10” or the completeness to the 3rd power, which would indicate God’s purpose that we “work” until we get to Sabbath and there would be rest. Again, it is the destruction of the first world and the salvation of the eight souls in the ark, which points to those that find rest in Christ through the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ who died for them from the foundation of the world.

This is just something to keep in mind because when we look at the 7,000 years from the flood and we come to the year 2011…well, I do not think I will get into this right now. We will just save this and talk more about it a little later when we get into the historical account of the flood. It may be a little premature here, but we will discuss it later. For now, just consider that God did bring destruction after 6,023 years. You might say, “Well, it was not exactly 6,000 years, but it was 6,023. If God was observing Sabbath why would He wait 23 years after the year 6000?” You have to keep in mind that the 23-year period is the Tribulation period and here is how God speaks of the tribulation period in 2Chronicles 36:21:

To fulfil the word of JEHOVAH by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.

That is the 70 that refers to the historical tribulation for the nation of Judah, but it spiritually pictures the Great Tribulation that came at the end of the world. It says, “As long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath,” which was throughout the 70-year period. To say it another way, throughout the 23-year Tribulation, there was a keeping of the Sabbath and at the end of the Tribulation, judgment came. So when God reached the year 6000 and it is Sabbath, then he started a “tribulation,” which in itself observes the Sabbath.

Let us go back to Genesis 5:30:

And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:

The number “595” breaks down to “5 x 17 x 19,” with the number “5” pointing to the atonement and the number “17” pointing to heaven. The number “19” is one of those numbers we are not sure about its spiritual meaning, but it does seem to appear fairly often, but we will need wisdom we do not have right now if we are ever to understand its meaning.

Then it says in Genesis 5:31:

And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.

The “777” years of Lamech’s lifespan does break down into significant numbers. It is “3 x 7 x 37.” The number “3” points to God’s purpose; the number “7” points to perfection; and the number “37” points to judgment.

Lamech died five years before the flood. He was 182 when Noah was born and he lived after that 595 years, so that means Noah was 595 when his father died and five years later Noah would be 600 years old and that was the year God brought the flood. God allowed Lamech to physically die before bringing the flood. Actually, many of the patriarchs (and maybe all of them) would have been dead. I think it is all of them. All the calendar reference patriarchs would have been dead before the flood began and only Noah was alive, so when God looked down upon the world of Noah’s day at that handful of millions, He only saw a very few or a remnant that were righteous before Him because they were His elect. As we know, only eight people out of the entire world got in the ark and were delivered from the flood because none of the rest were saved. Among them were women and children and many “nice” people, but they were not saved. They were people whose sins were not covered in the atonement and, therefore, they had to pay for their own sins. To do that, they had to die.