Genesis 5:3, 28-29 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. (…) 28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. He named him Noah.

The Bible is not just a library of 66 books written by 40 different authors, it is actually a whole story about God’s redemptive plan. Genesis 5, at first glance seems to be about fathers giving names to their sons. In the beginning, Adam had a son and named him Seth. At the end, Lamech had a son and named him Noah.

But upon further study, we find something quite amazing. In between these two people (Adam and Noah) we find 8 other names. Altogether, these 10 names paint a picture of the gospel in Genesis!

Adam – means “man”.

Seth – means “appointed”.  Eve said “for God has appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew” (Gen 4:25).

Enosh – means “mortal”, “frail” or “miserable”.

Kenan – means “sorrow”, “dirge” or “elegy” (mournful or plaintive poem esp. a lament for the dead). 

Mehalalel – means “the blessed God”.  A combination of “blessed” or “praise” and “El” which is “God”.  This is often seen in Hebrew names e.g. Dan-I-el – “God is my judge”.

Jared – means “shall come down”.

Enoch – means “teaching” or “commencement”.  Enoch was a godly man and a prophet (quoted in Jude 14,15) who was taken up to heaven (translated) and didn’t die.

Methuselah – means “his death shall bring”.  Methuselah was the longest-lived man in the Bible, but when he finally died, the Flood came.  Perhaps the length of his life speaks of God’s mercy in forestalling the judgement of the Flood.

Lamech – “lament” or “despairing”.

Noah – “to bring relief” or “comfort”.

Put together this reads*:

Man (is) appointed mortal sorrow; (but) the blessed God shall come down teaching (that) His death shall bring the despairing rest.

From the earliest time God already had a plan to redeem people from the consequences of sin.

What do we learn from this? Names have a meaning, and everything in the Bible is part of a much larger picture. These people lived their lives and might not have realised that their names would spell the greatest story ever told.

And what about you? Do you realise that your life has meaning? Your name, your life has meaning, and is part of a much bigger picture.

Blogs on Tuesday and Saturday on bijbelkracht, will be in English from now on, following our Bible reading plan in YouVersion.

*From: Introduction to Genesis, C3 College (source: https://www.khouse.org/articles/1996/44/)