The Longsuffering, Merciful, and Gracious of God
A Devotional Series from Genesis
Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
4/30 Reading Portions: Numbers 7; Psalm 42-43; Song of Solomon 5; Hebrews 5
Genesis 5:6-20
When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh. Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died. When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan. Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan 815 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died. When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel. Kenan lived after he fathered Mahalalel 840 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died. When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared. Mahalalel lived after he fathered Jared 830 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died. When Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered Enoch. Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.
MERCY
Some new believer may read all the names in Genesis 5 and go away scratching his or her head. Such a person may have thought ‘why?’ when reading the progeny of Cain in Genesis 4:18. If that’s the case, Genesis 36 recording the descendants of Esau will certainly befuddle the babe in Christ. My believing father passed away in 1963 and left behind his King James Version personal Bible. At 12 years of age, I decided to read his Bible, as an unsaved adolescent. By the time I got here, I put his Bible down and didn’t pick up another Bible until the Lord saved me in 1985, several weeks before my 25th birthday. Nevertheless, if the Holy Spirit ordained this portion of God’s Word important enough to be preserved for you and me, then it would behoove us not only to read the portion, but also to consider it each year we read it. So, what can we glean from this passage?
First, as we have considered from Genesis 4:26, profane defilement of God’s name had already begun during the days of Seth at Enosh’s birth, provoking godly men of faith to call upon the name of God Almighty. This lineage of Adam’s, via Seth unto Noah presents God’s longsuffering and mercy to bring about the promised Messiah (Gen 3:15), and salvation to His creation. Were other men and women of faith born during this 1,656-year period besides those named here? Most certainly. Yet by the time the floodwaters came upon the earth, there were only eight souls saved (1 Pet 3:20), because God was gracious to Noah (Gen 6:8), just as He was gracious to all of Noah’s forefathers, listed here in Genesis 5.
The length of the days of these men’s lives expresses God’s glorious grace, giving these souls the opportunity to worship Him for so long, as well as the stewardship of raising sons and daughters in the fear and admonition of the Lord (Eph 6:4).
On the other side of this, we should also consider God’s merciful longsuffering in maintaining a Messianic witness in the lives of these men for a light to shine in the darkened lives of all those wretches who were cursing the name of God, who lived in continual evil like those who lived prior to the day of hydraulic judgment (Gen 6:5).
Jesus Christ, our Lord, has done the same for you and me. Though our names and brief histories may not have been written in the Sacred Pages of His written Word, our names are certainly written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. And being there, we are blessed with the stewardship of Christ’s gospel, to be the testimonies of His gracious light to a lost and dying world that is just as evil as the days of Cain and Seth. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
