During the Christmas season, we tend to focus on the excitement of the lights, the food, and the great family time. These are all wonderful things, and they should be appreciated. As well, with so many clichés that abound about Christmas and being a Christian, it is also easy to be turned off to them. “Jesus is the reason for the season”, etc. Is there a deeper meaning than just that? Is there a deeper value in place then just a “reason for a season”?
In Luke 24, Jesus appears to two of His disciples that are walking along to Emmaus. While it is very interesting that He speaks to them and tries to explain what had just transpired concerning Himself, it is infinitely more interesting that the scripture says, “and beginning with Moses”. The first five books of the Bible were written by Moses. Jesus began telling them of Himself through the books of Moses. If the Gospel message is in the first five books of Moses, is it that they are encrypted? Why the mystery?
In the English language, we miss a lot of what would have been a normal thing for the Jewish people to see. While the language they have is very descriptive and too the point, it is even clearer in the names that they gave to their children. Each name had a very specific meaning, and anyone who spoke Hebrew understood this. With this in mind, how far in to the first five books of the Bible do we need to go before we see something that Jesus may have given to His two disciples along the “Road to Emmaus”?
Genesis chapter 5 is one of those chapters that most will skip over and keep reading to say that they have read the Bible in its entirety. At best, most have used this chapter to see how long it was between Adam and Noah; essentially the destruction of the earth via the flood. When looking at the Hebrew roots of these ten names, we see a completely different picture than just a list of names.
Adam – While the roots suggest a “human”, it is used predominately as “man” in the translation into English. That one is very straightforward.
Seth – Adam’s son was named Seth which means “appointed”. When Cain killed Abel, Eve conceived another son and said, “For God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.” She knew that the Messianic bloodline would have flowed through Abel but will now flow through Seth.
Enosh – Seth’s son was named Enosh which means “mortal, frail, or miserable”. It is from the root word “anash” which is “incurable” and is used of a wound, grief, woe, sickness, or wickedness. It was in the days of Enosh that men began to defile the name of the living God.
Kenan – Enosh’s son was named Kenan which means “sorrow, dirge, or elegy”.
Mahalalel – Kenan’s son was named Mahalalel which means “the Blessed God”. This is formed by two roots. Mahalal is “blessed or praise” and El is “the name of God”. El at the end of the name was a Godly entry. For example, Daniel means “God is my judge”.
Jared – Mahalalel’s son was named Jared which means “shall come down”. This hails from the root word yaradh which is a verb.
Enoch – Jared’s son was named Enoch which means “teaching or commencement”. He was the first of four generations of preachers. In fact, the earliest recorded prophecy was by Enoch, which amazingly deals with the Second Coming of Christ. It is found in Jude 14 and 15.
Methuselah – Enoch’s son was named Methuselah which means “His death shall bring”. The two root words in his name are “muth” which means death and “shalach” which means “to bring or to send forth”. Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah. Apparently, Enoch received the prophecy of the great flood and was told that as long as his son remained alive, the judgement of the flood would be withheld. Interestingly enough, the year Methuselah died, the flood came.
Lamech – Methuselah’s son was named Lamech and means “despairing”. This is a root still used in the English language today. We see it in lament or lamentation.
Noah – Lamech’s son was named Noah which means “comfort or rest”. Lamech explains his definition of Noah in Genesis 5:29.
While having a list of names of guys who lived way before us is very interesting, it really has nothing to do with Christmas; or does it? Jesus was walking with the two disciples along the road to Emmaus and “starting with Moses” basically gave them the Gospel message. I believe He started with chapter 5 of Genesis.
{Man (Adam)}(is) {Appointed (Seth)} {Mortal (Enosh)} {Sorrow (Kenan)}, (but) {The Blessed God (Mahalalel)} {Shall Come Down (Jared)} {Teaching (Enoch)}(that) {His Death Shall Bring (Methusaleh)} (the) {Despairing (Lamech)} {Comfort or Rest (Noah)}.
In case you missed that, the Gospel message is written in the ten names of the generations of Adam to Noah. The chapter starts by saying that “This is the book of generations Adam”. This means that this is a document of Adams family history. We ARE Adam’s family. This is a document of our history; should we choose to accept the Gospel message at Christmas.
Man is appointed mortal sorrow, but the blessed God shall come down teaching that His death shall bring the despairing comfort or rest!