It has been aptly said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the kingdom. Abel, the faithful servant of God whom his brother slew, did more in perpetuating the truth concerning the coming of the world Redeemer by his death than by his life. Hence in the days of Seth, the seed appointed of the Lord instead of Abel (Gen. 4:25), men began to gather around the promise of the coming Redeemer and to call upon the name of the Lord יְהוָה (Gen. 4:26), who by His promise of the seed of the woman had inspired faith in their hearts. The religious community was in those days a silent yet effective testimony to the messianic hope.

Men in their present condition long to be delivered not only from the bondage of sin and wickedness but also from the curse of death. The perpetual question that will not be downed is whether or not there is a life of happiness and bliss beyond this one. To answer this question once for all the Lord removed His faithful servant, Enoch the seventh from Adam, from this sinful world--not through the usual exit of death but by translation. "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him" (Gen. 5:24). וַיִּתְהַלֵּךְ חֲנוֹךְ אֶת־הָאֱלֹהִים וְאֵינֶנּוּ כִּי־לָקַח אֹתוֹ אֱלֹהִים׃ Death, since the Fall, is the law of nature; but God who is the author of all nature can hold any or all laws in abeyance and render them inoperative, if it please Him, in order to forward His plans. The miraculous removal of Enoch from this realm of the curse shows that, had man "proved true in the probation of free will," he could have passed from this life into the higher and eternal realm of existence and bliss. The translation of both Enoch and Elijah so that they did not see death is a prophecy in act of the final removal of God's faithful servants into the higher realm when it pleases Him.

The messianic hope was kept alive in the little religious community of the faithful and was fanned into a bright and shining light by the fervent lives of such men as Enoch whose persevering, consistent life and marvelous end stirred the hearts of all the servants of God.

In Lamech, the seventh from Adam in the line of Cain, the worldly tendency and ungodliness rose to the heights of blasphemous arrogance and total disregard for God and man. Under such conditions religious indifference held high carnival. In amazing contrast with this group of worldly, irreligious people, the descendants of Adam through Seth stand out as bold witnesses to the truth of God. Especially is this statement true with reference to Enosh, Enoch, and Lamech, the third, the seventh, and the ninth from Adam. Lamech in the Sethitic line hoped that in his son Noah, the tenth from Adam, would be fulfilled and realized the deliverance promised at the time of the Fall. This fact shines forth through the name Noah which he chose for the child, and which indicates his hope that "the period of the curse would come to a comforting conclusion" through this son. "And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, which cometh from (or because of) the ground which the Lord hath cursed." The name Noah is a substantive form derived from נוּחַ which primarily means to rest, to settle down and remain. God rested after His toil (Ex. 20:11); cattle were to be allowed to rest from their toil on the Sabbath (Ex. 23:12); and the Jews in the days of Esther opposed their enemies and then had rest from them (Esther 9:16). From these and many other examples that might be given it is clear that נוּחַ means to enjoy rest by being freed from exhausting labors, irksome duties, and unpleasant conditions, and, as in the present case, by being delivered from the wearisomeness of toil entailed by the curse.

In naming his son, Lamech stated that he had chosen this special word because "this same shall comfort us from our work," etc. Thus the father connected the hope of comfort expressed by מְנַחֵם with the word נוּחַ. The former of these words means to comfort or console; the latter, to repose, be quiet, have rest. In the nature of the case, the comfort comes only after cessation from the toil caused by the curse is granted. By some means or agency, which the Lord did not see fit to record, Lamech knew that his son would comfort the human race, not with words, but by delivering it from the curse. A comparison of his language with that spoken by the Lord in the original promise concerning "the seed of the woman" shows that the former is an unmistakable echo of the latter. Such a study also proves positively that the patriarchs understood "the seed of the woman" as indicating a man who would bring the desired deliverance from the curse.

The sacred record shows that Noah wrought, by preparing the ark, a deliverance for the race but not the salvation promised originally. But what he did was a type and a shadow of the great deliverance that "the seed of the woman" would bring to the human family. This fact is clearly seen in one of the names applied to Messiah by the ancient synagogue. The venerable rabbinic designation of Messiah as מְנַחֵם M'nahem is doubtless based upon its use in Lamentations 1:2, 9, 17, 21. The prophet in these verses laments the fact that Zion is lying in waste and that there is no one to comfort her, that is, to comfort her by bringing deliverance. In verse 16 of this same chapter there seems to be a very definite reference to one who can properly be called the Comforter of Zion and who is to refresh her soul. Here the complaint is that this one is far from her while she is lying, as it were, prostrate. This passage in the midst of a poem lamenting her hopeless state is undoubtedly an echo of the language of Lamech concerning Noah and depends upon the meaning which it there has for its force in this passage. As has already been seen, Lamech's statement shows that he who brings the comfort does so by delivering the servants of God from the curse upon the ground. Hence, since Noah did not fulfill the expectations aroused by his father's language, it is certain that he was simply a type of the great Comforter of the race and that what he did was only a shadow of the final and complete deliverance by the Comforter. In view of the partial and imperfect fulfillment of the expectations of this passage in the past, we may be bold in asserting that the language will be fulfilled literally and completely when the great Comforter, whom Noah foreshadowed, comes.

Since the curse was placed upon the ground by the decree of the Almighty God, it is certain that an ordinary man cannot lift it. Only God Himself or one whom He especially empowers can remove this universal judgment. Confirmation of this position is found and further light is thrown upon this general subject in the predictions of Isaiah. In chapters 51 and 52 the prophet discusses the time when Israel shall be restored to fellowship with her God and shall become the head of the nations (Deut. 28:13). At that time "the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and sighing shall flee away" (Isa. 51:11). Such a condition as here described presupposes the lifting of the curse. This quotation is immediately followed by the words of the Lord: אָנֹכִי אָנֹכִי הוּא מְנַחֶמְכֶם "I, even I, am he that comforteth you." Here מְנַחֵם is an echo of the prediction of Lamech concerning Noah and not only has the force of the original statement, which it graphically reproduces, but also completes the picture of Messiah and His redemptive work, which is roughly sketched in the Torah. As has already been seen, Lamech's portrait melts away and gives place to that of the great Comforter whom Noah typified.

It is to be noted the prophet declared that God Himself is the one who will comfort Zion. The repetition of the Words, I, even I, is employed for the express purpose of calling attention to the fact that it is the Lord, and not some prophet or representative of His, who brings the long-desired comfort, not only to Zion, but also to the entire human race. His work, as set forth in this passage, was clearly reflected in the language of Lamech.

Noah, the early type of the great Comforter of the race, was granted a view into the future and accurately foretold the three great sections of the human race into which it subsequently divided, the special sphere of each, and its contribution to the world. Upon Canaan is pronounced the curse of servitude; to Japheth is given far-flung political power and dominance; and to Shem is granted preeminence in spiritual affairs. True to this prophetic outline, the descendants of Ham have been the slave nations of earth, the posterity of Japheth has held and wielded the sceptre of political preeminence and power over the peoples of the globe, and the offspring of Shem has made its contribution to the world in the moral, spiritual, and religious realms. As we shall see in the following section, it was from the Semitic branch of the race that Abraham, the father of the Hebrew people, sprang. To him God gave the promise that all families of the earth should be blessed in his seed. In perfect alignment with this announced plan, all that has really blessed the peoples of earth has come through the Hebrew people.


Footnotes:

¹ Dr. Ira M. Price, in The Monuments and the Old Testament (new edition), says, "Most of the great nations of antiquity have preserved legends or traditions of the creation of the world, of the origin of man, of the fall, and of the deluge." The Seven Tablets of Creation constitute the Babylonian recension of the primitive creation narrative and, when stripped of their grossly heathen elements and polytheism, correspond with fair accuracy to the inspired Biblical record. The Sumerians, the aborigines of the Tigris-Euphrates valley, likewise have preserved to us an account of creation, which also confirms the Scriptural narration. These traditions are universal among primitive races.

When these primitive legends are properly deleted of all evident heathen excrescences and scientifically evaluated, the imperishable elements common to all are found to bear unimpeachable testimony to the accuracy and the reliability of the Biblical accounts.

There evidently lie behind these early traditions, distorted and corrupted as they are, the actual historical facts. The Biblical account, free from all irrational legendary elements and stated in universal language which is easily and readily understood by all peoples regardless of their state of civilization and the peculiar superstitions and conflicting scientific theories in vogue, commends itself to the thinking, truth-loving people as an absolutely accurate and infallible account of what actually did occur.

² The Scriptural account of the fall of man received extraordinary confirmation in the Myth of Adapa which is found in four Babylonian fragments. Three of these clay tablets are from the library of Ashurbanipal of Nineveh and one from the archives of King Amenhotep IV of Egypt at Tel el Amarna.

Additional confirmation of the fall of man is found in the famous Temptation cylinder-seal. In the center of this picture is a tree on which fruit is hanging. On opposite sides of the tree two persons are seated and behind one of them stands the upright crooked form of a serpent. This primitive piece of art is a silent witness to the truthfulness of the Biblical narrative.

³ The critical analysis of the Torah assumes that the sacred name of the Lord יְהוָה was never known until the time of the exodus. This presumption is based upon a failure to note carefully what Exodus 6:2,3 says: "And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as אֵל שַׁדָּי God Almighty; but by my name יְהוָה the Lord I was not known to them." This statement does not say that God did not in primitive times reveal himself as יְהוָה but simply affirms that he did not make himself known to these three patriarchs by this, His memorial name. There was a revelation of God communicated to the race before the time of Moses, for Genesis 26:5 quotes the Lord as saying: "Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. ..." A number of divine laws are quoted and referred to in the book of Genesis which gives an historical account of events antedating the giving of the law at Sinai. It seems from Genesis 14 that the knowledge of the true God was kept alive in the little kingdom over which Melchizedek reigned. Throughout the rest of the world this knowledge seems to have faded gradually from the minds of the people. It is likely, and even probable, that in the primitive revelation God made Himself known by His memorial name, since it occurs in the earliest chapters of the Torah. When the Lord called Abraham, he lived in a heathen environment. To him, under these conditions, God revealed Himself as God Almighty. Also to his son and grandson He revealed Himself as such and awaited the time when He would enter into covenant with all of their descendants to disclose Himself by His holy memorial name.

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