parashah sefer (record), genesis 5:1-6:8

We study the Torah according to the triennial cycle every Sabbath (Why?). being aware of the teaching tools employed by Torah, and looking for them, so that we can get the message God is trying to convey.

Today is the 4th Sabbath of the triennial cycle: parashah (Torah portion) Sefer / Record, Gen 5:1-6:8 (read at Bible Gateway or the Hebrew Bible in English).

Additional readings for this week:
Prophet: Isa 30 / Psalm: Ps 4 / History: Job 7-8 / Gospel: Mat 23 / Apostolic: Rom 1

Parsha (paragraph) divisions in this week’s Torah portion:
Gen 5:1-5 ends in a parsha stumah, a weak paragraph division.
Gen 5:6-8 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:9-11 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:12-14 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:15-17 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:18-20 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:21-24 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:25-27 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:28-31 ends in a stumah.
Gen 5:32-6:4 ends in a parsha p'tuchah, a strong paragraph division.
Gen 6:5-8 ends in a p'tuchah.

The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 5:1-5 is the mortality of Adam.
The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 5:6-8 is the mortality of Seth.
The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 5:9-11 is the mortality of Enosh.

And so on and so forth, so that it can be said of the parsha stumahs from Gen 5:1-31 that their theme is the mortality of man. God is employing one of the teaching tools of Torah, which is to establish a pattern.

However, one of the parsha stumahs in this section breaks the pattern previously established - this is also a teaching tool of Torah. The theme of the parsha stumah from Gen 5:21-24 is Enoch walked with God, and did not die.

The theme of the parsha p'tuchah from Gen 5:32-6:4 is first, the depravity of the sin which had leavened the earth; and second, that the mortal flesh of man strives with the immortal Spirit of God.

God cleansed His “house,” the earth, of the sin which had leavened it, just as on Unleavened Bread, which we just finished celebrating, we cleanse our houses of leaven: “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” 1 Cor 5:7

The theme of the parsha p'tuchah from Gen 6:5-8 is that man will be exiled from the earth as judgment for sin.

In order to see the big picture painted by this parashah, we need to back up to the last parsha p'tuchah, so that we can “see” the entire paragraph with all its sub topics:

Gen 3:22-24 (stumah): Adam is exiled (from Eden) as judgment for sin.
Gen 4:1-26 (stumah): Cain is exiled from the presence of YHVH as judgment for sin.
Gen 5:1-5 (stumah): the mortality of Adam (his name means “man”).
Gen 5:6-8 (stumah): the mortality of Seth (his name means “appointed”).
Gen 5:9-11 (stumah): the mortality of Enosh (his name means “mortality”).
Gen 5:12-14 (stumah): the mortality of Kenan (his name means “possessed of sorrow”).
Gen 5:15-17 (stumah): the mortality of Mahalalel (his name means “praise of God”).
Gen 5:18-20 (stumah): the mortality of Jared (his name means “descend”).
Gen 5:21-24 (stumah): Enoch walked with God and did not die (his name means “teaching”).
Gen 5:25-27 (stumah): the mortality of Methuselah (his name means, “his death shall bring”), and the prophecy of coming judgment.
Gen 5:28-31 (stumah): the mortality of Lamech (his name means “despairing”), and with the birth of Noah, the prophecy of coming rest (Noah's name means “comfort, rest”).
Gen 5:32-6:4 (p'tuchah): the depravity of the sin which had leavened the earth.
Gen 6:5-8 (p'tuchah): man will be exiled from the earth as judgment for sin.

By making Gen 3:22-6:4 a single strong paragraph, God is teaching us about three exiles as a result of sin - Adam's exile from Eden, Cain's exile from the presence of YHVH which was with Adam's family, and mankind's exile from the earth in judgment (“I will blot out man from the earth,” Gen 6:7a). Sin precedes each of these exiles. BUT! In the face of mortality, sin, and judgment, we find that Enoch walked with God and did not die; and Noah walked with God and found grace in the eyes of YHVH!

Finding Messiah in Torah

Here is the Gospel presented in Genesis! Not only overtly in the history of Enoch and Noah, but also covertly as a second witness of confirmation: notice that the first ten patriarchs before the Flood tell the prophecy of Elohiym's plan of salvation in their names. “Man is appointed mortality possessed with sorrow, but the blessed God shall come down, teaching; and His death shall bring the despairing, comfort and rest.”

“For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure.” Isa 46:9-10

Listen, if anyone needs proof that the Bible is a supernatural book not born from the imagination of men, this is only one proof of multiplied thousands which we will find in its pages.