From Creation to Jacob: Communicating the Promise

What does the Bible say about how people who lived after the Flood could know about the Creation and Fall of Adam?

Well, first is the testimony that the Scripture gives about God's direct revelation to particular individuals: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and the Children of Israel.

Second, is what God says in those Scriptures about who was alive to carry out the preaching of the Word.

We will think about this in round terms of years as the Scriptures describe them. The year numbers given below are close estimates. We will look at them from the terms the Scriptures use with respect to the age of Adam. I'm sure many readers have made their own charts of these chapters in Genesis (5, 11, 21, 25, 35, and 47). I'll include a full table at the bottom with the refrences to the passages. Genesis does not, except in a few cases, record the month or day of month for these events.

Let us list and illustrate these genealogies and consider what it means with respect to who was able to preach the promised redemption from Satan, Sin, and Death promised in Genesis 3.

Adam was 130 years old when he begat Seth. And Adam lived for 930 years.

This means that in the terms of the genealogy of Genesis 5 we can list the year of Adam's life when the following were begotten/born:

Adam's Age	Descendant born
235	Enosh
325	Cainan
395	Mahalalel
460	Jared
622	Enoch
687	Methuselah
874	Lamech

These lives all overlapped with Adam's life. Noah was born after Adam's death, the 1056th year of Adam's age. It would have been easy for these men to hear Adam's teaching directly from Adam himself. Because they are direct descendants of Adam, it would be reasonable to assume they were instructed by Adam.

Adam's son, Seth, died in the 1042nd year of that era. Noah could not have known either Adam or Seth.

But all of them except Enoch were living on the earth during the lifetime of Noah. Noah would have had to rely on the teaching of those who heard it directly from Adam.

Patriarch	Year of Death
Enosh	1140
Cainan	1235
Mahalalel	1290
Jared	1422
Enoch	987
Methuselah	1656
Lamech	1651
Noah	2006

Noah's son Shem was born in 1556, meaning that even Shem had 100 years of life during which he was able to speak to Methuselah and Lamech, who were alive while Adam was still living.

The information in Genesis 5 could be charted like in the following way to demonstrate who was able to speak to whom:

 At the bottom of this chart are the years of Adam's age. This chart is colored to demonstrate that in the Biblical text there is only one degree of separation between Noah and Adam--and even for that matter, between Shem and Adam.

Even though Noah had such close ties to Adam through those who knew Adam, God re-established direct contact with Noah.

Then came the Judgment in the Flood.

This next chart is an illustration of those who were living at the same time Noah and Shem were alive after the Flood.

Again, the years at the bottom are the years of Adam's age. The lighter blue area shows that Abraham lived while Noah was still alive. Abraham was born in 1948, Noah died in 2006. That is an overlap of 57 years. Abraham died in 2123. Shem died in 2158. Shem outlived Abraham by about 35 years.

Isaac was born in 2048. This means that Shem was alive for most of Isaac's lifetime.

Jacob was born in 2108. This means that Shem died when Jacob was about 15 years old.

So let us look at degrees of separation. The closest arrangement is two degrees of separation between Jacob and Adam.

Adam --> Methusaleh --> Shem --> Jacob


What this shows is that the text of the Bible insists that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived at the same time as the men who God saved through the Flood. They could hear from Noah and Shem their first-hand experiences with those who knew Adam personally and the Promise God gave to him; those who fell away in that time and the loved ones who were killed in the Flood; and of the renewing of the Promise God gave to Noah.

But God did not leave Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with just the oral report of witnesses.

The text also records that God spoke directly to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It records that God made specific covenants with each of them with regard to the Promise of Redemption.

So, even though these men were actually very close to each other, God still left nothing to just oral transmission. He Himself proclaimed the Promise to each generation down to the time of Jacob and his sons went into Egypt. And He Himself proclaimed the Promise again when He brought the Israelites out by the hand of Moses.

Then God also put His Promise into writing, which we still have from Moses, the Prophets, the Evangelists and the Apostles to this day.

Here is a fuller table with the data and the Bible references:

Patriarch	Year Made/ Conceived	X years old when he conceived the next	Lived Z years after	Age at Death	Year Died from Adam's Age	References	Age at Flood	Departed Haran	Ref
Adam	0	130	800	930	930	Gn 5:3-5
Seth	130	105	807	912	1042	Gn 5:6-8
Enosh	235	90	815	905	1140	Gn 5:9-11
Cainan	325	70	840	910	1235	Gn 5:12-14
Mahalalel	395	65	830	895	1290	Gn 5:15-17
Jared	460	162	800	962	1422	Gn 5:18-20
Enoch	622	65	300	365	987	Gn 5:21-24
Methuselah	687	187	782	969	1656	Gn 5:25-27
Lamech	874	182	595	777	1651	Gn 5:28-31
Noah	1056	500		950	2006	Gn 5:32; 7:11; 9:29	600
Shem	1556	102	500	602	2158	Gn 11:10-11	100
Araphaxad	1658	35	403	438	2096	Gn 11:12-13
Salah	1693	30	403	433	2126	Gn 11:14-15
Eber	1723	34	430	464	2187	Gn 11:16-17
Peleg	1757	30	209	239	1996	Gn 11:18-19
Reu	1787	32	207	239	2026	Gn 11:20-21
Serug	1819	30	200	230	2049	Gn 11:22-23
Nahor	1849	29	119	148	1997	Gn 11:24-25
Terah	1878	70		205	2083	Gn 11:25,32
Abram	1948	100		175	2123	Gn 21:5; 25:7		75	Gn 12:4
Isaac	2048	60		180	2228	Gn 25:26; 35:27-29
Jacob	2108			147	2255	Gn 47:28