It is instructive to reflect that, because Adam and Eve were contemporary with Cain, Abel, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah and Lamech, the following facts and circumstances would be well known among them all.
Could it be that after leaving Eden, Adam and Eve first experienced the power of physical attraction, leading to conception, labour and travail? What a contrast to harmony together in the Garden of Eden. The many experiences of life that are, for all our preparation and pre-education, dramatic events in our lives, were for them absolutely novel no baby books, no doctors, no cookery books, no gardening calendar, no ready-made tools.
There were completely new day to day problems of how to get food from ground that had suddenly become hostile; how to bring up two children of opposite characters — one disciplined in the fear of the Lord; the other so wilful. We may be quite certain that the murder of Abel was the culmination of many clashes of temperament. Adam and Eve experienced the departure of a member of the family from the presence of God. The invention of musical instruments and weapons of brass and iron came to their notice; the passions of Lamech and the joy of the boy to take Abel’s place.
The different characteristics of Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel and Jared are not revealed; but we can be sure they constituted a godly line in contrast to the decendants of Cain. But over and above them all towered the character of Enoch. It is not too great a stretch of the imagination to visualise that Adam and Enoch, during their 308 years of contemporary living, would meet and discuss the events of Eden and their consequences. How many vain regrets did Adam and Eve experience? How many people said to them, “It’s all your fault”? Adam died only 50 years before Enoch was translated. Notice that Seth died just before Noah was born. Seth witnessed 912 years of increasing population and mounting wickedness. Noah knew Seth’s son Enos and lived in his world for 84 years. It is easily seen how close to its original source Noah’s knowledge of Eden was gained.
Shem knew Lamech and Methuselah for almost 100 years; and after the Flood he lived to meet Abraham and Isaac. Noah saw the births of Arphaxad, Salah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor and Terah. Noah died only two years before Abram was born.
Note the vitally important link that Shem provided between the old world and the new. He had lived with violence and wickedness; he had been a boy with rough and godless neighbours; he was a teenager with seductive females to withstand; in an age of rebellion he had to weigh the pros and cons of obeying God. He knew of God’s judgments in Eden and he saw the attractiveness of living in sin. The nature of man has never been any different; and he experienced the beautiful and the ugly. There were the inventors, the’ artistic, the shrewd, the underhand, the musical, the bully and the underdog. Make no mistake! Shem knew only too well what Jesus later described as “the days of Noah”. But to him it was the normal life of the times, attractive to the flesh AND HE HAD TO CHOOSE.
Genesis 6, vs 2-5 describes so briefly what today also constitutes a major problem — God’s adopted sons and daughters saw the sons and daughters of earthly, sensual, natural men; and there was no restraining their fancy, for they turned their backs on the self-discipline required by God. Forbidden fruits always look sweet. Certainly the children were mighty men of renown; but God’s assessment was that they were wicked. All of us can use our imaginations today and well appreciate Shem’s problems.
Evidence Of Early Law
Blunt in his “Undersigned Co-incidences”, notes some points which may be taken as evidence of early existence of God’s rules of conduct. Shem, as well as many others of his day, would be aware of these rules:
- There were places set apart for the worship of God, described as being “before the Lord”.
- There were persons whose appropriate business was to perform the rites of that worship, e.g. Melchizedek.
- Tithes were paid, e.g. Abraham to Melchizedek.
- Persons called “preachers of righteousness”, e.g. Noah.
- Persons known as prophets, e.g. Enoch, Abraham.
- A particular form of dress is shown by the word used in Hebrew to denote the “goodly raiment” donned by Jacob, belonging originally to Esau, and the Jews themselves so understand the term. In all probability the garment given to Joseph was one such sacerdotal garment; hence the jealousy of his brothers, for Reuben had forfeited the firstborn’s right.
- There were the rites of consecration with oil, a removing of shoes of those who trod upon holy ground, a bowing down when they addressed God.
- Stated reasons for worship, e.g. the sabbath was instituted from the beginning.
- Clean and unclean animals.
- Blood already withheld as food.
- Murder already denounced.
- Adultery already forbidden.
- Oaths already binding.
- Vows already being made.
- Fornication already condemned.
- Marriage with idolators already prohibited.
- A curse is already pronounced upon him that setteth light by father or mother.
- Purification already enjoined upon those who approach God.
- The eldest son already had a birthright.
- The brother was already commanded to marry the brother’s widow.
- The daughter of the priest (if Judah as the head of his family be considered as such) was already to be brought forth to be burned if she played the harlot.
- There were specific sacrifices, e.g. Abram was instructed what to do with the heifer, the she-goat, the ram, the turtle dove and the young pigeon. Noah knew what to offer.
- Blunt offers quotations for all these assertions and it is clear that a law of God arising out of many of these items was in force for the guidance of Shem and his contemporaries. Shem had the interesting experience of seeing wickedness in the face of God’s law and the major retribution that followed.
Signs In The Heavens
Another method by which men of old were taught the principles of God is brought to light in the Companion Bible.
We were told that the heavenly bodies were set for signs and seasons. Jewish tradition preserved by Josephus assures us that this Bible astronomy was used by Adam, Seth and Enoch. For more than 2,500 years, the revelation of the hope which God gave in Gen. 3.15 was preserved in the naming of the stars and their grouping in signs and constellations. We know some of the names God gave to the stars, e.g. Arcturus, Orion and Pleiades (Job 9.9). Ancient records, Jewish and others, name several hundred. No doubt God passed on His names for a great number of stars. Job. 38.32 refers to “Mazzaroth in his season” — the signs of the seasons of the sun — which are the twelve signs of the Zodiac, originally named by God.
Psalm 19 in its first 6 verses proclaims the knowledge of God written in the heavens before man himself could write; and verses 7 to 14 parallel the testimony of God in the sky with the testimony of God in the Scriptures for later man.
These are the phrases used about the testimony to the Truth of the sun and stars in the sky where no man could alter or hide it:
“The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world . .”
Here is a further explanation of the signs and seasons that the stars witness to the world. The sun and moon have “speech”, the stars “knowledge”. They have “voice” and “words” which go “to the ends of the earth”.
“IN THEM hath He set a tabernacle for the sun which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber . . . and his circuit unto the ends of it . . .” IN THE STARS God has set a house (the Zodiac) for the sun and, coming to the end of the circle of the Zodiac, starts it over again.
If these are the signs and seasons of the stars, sun and moon and they speak of God and His plan of salvation, what do their “words” mean? Most of it is now lost to us. We have our Scriptures which have superseded the language of the sky. But fragments can be discerned. Virgo can easily be connected with a woman (Eve) and eventually a virgin. Scorpio is equated with a serpent (in the garden) and sin, defeated by the son of a virgin. These two examples vividly illustrate the great significance of the names chosen by God for his signs, stars and constellations and give a clue to the story of salvation which was told in the night sky for every ancient faithful man to “read” for himself. For further information, see “The Companion Bible”, appendix 12.
There can be no doubt of the significance of the story of the stars. In Romans chapter 10, Paul discusses the importance of preaching and asks the question (v.18), “Have they not heard? Yes, verily (then quoting directly from Ps. 19:4 about the stars), their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world.” So Paul confirms the purpose of the naming and grouping of the stars and the testimony of the sun and planets as they move through the heavens, for men who lived before reading and writing.
A Word Of Warning
Just as the Truths of the Bible have been distorted, so the Divine language of the sky has been perverted. “When Israel came into the possession of the written “Scriptures of Truth”, there was no longer any need for the more ancient writing in the heavens. Hence the original teaching faded away gradually, and the heathen out of the smattering they had heard by tradition, evolved their cosmogonies and mythologies.” Bullinger. There is absolutely no substance in horoscopes and readings of Zodiac signs that are popular today. To be involved in such corruptions of the Truth of God written in the sky is to be equated with the distortions of the Truth by the churches round about us.
Conclusion
Men of Noah’s day had a number of ways of being made aware of God’s purpose in the earth and His principles of living and of salvation. The events of the garden of Eden would be easily and accurately recalled and recounted. Merely a generation or two separated them from Adam and Eve. It was merely a matter of doing what we often do today — telling of the events that happened to grandfather or grandmother.
But it is apparent that God didn’t leave the preservation of His truths to such haphazard methods. He wrote His Divine Truth in the heavens where no humans could touch it and where His “preachers of righteous” such as Noah would draw their proofs for their message of sin and salvation that they preached. One can imagine Noah pointing to a part of the heavens and explaining the significance of the sign of God there, in support of a truth of redemption from sin that they all knew had been revealed in Eden, in much the same way as we use our Bibles today to expound the same thing. Yes, Shem had ample evidence, instruction and guidance to help him make the right decisions in a godless age; which gave him the opportunity to span two ages in the world and fashioned him as a remarkable link in a golden chain.
Is Pentecost Happening Today? (Part 7) – Tongues Shall Cease