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I keep noticing more subtleties in the scripture.  I love this actually, even while it forces me to revisit things.  Okay, here we go…

If we pull the Jewish Calendar back by 700 years, to line it up with the Flood, then the Calendar doesn’t start until 700 years after Adam was given life. (What kind of life? We’ll get back to that later)

In contrast, Enoch started walking with God the year his son Methuselah was born, which was 687 years after Adam was given life, according to Genesis 5.

If those these years before the calendar are God’s sabbath, then we have a 13 year disparity between two potential indicators of when that sabbath ended.  Does it end 700 years after Adam is given life? Or at God’s seeming reappearance in people’s lives?  Either way, how do we account for this 13 year difference between the possibilities? It suggests that either God’s sabbath ended 13 years after Enoch started walking with God, or it started 13 years before Adam was given life.

In previous posts, I have assumed the sabbath ended 13 years after Enoch started walking with God.  Today, I will consider the other possibility.

Jumping right into it, where in scripture was Adam born? Well, Moses records in Genesis 2:7 the breathing of life into Adam.  However, as I have said numerous times, this could not be a physical birth, because verses 4-6 have wonderful confluence with the beginning of earth’s history, followed by a God-involved evolution.  For all of that time to constitute Adam’s creation, he would have been physically born.  Now, I suppose the breathing of life into Adam’s nostrils could be a reference to his first breath after birth.  The 1st problem is that he was alive in the womb as well; the second is that every single other person preceding him started breathing at birth as well.  So, whenever this particular breath took place, it was not the breath of physical life; to be a new start in mankind, it would have been a spiritual start, a re-birth in Christ, if you will… just like the rest of us experience… except we all know that can only happen when we are old enough understand things, old enough to believe God and make decisions on our own.

So when was this beginning of life scripture alludes to?  When Genesis 5:3 says Adam lived 130 years, when was that from? His physical birth, or his spiritual? Until now, Genesis 2:7 was always been seen as his physical birth.  Divorce the two verses however (allowing 2:7 to be spiritual, and 5:3 purely physical), and we have quandary, because his 130 years cannot begin both from his physical birth and Genesis 2:7.  In that case, how long before 2:7 did those 130 years begin?

A straightforward reading of Genesis 5:3 sounds like his 130 years are purely physical.  However, this verse does not refer to Adam’s life any differently than Genesis 2:7 did, and I have found that scripture generally references itself wherever possible.  Therefore, I think there is a very good chance that Adam’s 130 years of life start with Genesis 2:7, his rebirth.  It suggests Adam was already physically alive when his 130 years began.  It suggests that physically, he was older than 130 when Seth was born… perhaps 130 was his age in the Lord.

So, how old was Adam physically?  Well, if we move God’s sabbath back until it ends at Methuselah’s birth, and starts 13 years before Adam’s new life in Christ begins, then perhaps Adam was 13 years old at Genesis 2:7.  If our assertion a few posts ago is true, that God’s sabbath began with the advent of Adam’s physical birth, then it suggests that Genesis 5:3 begins 13 years into God’s sabbath, and that God’s first action after ending His sabbath and blessing it, was to start walking with Enoch, and bless the life of the newly born Methuselah.  The evidence for this would be Enoch’s taking-away by God 300 years later, Methuselah living the longest recorded life, and the postponement of the flood until Methuselah’s natural death.

So, what are the possibilities?

Possibility #1: 5:3 refers to the beginning of Adam’s physical life, 13 years before 2:7.  This would line up God’s sabbath with Adam’s physical birth. Adam’s spiritual birth would be 13 years into the Sabbath, and is recorded in Genesis 2:7.  In this case, God’s sabbath ends and the calendar begins at Methusaleh’s bar mitzvah.  It means Enoch was walking with God for the last 13 years of God’s sabbath.

Possibility #2: God’s sabbath ends exactly when God reappears in men’s lives… the birth of Methusaleh.  This again begins God’s sabbath at Adam’s physical birth, but lines up Genesis 5:3 with Genesis 2:7, Adam’s spiritual birth.  Again, his spiritual birth begins 13 years into the Sabbath and Adam’s physical life; but now God’s sabbath ends 13 years before the calendar begins.

Possibility #3: Adam’s spiritual birth is not recorded.  This lines up Genesis 5:3 with 2:7, as does possibility #1 above, but now they are lined up with Adam’s physical birth.  This ends God’s sabbath at Methusaleh’s bar mitzvah, as does possibility #1.  The result is that it begins Adam’s spiritual life occrred at some unknown time; in fact, it’s never even talked about in Genesis.

My preferred solution would line up Genesis 5:3 with 2:7.  That suggests #2 or #3.

My preferred solution would end God’s sabbath at Methuselah’s birth.  That suggests #2.

My preferred solution would start the calendar at the sabbath’s end.  This suggests #1 or #3.

My preferred solution would tell me exactly how long Adam was alive before his spiritual rebirth.  That suggests #1 or #2.

If I go with majority rules then #2 is the winner.  As for my preferance that calendar and sabbath start together, it would seem impossible if we want to line up 5:3 with 2:7 and end God’s sabbath at Methuselah’s birth.  So, one advantage of having the sabbath not lead right into the calendar is the ability to compute Adam’s physical birth.  The other is Adam’s physical birth can now occur at the close of Day 6, as custom dictates.  Another advantage is that Adam’s spiritual birth can occur at the age of accountability by Christian tradition, and the age of manhood by Jewish tradition.  It would seem that not lining up the calendar and sabbath solves more problems than it causes.  The only real problem is the 13-year period between the end of God’s sabbath and the beginning of the calendar.

If I had to pick between #1 or #3, they would both start the calendar at the sabbath’s end.  Only 3 does it by lining up Genesis 5:3 and 2:7; only 1 tells me when Adam was physically born.  The problem with #1 is that it places Genesis 2:7 13 years into the God’s sabbath; the problem with #3 is that we cannot say when Adam was physically born.  The easier one to deal with is #1.  Why? Because in both cases, Enoch’s started walking with God during God’s sabbath.  If Enoch can do it, then so can Adam.  This resolves the problem of #1.  I also don’t like #3, because it doesn’t talk about Adam’s spiritual birth.

Between #1 and #2, I’m liking #1.  Why? Because while both tell me when Adam was born and re-born, #1 is causing me to compute his re-birthday from his birthday; #2 causes me to compute his birthday from his re-birthday.  I prefer the former, because it allow me to compute forward in time, instead of backward.  It also lets 5:3 mean the number it sounds like it means, with no abiguity.  2:7 does not contain a date, and has ambiguity built into it already, so interpreting it as merely spiritual does add the ambiguity I see in that verse, but explains it.

Picking #1 suggests that for God, walking with a believer is a sabbath to Him.  It constitutes rest, not work.

Give God some rest today.  Walk with Him… not against Him.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 14th, 2010 at 7:45 am and is filed under Bible Commentary, The Science, Day 6, Day 7, The History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.