GENESIS 5
Genesis 5 is the first of many genealogies in the Bible. I have, no doubt, read this before, but I saw it in a new way today. In recent years, my mother has gotten heavy into genealogy, and as she continues to discover more about our family origins, we have been regaled time and time again with stories of our great (and some not-so-great) ancestors. It’s interesting to find out where we came from, to trace back through the generations and discover more about those who came before us.
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So that’s what struck me about this chapter: When God wants to trace His family tree, He doesn’t trace backwards, He traces forwards. He has no ancestors, only descendants. He is the root of the great, grand Tree of Life. He and He alone.
It brought to mind the words of Jesus in John 15: "I am the vine (root) and you are the branches."
Photo © Unsplash/Apostol Voicu
God is the only root. If anyone is connected to Him, they are connected to Life. And if anyone is not connected to Him, they are not connected to Life. This highlights the other thing that was so interesting to me about this chapter—the super-repetitive pattern in the genealogy from Adam to Noah:
When {insert name} was {insert age}, he had a son named {insert name}. After that, he had more children, and he died.
But in God’s genealogy, the father never dies. We could say, "When God was an infinite age, he had a daughter named Kelley. After that, He had more children, and...He’s still alive."
God’s genealogy is nearly the exact opposite of ours. Everything got its start in Him and keeps going because of Him. He is the root and we are the branches. He is the Creator and we are the created. We wither and perish, but He is Papa forever.