While Noah wasn’t the serpent-crushing and curse-reversing victor, he was a type of the one to come. Jesus, the greater Noah, would bring us relief. He would bring blessing into the world laden with toil and curse.

Genealogies have rhythm. In the genealogy of Genesis 5, the refrain “and he died” is mentioned over and over again. The generations in Genesis 5 are tenfold, extending from Adam to Noah.

Generation 1—Adam
Generation 2—Seth
Generation 3—Enosh
Generation 4—Kenan
Generation 5—Mahalalel
Generation 6—Jared
Generation 7—Enoch
Generation 8—Methuselah
Generation 9—Lamech
Generation 10—Noah

When studying a genealogy, it’s good to note both rhythms as well as any information that’s added when a particular person or generation is recounted. For example, we notice that Enoch didn’t die an earthly death. Instead, “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him” (Gen. 5:24).

Another comment in Genesis 5 occurs with Lamech, the ninth name in the list. We’re told that Lamech had a son and named him Noah, saying “Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands” (Gen. 5:29).

The name Noah sounds like the Hebrew word for “rest,” so there’s a deliberate echo in Noah’s name with the hope his father had in naming him. Lamech, like the generations before him, dwelled outside Eden and in a world needing rest from the curse and corruption of sin and death.

The words of Lamech in Genesis 5:29 mention “the ground that the LORD has cursed.” This alludes to what happened in Genesis 3:17, when God said to Adam, “Cursed is the ground because of you.”

Read More