The Generations Of Adam

In July 2022, Tom Randle (UCG Twin Cities) gave a message called The Generations of Adam [1]. One of the things he discussed was the overlap of the lives of the descendants of Adam to Jacob. And he provided a full color chart showing their life spans. I plan to expand on "The Generations of Adam" by discussing the meanings of their names. Why focus on the names? Names in the Bible are significant. Larry Walker (UCG Medford) discussed names in the Bible in a message titled What's in a Name [2]. One thing he said is “The importance of a name by the Biblical writer can not be overstated.” The Bible often records why a person is given the name they have. It surprised me to learn that according to some scholars, the names of Adam's descendants reveal a message.

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Adam's Family

Let's start with the first family.

Adam - means MAN(kind) | Red | One From The Soil | Beginning

Gen 1:26 JPS And God said: 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...

MAN in Gen 1:26 is the Hebrew word Adam, Adam is related to Dam, meaning blood, hence the meaning "red". Ha'adam usually means "the man" or "mankind", see Gen 4:1. Adamah is "dirt" or "ground".

Strongs 120 [3]

 Eve - means LIFE.

Gen 3:20 KJV And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 

In Hebrew her name was Chavva. She was called Chavva because she was the mother of all Chayya, Hebrew for life.

This is an example where the Bible tells why she was named Chavva.

 Strongs 2332 [4]

Cain - means GOTTEN | POSSESSION | ACQUISITION | SMITH, as in Tubal-cain

Gen 4:1 KJV Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, I have acquired a man from the LORD.

The Bible tells us why he was named CAIN.

Strongs 7014 [5]

Abel - means BREATH | FUTILE | WORTHLESS | VANITY | TRANSITORY

Gen 4:2 Then she bore again [She continued to bear], this time his brother Abel. 

A familiar verse that mentions Abel is Ecclesiastes 1:2 KJV "Vanity of vanities". In English, it could read "Abel of Abels", or "Breath of Breaths". These don't make sense to me but words can have multiple meanings, and they can change over time.

Strongs 1892 [6] and 1893 [7]

 Seth - means APPOINTED | COMPENSATION | SUBSTITUTE|

Gen 4:25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bore a son, and called his name Seth: 'for God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel; for Cain slew him.'

Again we know why he was named Seth. Seth comes from a verb that means put or set.

Strongs 8352 [8]

DIY

Before we look at the descendants of Seth, let me show how to look up this info for yourself. Before the Internet, you would need several books. Now it's much easier.

https://biblehub.com/ [9] - Shows multiple translations of a single verse. Search the Bible or Commentaries for a word or phrase. It also shows the Hebrew, word by word, with hyperlinks to Strong’s Concordance (BibleHub's own).

http://www.qbible.com/hebrew-old-testament [10] - Gives the Hebrew, transliteration, and KJV. Again with hyperlinks to Strong’s, but a different Strong’s than BibleHub links to, called lexiconcordance.com [11].

https://www.abarim-publications.com/ [12] - Detailed info on every name and place in the Bible. Lots of research here. Often gives multiple explanations for  name.

Or, just do Internet search for "meaning of names from adam to noah". These will probably be among the results.

https://www.christiantruthcenter.com/the-first-generation-from-adam/ [13]

https://bible-codes.org/Names-Bible-Prophecy-Code.htm [14]

The Rest of the Names

Gen 5 gives the descendants from Adam to Noah - Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah. These ten names represent 1600 years of history. We've already looked at Adam and Seth, so starting with Enosh.

Enosh - means |Subject to death/Man(kind) | MORTAL | Weak But Social|

Strongs 583 [15] and 582 [16]

Kenan | Cainan - means |Sorrowful | POSSESSION | Networker, Composer|

It is the same name as Cain with an additional N, how that changes the meaning is unknown.

Strongs 7018 [17] and 7064 [18]

Mahalalel - means |From the presence of God | PRAISE OF GOD|

This is a combination of MAHALAL (Praise) and EL (God). It is similar to HALLELUJAH which means praise God (YHVH). Only one source has "presence of God"

Strongs 4111 [19]

Jared - means |One comes down | DESCENT|

Only one source has "One comes down".

Strongs3382 [20] and 3381 [21]

Enoch - means |Dedicated | Inaugurated | Trained|

Strongs 2585 [22]

Methuselah - means |Dying he shall send | When He Is Dead It Shall Be Sent | When he dies, send it | man of the dart/spear|

Opinions differ on the meaning of Methuselah. The verb מות (mut) means to die or kill. The noun מת (mat) is a word for man. Scholars differ on whether it should be die or man, see below. One compelling fact favoring mut over mat is that the year Methuselah died, God sent the flood. The verb שלח (shalach) means to send. His name appears prophetic, and it could have dual fulfilments, meaning "send the flood" or "send the Holy Spirit".

Strongs 4968 [23]

Lamech naming Noah

Lamech - means |To the poor and lowly | Strong Man For Humiliation | powerful|

The word למך (lmk) does not occur in Hebrew. It could be a combination of le (to) and muk (to be low or depressed) - abarim.com(Lamech) [24].

Strongs 3929 [25]

Noah - means |REST | COMFORT|

Gen 5:28 When Lamech was 182 years old, he had a son. 29 And he named him Noah, saying, May this one comfort us in the labor and toil of our hands caused by the ground that the LORD has cursed.

In Hebrew, Noah's name is just two letters (N-CH). Spelled backwards, it is CHEN, meaning grace. Gen 6:8 "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD". Noah means REST. Significantly, the competing lineage of Cain, ends up in the land of Nod, which means Restless Wandering.

Strongs 5146 [26]

The Message

I see consensus on the meaning of most of the names, with a few where the experts disagree. A message does seem to emerge by stringing the names together. We will add some connector words to make better sense of it.

Christian Truth Center [27] puts the names together this way 

Man appointed subject to death, sorrowful, from the presence of God one comes down dedicated and dying He shall send to the poor and lowly rest and comfort.

Bible-Codes [28] puts the names together this way 

The God-man is appointed, a mortal man of sorrow is born! The Blessed God shall come down and teach that His death shall bring the grieving comfort and rest.

The Bible Made Plain [29] like this

Man is appointed mortal in his dwelling (earth). The praise of God (Jesus) came down to make disciples, was speared (pierced) by a man, who is unknown, to give rest (to mankind).

Here's my attempt. 

God appointed a man of sorrow. Praise God that a dedicated One shall come down. When He dies, He will send comfort and rest to the grieving. 

Is It True?

I find it interesting to play around with these names to make a story. Is it true? I don't believe there are accidents or coincidences in the Bible. But languages do change over time - consider the difference in English between the KJV and now - KJV Words [30]. That's in 400 years, the names of Adams descendants goes back 6000 years, and that is before the tower of Babel. Many scholars believe that Hebrew was the pre Babel language. The reason is because these very genealogies and place names only make sense in Hebrew. (EG: Eve is the mother of all living doesn't make sense in English). Some words are only used once in the Bible (400 words in the Old Testament are known as hapax legomena [31] meaning "spoken once"), and scholars can't be sure of the meaning of some of them. So we may not know the intended meaning of some of the names, but we do know many because they are given in Scripture. And a message does seem to come through, even using just the names where we ARE certain of their meaning. That message is "gospel-like" depending on one's definition of the gospel.

Bible-Codes [28]  claims that ALL the names from Adam to Jesus tell a story, according to the genealogies given in Matthew and Luke, that's over 70 names. Decide for yourself.

However, it could be a case of finding what we want to find. Hebrew scholars have looked at the names and concluded many of them are improperly translated,

So Is It True? Scholar vs Scholar

Peter Goeman [32], professor of Old Testament and Biblical Languages, gives a couple reasons why he doesn't agree with the message in the names. He cites the source as Chuck Missler, who gave this in a lecture in 2013 [33], and in an online Q&A [34], which references a 1999 book by Missler called Cosmic Codes [35]. I don't know if Missler is the source of the idea, (it is the earliest reference I found). He  contends that "the idea that these names combine into secret message is grasping at something that just is not there." He explains that Hebrew word order is different from English, and that the message is different if one follows Hebrew rules. More problematic is that some of the names are mistranslated, which would change the meaning of the message. "The main point is that a translation of the sequence of names presupposes what it attempts to prove, relying on English rather than Hebrew."

Michael Heiser [36], Bible scholar, Author, and Semitic languages expert, also critiqued Missler's message in the names. He too had trouble accepting Missler's interpretation of several of the names. And that the message violated Hebrew rules of grammar. He also points out that the text should be understood according to the author's intent, not ours. More obvious is the question Heiser poses "WHY would God want to encrypt a message that is found elsewhere plainly in sight?"

Final Thoughts

I don't know enough Hebrew to enter this debate, though perhaps I did enter it by bringing it up. While Bible codes and hidden messages may boost the faith of a believer, I doubt that anyone will be persuaded of the gospel because of  them, especially when those messages are already plainly in the text. So, is it true? I have tried to present things so that you can decide for yourself. Perhaps topics like this are distractions from the Scriptures that have a straightforward meaning. Whether it is true or not, Peter asks a more important question.

2Peter 3:11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?

 Indeed, what sort of people ought we to be?

References

1. https://www.ucg.org/sermons/generations-of-adam

2. https://www.ucg.org/sermons/whats-in-a-name-12

3. http://lexiconcordance.com/hebrew/0120.html

4. http://lexiconcordance.com/hebrew/2332.html

5. http://lexiconcordance.com/hebrew/7014.html

6. http://lexiconcordance.com/hebrew/1892.html

7. http://lexiconcordance.com/hebrew/1893.html

8. http://lexiconcordance.com/hebrew/8352.html

9. https://biblehub.com/

10. http://www.qbible.com/hebrew-old-testament

11. http://lexiconcordance.com

12. https://www.abarim-publications.com/

13. https://www.christiantruthcenter.com/the-first-generation-from-adam/

14. https://bible-codes.org/Names-Bible-Prophecy-Code.htm

15. http://lexiconcordance.com/hebrew/0583.html

16. http://lexiconcordance.com/hebrew/0582.html

17. http://lexiconcordance.com/hebrew/7018..html

18. http://lexiconcordance.com/hebrew/7064.html

19. http://lexiconcordance.com/hebrew/4111.html

20. http://lexiconcordance.com/hebrew/3382.html

21. http://lexiconcordance.com/hebrew/3381.html

22. http://lexiconcordance.com/hebrew/2585.html

23. http://lexiconcordance.com/hebrew/4968.html

24. https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Lamech.html

25. http://lexiconcordance.com/hebrew/3929.html

26. http://lexiconcordance.com/hebrew/5146.html

27. https://www.christiantruthcenter.com/the-first-generation-from-adam/

28. https://bible-codes.org/Names-Bible-Prophecy-Code.htm

29. https://thebiblemadeplain.com/what-are-the-meaning-of-the-names-from-adam-to-noah/

30. https://www.gotquestions.org/KJV-words.html

31. https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7236-hapax-legomena

32. https://petergoeman.com/bible-codes-and-the-secret-message-of-scripture/

33. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QdUhNY6DnY&t=414s

34. https://www.khouse.org/articles/2000/284/#notes

35. https://store.khouse.org/products/cosmic-codes-book

36. https://drmsh.com/allegorical-interpretation-names-genesis-5

Cover It With Covering

When you think of the Day of Atonement, you don't normally think of Noah’s ark. It doesn’t seem like the ceremonial sacrifice involving two goats has anything to do with Noah’s ark. But there is symbolism in Noah’s ark that has parallels with Atonement, so let’s explore what Noah’s ark has to do with The Day of Atonement. And while we're at it, why it's important for Christians.

Gen 6:14 "Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch.”

There are variations in different translations that say “cover/coat it with pitch/tar inside and out” - BibleHub(Gen 6:14) [1]. The King James Version and a few other translations say “pitch it with pitch”

But isn't the wording in Gen 6:14 unusual? The Pulpit Commentary [1] explains that the Hebrew says “literally, shalt cover it with a covering.” Cover it with a covering? Pitch it with pitch?

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The word translated as cover is the word kaphar, and some sources say that it is the origin of the English word cover - Edenics [2],  Karaite Insights [3], meaning Hebrew kaphar became English cover. However, in 71 out of 102 occurrences, kaphar is translated as Atonement, It is also translated as reconcile, forgive, purge, pacify, cleanse, appease, or pardon - Hebrew Dictionary [4]. The word translated as pitch or tar is kopher, which is from the same root word kaphar. In English we would say like the Pulpit Commentary “cover it with covering”. Gen 6:14 is the only place kopher is translated as pitch  [4].

Kapporet

Two other words are derived from kaphar: Kapporet and Kippur.  Kapporet is translated as mercy seat, which was the gold lid that covered the Ark of the Covenant, that is, kapporet is a noun form of cover. It is the cover of the Ark of the Covenant.

By the way, the Ark of the Covenant and Noah’s Ark are two different words. The word used for Noah’s ark is the same word used for the basket that the baby Moses was placed in to float down the Nile River. The ark of baby Moses was only covered outside with pitch (different word for pitch). These are the only two places that particular word for ark  (tevah) is used in the Bible. There are any fascinating parallels between the ark of Noah and this ark of Moses - The Ark Of Moses.

And kippur should be familiar as the Hebrew name of the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. And kippur is always translated as Atonement.

The point to remember is that the root meaning of all these words (Pitch, Mercy seat, Atonement) is COVER. And we can use Noah’s ark as a memory aid “Cover it with covering”

The word Atonement is a made up English word - Ministry Magazine [5], Etymology Online [6], Theopedia [7].William Tyndale coined several new words for his translation of the Bible 1526-1536, which made their way into nearly all later translations - David Rolphh Seely [8].

Tyndale was the first to use the terms Jehovah, Passover, atonement, scapegoat, and mercy seat in his translation of the Old Testament. The King James Bible and the Restoration, David Rolph Seely  [8]

While we certainly owe a great debt to Tyndale for his pioneering effort in translating the scriptures into English, his choice of words has shaped theological thinking for 500 years. You can read scholarly articles about Atonement by men who have never actually kept Atonement.

Let’s explore the Atonement symbolism of Noah’s ark as simply the word cover. I’m not saying we don’t want to be “at one” with God, but maybe we lose sight of the symbolism involved in the simple word cover [5]. With the caution that like most things, kaphar is more complicated than I'm showing here -Abarim(k-p-r) [9]. Often the symbols in the Bible point to Jesus in some way. For example, both the High Priest and the sacrifices point to Jesus. Likewise, many elements of Noah’s ark can be viewed as symbols pointing to Jesus. Consider this picture – inside the ark, you are safe from the water, outside the ark, you perish. Inside Jesus you are safe, outside, you perish. Normally water is associated with life, but here water means death. Noah entered the ark from one world, and exited to a new world, much like ancient Israel left one world (Egypt), passed through the water and entered another world (eventually the Promised Land of Canaan). And like us, at baptism, we enter the water as slaves to sin, and exit as slaves to God, which is freedom. We all pass through the waters of death to a new life. The ultimate fulfillment of this will be in the resurrection, we will truly enter a new world. The ark then symbolizes the deliverance through Christ, and transport to a new world.

Let’s assume that the covering of the ark was actually pitch (pitch was made from wood until recent times - Creation.com [10]). Commentators say that the pitch represents the blood of Jesus - Good News Mission [11]. Our sins are covered by the blood of Jesus. Note the similarity to the Passover Lamb's blood on the doorposts. Pitch was smeared on the ark, lamb's blood was smeared on the posts and lintel of the door frame, and Jesus' blood was smeared on the cross – ark, doorpost, cross, all three made of wood. The covering of the Ark (probably pitch) pictures Jesus’ blood, covering our sin.

Some commentators see this as God covering His eyes to our sin. When we ask God for forgiveness, in a sense we are asking Him to cover His eyes to our transgressions [3]. In our culture we would say, “look the other way”.

The ark was covered with pitch inside and out, that is, there are two coverings. The Day of Atonement in the Bible is actually plural. The phrase "Day of Atonement" occurs three times, and it is always plural, as in the Day of Atonements or the Day of the Coverings - Day of Coverings. We also see multiple coverings or Atonements in Lev 16 where the High Priest carries out the sacrifices of the Day.

Lev 16:33 And he shall make an atonement (covering) for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement (covering) for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement (covering) for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation.

There are different ways to look at that symbolism. One way is that no matter which direction you’re looking, you see the shed blood of Christ. That is, God the Father looks from the outside, He sees the outer covering, the blood of Jesus, instead of our sin. 'Hab 1:13 "Your eyes are too pure to look on evil” hence sin must be covered - covered by blood' - Gleanings In Genesis [12]. We look from the inside, and we also see the blood of Christ, protecting us.

One commentary said that the first covering is to make us right before the LORD, as it says in Lev 16:30. The second covering is to make us right with our fellow man - Day of Atonements[13].

MythBusters testing truck bed liner material

Another way we might look at “cover it with covering, inside and out” comes from an unlikely source, testing truck bed liner material [10]. The TV show MythBusters ran a segment in 2012 where they tested whether coating a wall inside and out made it blastproof. And contrary to their expectations, it did. An ordinary wood or concrete wall was badly damaged by a blast. But when the same wall was coated inside and out with bed liner, it withstood the blast. You can watch the video on Youtube yourself - MythBusters [14].  Another show called SmashLab showed that the coating has to be applied to both sides - SmashLab [15]. It suggests that the pitch made Noah’s ark not only waterproof, but impact resistant. When the fountains of the deep broke forth (Gen 7:11), or when the waters receded, the ark could have crashed on rocks, cliffs, or  even mountains. The ark had no propulsion and no rudder. It went wherever the water took it. Likewise, sometimes we can’t steer clear of trials. It is possible that the two coverings may have made the ark impact resistant. I realize that comparing truck bed liner with pitch is somewhat unfair.

What about the life of a Christian? The analogy is that being pitched inside and out makes us able to withstand crashing on the rocks of life. God doesn’t always spare us from the crashes, but makes us impact resistant.

How are we covered with covering inside and out? When the Old Covenant was ratified, Moses literally sprinkled the people with blood, that is, they were covered outside.

Ex 24:8 So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

When the New Covenant was ratified, the disciples took the wine, which represented taking Jesus’ blood inside.

Luke 22:20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.

The pitch on the outside and the pitch on the inside are both parts of the same ark. Two covenants, same law, same blood. One interpretation is this: keep the letter AND the spirit of the law.

There maybe other interpretations of the two coverings, I would like to hear your thoughts on this.

References

1. https://biblehub.com/genesis/6-14.htm
2. https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/edenics/hebrew-words-found-in-english-words.htm
3. https://karaiteinsights.com/article/kippurim.html
4. http://lexiconcordance.com/hebrew/3722.html.
5. https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1962/03/atonement-kaphar
 Tyndale and those who followed him failed to see this symbolism clearly enough to translate kipper as "cover." Instead, they chose or made up a word that expressed the result of the process—at-one-ment with God.
6. https://www.etymonline.com/word/atonement
atonement (n.) - 1510s, "condition of being at one (with others)," a sense now obsolete, from atone + -ment. Theological meaning "reconciliation" (of man with God through the life, passion, and death of Christ) is from 1520s; that of "satisfaction or reparation for wrong or injury, propitiation of an offended party" is from 1610s.
7. https://www.theopedia.com/atonement
The word atonement, is almost the only theological term of English origin. It was likely first used in Tyndale's English translation as derived from the adv. phrase atonen, meaning "in accord," literally, at one. In the English Bible, it is mainly used to translate the Hebrew word kipur, although it is used once in the King James New Testament to translate the Greek word katallage (see Romans 5:11).
8.https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/king-james-bible-and-restoration/3-william-tyndale-and-language-one-ment
 In the process of translating the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into English, Tyndale coined several new English words—transforming older English words or in some cases inventing unique and striking new English words—that have since become central terms in religious discourse
9. http://www.abarim-publications.com/Dictionary/k/k-p-r.html#.XVokkvk3nIU
There are four different roots that are all spelled כפר (kpr) There doesn't seem to be an etymological relationship between these four, but their similarities may have prompted the poetic writers of the Bible to engage in word play.
10. https://creation.com/noahs-ark-pitch
pitch can be extracted by distilling or heating wood. In fact, prior to the rise of the petroleum and coal industries, this was exactly how pitch was made.
11. http://goodnewsmission.net/12-pitch-it-within-and-without-with-pitch/
12. https://www.biblebelievers.com/Pink/Gleanings_Genesis/genesis_13.htm
13. http://www.betemunah.org/kippur.html
Yom HaKippurim is the actual scriptural name for this festival, which means the Day of the Atonements. The meaning has two connotations to it: One, that a person repents for his sins that he has committed against HaShem and asks HaShem for His forgiveness, and the other is to ask for repentance from your fellow man for the sins that you have committed against him.
14. youtube.com/watch?v=3JOXrpCLCJg
15. youtube.com/watch?v=VSvVy6oiMZI

The Ark Of Moses

Lifesize Noah's ark -Ark of Noah [1]

An old joke goes like this.

Q. How many animals did Moses take onto the ark?
A. None, it was Noah who built the ark.

If a person answered anything else, you could Bible shame them. Ah, good times.

Ark of the Covenant

Some people might try to save face by pointing out that is was Moses who built the ark of the covenant, but the problem is that only works in English. In Biblical Hebrew, the ark of the covenant is the word "aron", the word for Noah's ark is "tevah". They both mean box, so close.

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The word tevah is only used in two stories in the Bible, Noah's ark, and Moses' ark. Yes, Moses had an ark. Remember the story of baby Moses in Exodus 2?

1 Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got him a wicker basket and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him.

That "wicker basket" was a tevah, that is, an ark.

Moses being "drawn out" of his ark - JW [2]

A Bible study principle that I learned from Grant Luton of Beth Tikkun [3] is to look for words, names, places that only occur twice. The idea is that the two passages are related somehow. And each helps to explain the other. As this example shows, you wouldn't guess that the ark and the wicker basket were both tevah, nor that Noah's ark and the ark of the covenant weren't the same word unless you examined the Hebrew.

What can we learn by comparing and contrasting these two uses of tevah? How are Noah and Moses alike? different? And what theme connects the two?

Similarities

They both saved the occupants from a watery death.

They were both covered with waterproofing, "pitch" in English.

They were both boxes.

Both carried saviors.

Neither ark had propulsion or steering.

Mankind was given 120 years to repent before Noah's ark, Moses lived 120 years after his ark. "He was allowing even the most evil people of Noah’s time 120 years to repent of their sin before he would judge them with a global flood" - Longevity or Countdown [4].

Differences

Noah saved all who had the "breath of life", man and animals, Moses saved Israel (and eventually all mankind).

Noah’s ark was “a huge, rectangular box, with a roof" - Westermann,  LDS [5], it had three levels and rooms (nests), Moses' ark was a small basket that fit one baby.

Noah's ark was made of wood, probably cyprus, Moses' ark was made of papyrus.

While both arks were covered with pitch, the words used are different. Noah's ark was covered inside and out with "kopher",meaning cover or ransom - If I Could Teach the Bible [6], the same word as in Yom Kippur. Moses' ark was covered outside with "chemar", which the King James calls slime. The only other place chemar is used is the story of the tower of Babylon. Another double. What is the connection between Moses' ark and the tower?

Noah and family were in the ark over a year, Moses less than a day.

Noah and perhaps his sons built his ark, Moses' mother Jochebed built his ark, Miriam followed it, and the Egyptian princess and her maidens drew him out of the water. Four men versus three women.

Noah was a very old man (600 years), Jochebed was a young mother, and Moses was three months old.

Noah's ark floated during a worldwide flood, Moses' ark floated down a river.

Specific dimensions are given for Noah's ark, not for Moses' ark, we don't even know if it had a cover.

Noah knew what was coming, Jochebed did not, but she gave up her son to God in a very literal way, without knowing the outcome. I wonder how she came up with this plan, which did fulfill the literal word of Pharoah's decree to cast the Hebrew baby boys into the Nile.

So What?

The similarities and differences help us to see what characteristics of arks do and don't matter. The builder, size, dimensions, materials, and length of stay don't seem to matter. A tevah could be described as a waterproof box for people.

Water is obviously important in both stories. Normally water is associated with life, but here water means death. Note that the flood waters were bloody from the men that drowned, and the Nile was bloody from the Israelite boys Pharoah ordered drowned. God's first plague on Pharoah and Egypt was to turn the Nile to blood.  "From the first, then, the waters of Egypt are the waters of death; the Nile is a river of blood long before Yahweh makes this visible in the first plague." - Exegetica [7]. And Pharoah himself drowned in the Red Sea pursuing Israel (not the same Pharoah who ordered the boys be drowned however).

Moses strikes the rock

Speaking of water, Moses' name (Moshe) means drawn out, so named because the princess drew him out of the river. Moses later draws water out of a well for seven sisters in Midian, one of which, Zipporah, became his wife. Later still, Moses draws water out of a rock in the wilderness. And he drew Israel out of Egypt, by passing them through the Red Sea.





The arks (tevah) picture Jesus Christ. He is the one that saves from the watery death. Noah and Moses picture Jesus as well inasmuch as they are both saviors of mankind, but they also picture all of us. We need saving from the waters of death, just like Noah, Moses, and Israel. We need to be inside Jesus.

The Third Tevah

When Israel left Egypt, they were hemmed in by mountains and the Red Sea. God opened a completely new way for them through the Red Sea. Here is the description from Exodus 14

22 The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

Dry land beneath them, walls to the right and left. To me, that sounds like a box, a tevah if you will. It protected them from a watery death like Noah's tevah and Moses' tevah. All Israel passed through the Red Sea via a tevah to the wilderness. The Bible doesn't call the opening in the Red Sea a tevah, but it served the same purpose.

The Fourth Tevah

Tevah has two other meanings. It can mean "word". Since a tevah pictures Jesus, and Jesus IS the Word, it is very fitting. If you're in Jesus, you're safe, if you're outside Jesus, you're not.

The Hebrew word tevah not only means “ark,” but it also means “word.” Thus a student of the Torah is prompted to “go into the word,” the sacred task of discovering hidden meanings enfolded into each tevah. - Worlds Within Words - [8].

Tevah can also mean "coffin" - Noah Had a Tevah [9]. Here the symbolism is reversed, coffins normally carry the dead, but in these cases, the coffin (tevah) carries the living, the dead are the ones outside the tevah. For an individual believer, the coffin carries us across the waters of death to the kingdom of God.

A New Life

People enter a tevah, people exit a tevah. And they exit to a new life. Noah entered the ark from one world, and exited to build a new world. Moses entered as a Hebrew baby, and exited an Egyptian prince. Israel entered the Red Sea as slaves, and exited as free men. At baptism, we enter as slaves to sin, and exit as slaves to God, which is freedom. And we enter the coffin at death, and exit in a whole new world. We all pass through the waters of death to a new life.

It's all about deliverance.

A Tale Of Two Sighs

There are many kinds of sighs, a contented sigh say at the end of a productive day, an anguished sigh of frustration when your computer crashes again. and many more shades of sighing. You can read about some of the science of sighing at Scientific American blog [1]. But I know what you're thinking, "what's that got to do with Noah's flood?" Noah's father Lamech said this when he named baby Noah.

Gen 5;29 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 the ground which the LORD hath cursed.' 

Birth of Noah [http://misteroriginal.com/4120bc0814/]

"Shall comfort" is translated from y'nachámënû יְנַחֲמֵנוּ. See the nacham? That's the root of the word, and it originally meant "to sigh". It also means comfort.

Strong's #5162: nacham (pronounced naw-kham') a primitive root; properly, to sigh, i.e. breathe strongly; by implication, to be sorry, i.e. (in a favorable sense) to pity, console or (reflexively) rue; or (unfavorably) to avenge (oneself):--comfort (self), ease (one's self), repent(-er,-ing, self).

A little speculation here. We know that Noah didn't give them comfort - after all, they all died in the flood, and Lamech himself died five years before the flood. Lamech's statement was prophetic, but perhaps it was more of a question than a statement. I can picture Lamech (and all mankind) scrabbling out an existence due to the curse of thorns and thistles (Gen 3:17), heaving a sigh saying "May this one bring us comfort". Was it hope or frustration?

Labor

Lamech wanted relief from "our work and in the toil of our hands". I know what you're thinking, "What's this got to do with Adam and Eve?" There is the obvious connection that the curse of thorns and thistles was Adam's punishment. But there is a linguistic connection as well, the Hebrew for toil (some translations say labor) is itzavon עִצָּבוֹן, the same word used in Gen 3:17. 

Gen 3:17 cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life
Gen 3:18 Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee

Some translations say toil, some say labor or even painful labor, some say sorrow.  So it would appear that the curse on the ground was still in force in Lamech's day, but was lifted after the flood. While gardens and fields today produce some weeds and some thorns and thistles, it is not the hard labor described by Lamech. But today's harvest does not compare to the prophecies, for example Amos 9:13. While Adam's curse may have been partially lifted by Noah so to speak, the ultimate fulfillment of that is still to come, and will be lifted by Christ at His return.

But that's not all. Eve's punishment involved pain too.

Gen 3:16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children." 

In fact, it's the same word for pain as in Adam's curse - itzabon. It's the same in English too, women suffer labor pains in childbirth, and men labor making a living from the earth. Since woman still suffer greatly in childbirth, it appears Eve's curse has not been lifted yet, not even a little. If Lamech's wife had made the prayer, perhaps it would have been...

Rest

Noah's name also means rest. The New American Standard Bible translates it this way.

Gen 5:29 Now he called his name Noah, saying, "This one will give us rest from our work"

It seems even easier to imagine Lamech sighing and saying "Perhaps this one will give us rest".  Rest fits nicely with the Sabbath day of rest, six days of labor, a day of rest, 6000 years of strife, 1000 years of peace, all foreshadowed by Noah. It also fits nicely with Christ's words.

Mt 11:28 Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

and

Heb 4:9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

Sigh Two

Now let's see the other sigh of the story. When God saw that all mankind was wicked, it records this.

Gen 6:6 And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
Gen 6:7 The LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them."
Gen 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

Model of Noah'sArk [2]

The phrase "was sorry" is translated from YiNächem, the same word nacham used earlier when Lamech sighed and named Noah. I picture God sighing in frustration and saying he was sorry he made man. How sorry was He? "Grieved Him to His heart" translated from Yit'aTZëv el-liBô יִּתְעַצֵּב אֶל־לִבּוֹ.  Atsav, the root word of Yit'aTZëv, means to carve. Taking some license in translation, it carved His heart out. (By the way, Gen 6:8 is the first time grace is used in the Bible.)

God Suffers With Us

We can think of God as unfeeling, as the Prime Mover, not subject to pain like humans. "Classic theism teaches that God is impassible—not subject to suffering, pain, or the ebb and flow of involuntary passions." God Without Mood Swings  [3]. This notion came from the Greeks, not the Bible, The God Who Suffers, Christianity Today  [4]. The articles quoted here show that God suffers with us, arguably suffers more than us. 

As John Austin Baker says, "The crucified Jesus is the only accurate picture of God the world has ever seen." The sight of Jesus on the cross disclosed God as one who suffers with humanity. [4]

 the God who suffered for us also suffers with us The God Who Suffers With Us [5]

This isn't some literary device so we humans can comprehend that God is "feeling our pain", this was real pain that carved His heart out. It is not just the pain a parent feels when their child is ill or hurts themselves, worse than the pain I caused my mother in my misspent youth. He suffers right along with us. I have felt abandoned by God even though I knew the scripture that He will never forsake us (Heb 13:5), but that is nothing compared to how Christ must have felt on the cross.

And Hope

These two sighs seem to be born of frustration, but they also reveal insights into the gospel of God, one foreseeing mankind's salvation through Noah, and one speaking of mankind's destruction. 

Lamech: Perhaps he will give us rest.

God: I'm sorry I made man.

Notice that the salvation was arranged before the destruction. The fix was in. The same is true of Christ's second coming, rescue planned long before the end time destruction on the earth.

References

1. http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/scicurious-brain/ignobel-prize-winner-a-kiss-is-just-a-kiss-but-is-a-sigh-ever-just-a-sigh/
2. https://leesbirdblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/noahs-ark-c2a9c2a9flickr-elmada.jpg
3. http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/articles/impassib.htm
4. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1997/february3/7t2038.html
5. http://www.myronjtaylor.com/pdf/withus.pdf