Blogging Genesis chapters 5-6
When
I was a kid in Sunday school, I learned that Adam and Eve had 3 children: Cain,
Abel, and Seth. I learned that because Cain
murdered Abel all of Cain’s descendants were evil, but all of Seth’s children
were good. I learned that God chose Noah
and his family to survive the Great Flood and restart humanity because Noah was
a righteous man and the Lord wanted to preserve the good side of Adam’s family.
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| Noah and Cain's grandson from the movie "Noah" |
I
learned a clean, easy to follow, simple story of Biblical family history.
I
learned wrong.
Ten
years later I learned that I had relatives I didn’t know were related to me
because their connection to the family was a secret. I learned that all of the families I’d grown
up with had similar secrets. It kinda
broke me for a minute.
People
prefer the clean, overly-simplified, incorrect version of our family
histories. We need the truth.
Young
me, present me, and current you all need the truth about the first family so we
can process the truth about our families.
So let me tell you three things my Sunday school teachers didn’t tell
me.
#1. Adam and Eve had more than 3 children.
After
he begot Seth, the days of Adam were
eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters. 5 So all
the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died. (Genesis
5:4)
Adam
lived 800 years more AFTER Seth was born.
He and Eve had plenty of time for ---- you know what they had time for.
P.S.
Nobody’s family tree is as straight and narrow as our public histories
imply. Every family (Yes. Yours, too.) has secret marriages,
forgotten divorces, unclaimed children, and other secret side branches that didn’t
make into the back of grandma’s Bible.
#2. Cain’s side of the family wasn’t the only
side with issues.
Then
the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was
great in the earth, and that every
intent of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5)
Genesis
chapter 5 traces Adam’s biological line through Seth. Chapter 6 doesn’t mention a shift from that
side of the family. Chapter 6 also doesn’t
mention Cain or his descendants. So, if Cain’s
descendants at that time were part of humanity’s widespread wickedness, they were only part of it. Noah’s
brothers and sisters were descendants of Seth the good, but God didn’t
invite them onto the ark. So, Seth’s other descendants were equally involved in the sinful culture of the
pre-Flood world.
P.S.
Tell the truth. Everyone at your
Thanksgiving dinner table doesn’t have a clean record either. I mean they might not have been convicted,
but that doesn’t mean they aren’t guilty.
#3. Cultural or ethnic dominance does not equal
moral or spiritual superiority.
There
were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of
God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were
the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. (Genesis 6:4)
The
giants were the most famous, most powerful, and (probably) most admired people
in Noah’s time. In God’s eyes, they were
also the embodiment of everything that was wrong with human culture.
Then
the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was
great in the earth, and that every
intent of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had
made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. (Genesis 6:5-6)
P.S. The household with the biggest house may not be
the happiest family. The ones in the
trailer with the raggedy shed out back may be the most emotionally and spiritually
healthy unit at the family reunion.
Don’t
judge any person by their prosperity, appearance, or genealogical
pedigree. Not even yourself. Our
parents, upbringings, our history as a people---- they shape us and affect us,
but they must not fully define us.
Who
are we as a nation when our founding fathers turn out to be hypocrites,
heretics, and opportunists?
Who
are we as racial and cultural groups when our honored ancestors turn out to be
not as universally honorable as we had thought?
Who
are we as children when the ancestors we revered turn out to be at least as
much sinner as they were saints?
Who
are we when ancestral villains turn out to be as heroic as the heroes, and our
genealogical heroes turn out to be as sinful as the villains?
Who
are we? Who are you? The book of Genesis
tells you.
The
beginning of Scripture show us that no matter what family history produced you,
God created you. God created YOU,
specifically YOU, in His image. Claim
that ancestry. Define yourself by that genesis.
Your
genealogy describes you, but only God can define you.
---Anderson
T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and
consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in
Fairfield, Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking
Organization (SAYNO); and
director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human
Development (NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and
clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.
Support by check or money order may be mailed to
Miles Chapel CME Church
P O Box 132
Fairfield, Al 35064
