One of the most undervalued concepts in the Scriptures is the study of genealogies and names. Often these areas can be a gold mine of information, and we are going to give a prime example from the book of Genesis 5.1-32. Genesis is called “Bereshit” in Hebrew and it means “In the beginning.” This book is the beginning of everything connected to the universe. Every creature that has ever existed had its beginning in this book. In a shocking revelation to some, the dinosaurs are only a few days older than man, not millions of years. Genesis also includes the fall of man and sin, and death entering into the world.
The whole story of the Bible is telling us the story of the Redemption of man and the universe from the ravages of the sin of Adam through the Messiah, who we know as Yeshua of Nazareth. In Gen 3.15 God promises a redeemer, the “seed of the woman.” The genealogy in Gen 5.1-32 is the righteous line through whom Messiah will come, from Adam to Noah. That is why it is repeated in Luke 3.23-38, which is his mother’s line and not Joseph’s. The Luke 3 list is the genealogy of the “seed of the woman” of Gen 3.15. Another reason these names are listed is because it reveals God’s plan of redemption through the Messiah. If you look up the meaning of the names it tells us of God’s plan of redemption. So, we are going to start with Adam through Noah, giving their meanings and putting them all together. Then we will show a little known concept out of the genealogy in Ruth 4.17-23 that shows this restoration.
Adam means “man”; Seth means “appointed”; Enosh means “mortal”; Kenan means “habitation”; Mahalalel means “the blessed God”; Jared means “shall come down”; Enoch (Chanok) means “teaching”; Methuselah means “his death shall bring”; Lamech means “captive”; and Noah means “rest.” So, putting these names all together, Gen 5 means, “man is appointed a mortal habitation but the blessed God shall come down teaching and his death shall bring the captives rest.” Gen 5 starts the genealogy of the Messiah, the seed of the woman, with the complete list of his mother Miriam (Mary) given in Luke 3.
In Gen 2.4 it says, “This is the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made heaven and earth.” The word for “generations” there is the Hebrew word “Toldot” and it is written with the Hebrew letters tav, vav, lamed, dalet, vav, tav, a total of six letters. It is fully written out. However, when we get to Gen 5.1 it says, “This is the book of the generations of Adam.” The word “generations” is “toldot” with the second vav missing in the word. The word “toldot” is not written out fully again in Hebrew after Gen 2.4 because Adam sinned and man’s generations were “diminished”, and that will hold true until we get to Ruth 4.18-23 where we have the generations from Perez, Hezron, Ram, Amminadab, Nachson, Salmon, Boaz, Obed, Jesse and to David. In Ruth 4.18 it says, “Now these are the generations of Perez.” The word “generations” is “toldot” and it is written out fully again, first time since Gen 2.4. What does this tell us? Man’s generations were diminished after Adam due to sin. But the generations listed in Ruth 4 are those from Perez to David, through whom Messiah Yeshua would come, and he will restore man’s generations in the redemption, thus fulfilling the meaning of the names listed in Gen 5.1-32.
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