Genesis 5
NOTE: Please remember I am simply recording thought.
I am a child looking for her Father's hand. I am not teaching.
I am a child looking for her Father's hand. I am not teaching.
NOTE: I found more questions than answers in this chapter. So, beware. ;)
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Genesis 5:1a
(NIV-UK)
This is the written account of Adam’s family line.
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"This is the written account of Adam's family line." Doesn't that sentence make you stop and think, "Oh, I see; God created mankind--" as stated in the second part of Genesis 5:1 "--but the Bible is an account of the family history from Adam to Jesus Christ." God didn't just create Adam and Eve then have them fill the earth on their own, with brother and sister procreating with one another, as had been said. Rather, He created 'mankind', but we only read the recorded documents of Adam's offspring - don't ya think? (Just a thought. :) )
Which brings us to the remainder of Genesis 5: Adam was the father of Seth who was the father of So-and-So, who was the father of Whatshisname, and so on, until we get to the sons of Noah.
And there, in the midst of reading about these generations, we find someone felt the need to record why Noah was given his name: ‘He will comfort us in the labour and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.’ I've read that several times before, and each time I'm pretty sure I read "Noah will comfort us in the labour and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed..." -- and taken it for granted that's what it meant. This time around, however, after reading (and recording what spoke to me in previous blogs) in Genesis 1-4, I'm now wondering if those who named Noah, or recorded that thought, were looking to man for salvation rather than to God.
The reason I am swaying towards believing they were placing their faith in man rather than God, and not simply believing God was sending Noah to save them (because Noah didn't save them, did he?), is because they're blaming God for cursing the land when the cursed land came about through sin - Adam's, Eve's, Cain's, and God knows who else's... Didn't it? (see my previous blogs on this matter.)This statement reminds me of a child who doesn't want to work, so they whine, looking for someone to make life easier for them. "Dad said I have to work around the house...I'm gonna see if Mum can get me out of it; if she can't, there's always Nanna."
"God cursed the land... now we need a saviour."
Or were they aware that God was going to send them a Saviour and they thought Noah was it?
Or did God send Jesus, our Saviour, because man demanded one and wouldn't stop whining until we got one?
Did God come as man in order to be the Saviour the world kept calling out for? Was that the only way to have man trust in, and turn back to, God again, rather than continually looking to man...?
Hmmm...suddenly, I'm thinkin' there's more written between the lines of the Bible (in some passages, at least) than I have ever dared to look for before... This time around, I'm finding more excitement in finding more questions than answers...but, surely the answers will come as we read on. :)
Reading on...
Which brings us to the remainder of Genesis 5: Adam was the father of Seth who was the father of So-and-So, who was the father of Whatshisname, and so on, until we get to the sons of Noah.
And there, in the midst of reading about these generations, we find someone felt the need to record why Noah was given his name: ‘He will comfort us in the labour and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.’ I've read that several times before, and each time I'm pretty sure I read "Noah will comfort us in the labour and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed..." -- and taken it for granted that's what it meant. This time around, however, after reading (and recording what spoke to me in previous blogs) in Genesis 1-4, I'm now wondering if those who named Noah, or recorded that thought, were looking to man for salvation rather than to God.
The reason I am swaying towards believing they were placing their faith in man rather than God, and not simply believing God was sending Noah to save them (because Noah didn't save them, did he?), is because they're blaming God for cursing the land when the cursed land came about through sin - Adam's, Eve's, Cain's, and God knows who else's... Didn't it? (see my previous blogs on this matter.)This statement reminds me of a child who doesn't want to work, so they whine, looking for someone to make life easier for them. "Dad said I have to work around the house...I'm gonna see if Mum can get me out of it; if she can't, there's always Nanna."
"God cursed the land... now we need a saviour."
Or were they aware that God was going to send them a Saviour and they thought Noah was it?
Or did God send Jesus, our Saviour, because man demanded one and wouldn't stop whining until we got one?
Did God come as man in order to be the Saviour the world kept calling out for? Was that the only way to have man trust in, and turn back to, God again, rather than continually looking to man...?
Hmmm...suddenly, I'm thinkin' there's more written between the lines of the Bible (in some passages, at least) than I have ever dared to look for before... This time around, I'm finding more excitement in finding more questions than answers...but, surely the answers will come as we read on. :)
Reading on...
Ok, so I may have found more questions than answers in this chapter, but one thing remains: God's hand and heart is still with 'mankind'.