Genesis 5 Part 14: Enoch, Methusaleh, Lamech and Noah
The final four patriarchs Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech and Noah align with the Sun, Moon, Air and Earth respectively. They do not appear in the astronomical clock. This is because, in my view, Enoch, Methuselah and Lamech make up the First Heavens. The clock relates only to the Second Heavens.
Enoch, the 7th Generation
We are told in the text that Enoch lived only 365 years and then God took him.
Genesis 5 v 21-24
When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
The first clue that Enoch is the Sun is that he lives for 365 years and a solar year is 365 days.
The Talmud says that the Israelites believed the Sun moved by day above the Earth, and by night it went to Heaven. This reminds me of how Enoch lived on the Earth and then went to Heaven to be with God.
The final clue is the name of Enoch. It means ‘dedicate’, but the root word implies lips, mouth or palate. The roof of the mouth is like an arc. Whereas the planets move in a circular motion, the Sun oscillates in the South, between East and West. So the way we need to conceptualize this part of the Heavenly Map is as on a semi-circle, rather than a wheel.
The Sun moves in the sky by going from one extreme, the Winter Solstice, to the other, the Summer Solstice, and back again.
So if we divide 365 by 2, we get 182.5. The Sun travels slightly beyond the East/West line, and in this genealogy, it says by 2.5 days.
We can see this in the image below.
The age at which Enoch fathers Methusaleh is 65 years old. This number links in with the age at which Adam fathers Seth, 130 years old.
65 x 2 = 130
Symbolically, this shows Enoch goes up to the Third Heavens. And that the Sun returns there at the end of everyday.
Methusaleh, the 8th Generation
His name means ‘man of the missile’. It comes from two root words, math and shelach. These means man and missile, respectively. This gives a clue to how Methuselah is linked to the Moon.
Different cultures have various narratives about the images they see on the surface of the Moon. In Jewish folklore, there is story about the Man in the Moon.
They link him to a the person in the Book of Numbers.
Numbers 15 v 32-36
While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.” So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses.
Here is an image of how they see this version of the Man in the Moon.
We can see, the man is carrying sticks. This could relate to the meaning of the name of Methusaleh, the man who died when he was stoned by people throwing rocks or missiles.
The Moon takes 19 solar years to come back to the same point in the sky. It is called the Metonic Cycle.
When we divide 19 into how long he lived, 969 years, we get 51. This is roughly the number of weeks in a lunar year.
Methuselah fathers Lamech at the age of 187 years old. If we add this to the the model of the 1st Heavens we see how it fits in.
Astronomically, the Moon extends further out than the Sun at its full extent. This model reflects this.
Lamech, the 9th Generation
As mentioned previously, Lamech lives to 777. This is a clue that Lamech is connected to the Spirit of God, hovering over the formless earth in Genesis 1.
Genesis 1 v 2
Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
The word spirit in Hebrew is ‘ruach’. This can mean spirit, but also wind, breath and air. All these fit in with the idea of this celestial sphere being Air.
Lamech begets Noah at the age of 182. When we map this on to the semi-circle, we see that it goes down just below the horizon. It fills the whole of the atmosphere.
Noah, the 10th Generation
His name means ‘rest’. Lamech says of Noah, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.”
Symbolically speaking, this is where the Spirit of God rests. But also God brings salvation.
Noah represents the Earth and in the story of the Flood, God saves Noah and his family. Through the lens of Genesis 5, God not just saves Noah, but the whole Earth.
Archeological Evidence
At the centre of Gilgal Rephaim is a semi-circular structure. This astronomical model for the 1st Heavens is reflected in the ruins.
The next post we will look at why this discovery in Genesis 5 is controversial.