The Book of Genesis

Book of Genesis # 18 This lecture covers Chapter 5 of the Book of Genesis describing the line of Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve mentioned by name. This line is the righteous line from which the Savior will one day be born. Its proximate importance stems from the contrast the ten names mentioned here offer with the descendants of Cain. The line of Cain makes mention of profession and technology whereas the line of Seth mentions age and length of life. The line of Cain centers around power, might, and revenge, that of Seth around man's weakness and calling upon the name of the Lord. It is this line that leads to Noah, the one with whom God will renew the Covenant and who will evade the devastating flood. This account is written against a Babylonian mythological background that retells the feat of ten kings, the last of which is also a hero of the flood. That similar accounts of the flood are shared by neighboring nations should not come as a surprise for a catastrophic event of a magnitude comparable to the first or second world war would have been long remembered and thus passed on in a variety of forms. This is therefore not surprising. Nevertheless, the account in Scripture has traits so utterly unique that lead us to ask the question why? What was it that provided the narrator of Genesis an intuition that none of his contemporaries had? This question and others like it impress upon the mind of the attentive reader that the Book of Genesis is indeed a unique masterpiece of antiquity written by an author who transcended his time and had left us an incredible legacy and those of us who have a deep abiding faith and some familiarity with the Presence of God have come to know that this is indeed the work of the Holy Spirit.