The Gospel Found in Genesis 5

I just came across this and was so moved by it that I had to share!

In Genesis 5 we are given the line of descent from Adam down to Noah. Rather than give you the entire chapter I will just list the names and the Hebrew meaning of the names.

Adam (mankind)
Seth (appointed to)
Enos (feeble, frail, mortality)
Cainan (a fixed dwelling place)
Mahalaleel (God who is praised)
Jared (comes down, descend)
Enoch (to instruct, train up)
Methuselah (a man sent forth)
Lamech (to be beaten, smitten, and tortured)
Noah (to bring rest, a quiet peace)

If we put these together we get something like this:

Mankind is appointed to a feeble, frail, mortality in a fixed dwelling place. God who is praised comes down to instruct as a man sent forth to be beaten, smitten and tortured bringing rest, a quiet peace.

Imagine, the Hebrew speakers in the earliest days of mankind's history had access to the Gospel message! Should this really surprise us?

John 3:16 (KJV)
¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.


If God was willing to suffer and die for a sinful race of people, He definitely would have wanted us to know His plan and to know it as early as possible.

This information came from Good News for Israel's Christmas 2012 newsletter. www.gnfi.org. I did look online and I found this also on a couple of other sites. I knew the meaning for a couple of the names and they are stated correctly. Apparently, though, there are some alternative meanings for some of the names, so if you get ambitious please check them out and let me know what you find! God's blessings!