Family Tree (part 2)

Family Tree (part 2)

<< Genesis 5 >> King James Version 1This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; 2Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. 3And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: 4And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: 5And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died. 6And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos: 7And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters: 8And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died. 9And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan: 10And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters: 11And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died. 12And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel: 13And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters: 14And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died. 15And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared: 16And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters: 17And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died. 18And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch: 19And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 20And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died. 21And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: 22And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 23And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: 24And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. 25And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech: 26And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters: 27And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died. 28And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: 29And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed. 30And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters: 31And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died. 32And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Sermon

A lot of people will just skip over long genealogies like we have in this chapter today, but what they don’t realise is that there is a lot to learn from these genealogies, as we will find out in our study today!

It really does make a difference who our parents are. You should be extremely thankful if you are brought up by spiritual parents.

Our genealogy in our last session was that of Cain’s and most of the names mentioned were of wicked people who knew not our Lord. But today we learn about the good guys, those who followed the Lord and had done so for many generations.

What I really love is when I hear about 4^th 5^th or 6^th generation Christians, they have been taught about the Bible from their youth and thus are very knowledgeable. I myself am a second generation Christian and am exceedingly grateful that The Lord has placed me in such a privileged position.

So let’s start!

1This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;

This is the family tree of Adam.

Adam was created in the image of God, and as we have previously discussed, because we are made in the image of God we should try and look after our bodies, or that would be like spoiling a painting of God.

2Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

Male and Female! God gave us the ability to reproduce, and so we have the following Family tree.

3And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

Seth was Adam and Eve’s 3^rd son after Cain and Abel (who Cain murdered).

Adam had his son Seth when he was 130 years old. And Seth was born 130 years after the creation.

4And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:

So Adam lived a total of 930 years, which is a very very long time! To give you a little idea of how long Adam lived: 930 years ago would be the year 1081, not long after the Batttle of Hastings in 1066 if you know anything about English history, and long before the Europeans discovered America!

So as you can imagine, Adam saw a lot of things happen during his lifetime.

But you may ask why we don’t live that long anymore? Well it seems that after the flood God reduced the age of everyone’s death.

But as a Christian there comes a time in your life where you begin to rather die than live, as you become aware that after death you will go to Heaven where you will be forever with Jesus. Then you wish that God will take your life away that you may spend eternity with Jesus. So you see we really shouldn’t envy Adam and his long life!

5And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.

This is the first recorded natural death. There are two other recorded deaths: The death of the animal from which God used the skins to cloth Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and then there was the unnatural murder of Abel.

So Adam must have wondered whether if he looked after himself well that maybe he could live forever. But that’s not possible; death is the curse that Adam inherited the day that he sinned in the Garden of Eden.

6And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos:

Enos was the Grandson of Adam, and during his life, the population of the world would be getting near 1000 people. This must have been quite strange for Adam as he would likely often see someone who he didn’t know and yet they must have been one of his decendants.

7And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters:

So he too lived a very long time, a total of 912 years.

8And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.

Seth too died! I think we are starting to see a bit of a trend here. As we go down through this chapter we will continually hear the words “and he died”. My hope is that it will cause you to realise that you too will die one day, and I really hope that you are ready!

9And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan:

Now the populations starting to increase again... at this time the population of the world is about the size of a small city or a bit town.

10And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters:

Enos was 905 when he died. I wonder what they decided to do with all that time they had? Do you reckon they twiddled their thumbs all day long? I reckon that they spent their time just like we do now, and felt guilty when they wasted time and felt that they got too old too fast as we do today.

My advice to you is that you don’t know how long you have to live, certainly not as long as these people did, so treasure every moment you have. Every second is precious!

11And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died.

Enos might have thought that he could live forever, but even he had to die sometime. Death is certain, so there should be no reason to not be prepared for it!

12And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel:

Now the population’s of the world is probably nearing about 500,000 people.

I kind of wonder, Cainan had a son at the age of 70, so he must have married not too long before that, so he must have been quite old, don’t you think?

13And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters:

910 years old! You will only live a fraction of that time! Use your time wisely!

14And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died.

He died too! Are you getting scared?

You should be, you only ever get one shot at life, make it count!

15And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared: 16And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters: 17And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died.

The population of the world has gone up to about 15 million now, and everyone is dying, including Mahalaleel.

You know someone might say of me someday, Michael Buckingham lived 25 years and had a son: and after he had his son Michael lived another 40 years and had other sons and daughters: and all the days of Michael were 65 years: and.... HE DIED!

The same could be said of you!

Death is now upon the road!

Be ready!

18And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch: 19And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 20And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.

Now the population’s about 300 Million, the population of The United States; and you know what? Everyone eventually dies!

You could imagine, everyone by this time are starting to become afraid of death and are trying all kinds of experiments to see if they can discover the key to immortality. But obviously no-one found it or they would be alive this very day.

Death is the one event no-one can stop!

I will have to finish there, but in our next session we will read about someone who didn’t die, but he still had to pass from this world to the next, so don’t start thinking there’s hope that you could live forever!

It is important that you realise your doom, accept it, and prepare yourself to one day stand before the judgement seat of God!

I pray that it will be well for you on that day!

May the Lord add His blessing and pardon anything I have said amiss!

Amen

Family Tree

Family Tree

<< Genesis 4 >> King James Version

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16And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

17And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch. 18And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech. 19And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. 20And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as havecattle. 21And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. 22And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.

23And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.

24If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

25And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. 26And 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 the LORD.

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Sermon

We continue where we left off in our last sessions. Cain has just murdered his younger brother: Abel. Then The Lord pronounced a very horrible and yet mild curse upon Cain, that he should be alone, a traveller, and without friends.

So we carry on:

16And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

The name “nod” seems to mean wandering or wanderers. Presumably Cain was the first inhabitant of the land, and so the name probably was given by him.

East of Eden gives the impression that perhaps the land of Nod was in the northern part of India or Pakistan.

17And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.

Cain’s likely took his wife after leaving the presence of the Lord, while dwelling in the land of Nod. I don’t believe that Cain’s wife had any biological parents, unless she was Cain’s full sister, which I feel is quite unlikely as it was forbidden of God in later generations. But I am highly opinionated in this case, so I advise that you search the scriptures diligently if you are any further curious.

Cain built a city, presumably due to his fear of being murdered, so he built this city for protection. But the population of this city must have been extremely small, as it would only have been Cain and his wife and children. Unless any of his brothers or sisters joined him. Tradition states that Adam and Eve had about 30 sons and about 20 daughters but there is no scriptural proof for this tradition.

18And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech.

If each of these decendants of Cain had 20 to 30 children, as was quite likely in those early years of the world, by the time of Lamech there would probably be a total of about 300 Million people, approximately the population of the United States of America. This just gives you an idea of how fast the population of the world grew in those days even in the relatively short time of 6 generations. And so Lamech would not have known the majority of people that he came across in those days!

19And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

This is the first mention of polygamy in the Bible, and may well have been a radical move in those days, as the family structure that was given to Adam and Eve at the beginning of creation was that there should be 1 man to 1 woman.

It must be noted however that in years to come it had become quite common practise for wealthy people to have multiple wives, for example: David, Solomon, and Jacob.

20And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle.

Notice that this was the difference between Cain and Abel, one was a gardener the other a shepherd. But now seven generations on from Cain, Jabal takes up Cattle farming.

21And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.

You know that must have been very irritating for those two boys Jubal and Jabel to have such similar names!

And Jubal here seemed to be a music lover (just like me), and thus created the harp and the organ. This would not have been a church organ, but probably more likely a kind of a mouth organ.

I believe that music in itself is very good, as all references in Scripture to music are in a good light and it is often thought that music will be played by the angels in Heaven. But on the other hand there is some music which has been polluted by wicked words which it would be wise of us if we could as much as possible keep away from such the like!

22And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.

This must have been a very exciting period in history, as this were continually being invented, and everyone seemed to be famous for the invention of this that and the other.

Tubalcain seemed to be a craftsman in making items out of brass and iron.

Why Naamah is of importance is unknown. Perhaps she meant something to someone at sometime, but she’s lost in history now. And indeed we all shall be just a name in some historic record some day, I just wish that the record that I leave behind will show that I have laid down my life for my Lord Jesus Christ!

23And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.

Lamech here confesses his sins to his wives! Don’t you think that maybe there is someone much more important that he should be confessing his sins to?

24If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

Lamech here is claiming some similarity to Cain’s murdering of Abel, but seems to have a very proud view of himself, as he thinks that the blessing should be much greater to him than to Cain.

25And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

God again gave Adam a son, who he called Seth. There were doubtless many more sons and daughters but Seth was of historical importance as the ancestor of Noah.

26And 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 the LORD.

It seems that after the incident of Cain and Abel that The Lord stopped talking to mankind as it were face to face, and so the only way that mankind could contact The Lord was through praying. And it was in the time of Seth and his son Enos that people began praying.

I love the words of the hymn:

Wrestling prayer can wonders do

Bring relief in deepest straits

Prayer can force a passage through

Iron bars and brazen gates

May the good Lord add His blessing on this sermon, and may it be of help to someones soul.

Amen

5 Minute Sermon: Think Lovely Thoughts

The Curse

The Curse

<< Genesis 4 >> King James Version

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9And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? 10And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. 11And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; 12When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.13And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me. 15And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

16And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

17And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch. 18And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech. 19And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. 20And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as havecattle. 21And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. 22And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.

23And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.

24If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

25And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. 26And 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 the LORD.

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Sermon

We continue where we left off in our last session. Cain has just murdered his younger brother Abel, because he was jealous of him.

And now we continue:

9And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?

God asked Cain this question not because He was looking for Abel everywhere, but just couldn’t find him, no, God is all wise and knows everything, so God knew where Abel was. But God asked this question to Cain to give him a chance to confess his sins to God.

But instead of confessing his sins, Cain tells a complete and utter lie, and says that he doesn’t have a clue where his brother is.

10And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.

Cain thought he could deceive even God, and here in this verse God proves to Cain that He does know where Abel is. And I believe and am sure that Abel was at that minute sitting on a throne next to the Lord Himself in glory.

11And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;

And now here comes the curse. All sinners are cursed, even you and I, if we are Christians, are cursed through Adam. And here Cain receives an even greater curse.

I don’t know where Cain is spending eternity now, the Bible seems to be silent concerning that, but sadly we have no reason to believe that he ever repented of his sins.

12When 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 curse is in two parts: first Cain is cursed in having extra labour when farming the ground. Then secondly, Cain is to be a Nomad, a traveller without any homeland, no people to call his own, and an outcast.

Notice that the first part of the curse is very similar to that given to his father Adam in the previous chapter.

The second part of the curse is very much like the curse of Ishmael, the father of the Muslims, whose hand is against everyone and everyone’s hand is against him. Alone and without anyone to help!

This is like an atheist, who only lives for themselves and to bring pleasure to themselves, and the only friends they have are other atheists who are only friends as long as they make them feel happy, but when trouble comes they find that all their so called friends have all deserted them.

But the Christian is not so! The Christian has a true friend who is God, and fellow Christians who will always stand beside them even when trouble comes. Indeed the Christians anchor is sure, and they will never lack friendship and joy. The atheist on the other hand is all darkness and alone and they will die alone and spend eternity alone in Hell!

Solemn thought!

13And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.

Now Cain finally realises that sin is no light matter! Every sin must be accounted for! And every sin, even the smallest little sin is enough to condemn us to an eternity in Hell!

14Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.

Cain is afraid of someone finding him and killing him because he will be travelling all alone and vulnerable.

But the question is: Who might kill him?

You might say: Maybe some other nation?

But we have only heard of Adam and Eve and their 2 sons, so a total of four people in the world, and now that Abel is dead that leaves only Adam and Eve who might kill him.

But I think that maybe God created more people from the dust of the ground as Adam and Eve were, and thus it might be likely for some unknown stranger to come and slay Cain. And also Cain and his brother Seth (who we read about later in this chapter) had wives, and it would be unlikely that their wives would be their own sisters, so it is quite likely that God went out and created more people.

15And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

Amongst all this cursing, yet our ever merciful God took time to give Cain a blessing. This blessing was the protection of God against any that should come against Cain to kill him.

Well, that’s all for now.

I pray that the Lord would add His blessing, and that some of this sermon may be of benefit to someone’s soul.

Amen