And he died

The Sunday school lessons in my church lately have been in Genesis. They are written and edited by Synod and passed down to the congregations. Most of the lessons are very good, and they come in all different grade levels. Well, this last week I noticed that the lessons skipped Genesis 5 for some reason. I guess I really do know the reason they skipped it; I’m sure it is hard to make an entire lesson from the “Adam begat Seth, Seth begat Enosh” type stuff. This tends to bore little kids. Thousands of years can be glossed over in one chapter this way with nothing really interesting occurring from our prospective--at least nothing that God has chosen to tell us about.

There is one thing that really stood out to me in Genesis 5 though, but first I want to set the stage by quoting some of Genesis 3.

1Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, "You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"
2And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, "You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die."'
4Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 5For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (NKJV)

Christ said that the devil is a liar and the father of lies. He does not abide in the truth because there is no truth in him. One of the most horrible parts of his lie to Eve was “you will not surely die.” Because of Adam and Eve’s sin, we all die. We are born into this world spiritually dead, and we will one day die physically.

I think this is a large part of the truth that Genesis 5 is trying to teach. The phrase “and he died” occurs eight times in the chapter. It is almost as if God is saying “Let’s see who was telling the truth.” So we have about eight generations or so from the Godly line of Seth that all died. (The fact that Enoch did not die is definitely worth noting, but knowing that only two people in the history of the world--Enoch and Elijah--have not seen death makes my point even clearer.) The chapter is depressing to read. The pattern is repeated over and over again:

6Seth lived one hundred and five years, and begot Enosh. 7After he begot Enosh, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters. 8So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died.

9Enosh lived ninety years, and begot Cainan. 10After he begot Cainan, Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years, and had sons and daughters. 11So all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years; and he died.

12Cainan lived seventy years, and begot Mahalalel. 13After he begot Mahalalel, Cainan lived eight hundred and forty years, and had sons and daughters. 14So all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died.(NKJV)

God’s word proved to be true. I will remember that the next time I’m tempted to doubt the promises of God.