Why do we have this little saying of Lamech? He represents the hardening in sin. He engaged in polygamy, never sanctioned by
God. He apparently was vengeful at a
level that was frightening. He was also
responsible for children who were part of cultural development, the makers of
instruments for music. His passion for
vengeance exceeded his ancestor Cain's but the real difference was that his
vengeance was self-imposed, it was no longer God who declared vengeance, it was
Lamech. Following him, six generations
removed from Cain, Adam and Eve had another child, Seth. The name for this son reveals to us that Eve
has changed. With Cain, she said she had
gotten a son with the help of God but with Seth it was primary the action of
God she celebrated in naming him, God had appointed her a son to replace
Abel. In the time of Seth's son, Enosh,
people began to call upon the name of the Lord.
The family began to turn their attention not to praise of man but the
praise of God. In spite of God absenting
Himself from earth, He continued to be active and the people knew it.
Nathanael is a true Israelite in whom there is no guile, he
speaks his mind. When Philip first tells
him they have found Messiah but that He comes from Nazareth, Nathanael says, “Can
anything good come out of Nazareth?” His
words are motivated not only by regional pride but also because the Scriptures don’t
indicate Messiah will come from there, a point the Pharisees press constantly through
Jesus' ministry. Unlike these, however,
Nathanael is willing to consider the possibility and goes with Philip to
see. In just a word about where Philip
had found him, Jesus blows away Nathanael's objections and he becomes the first
to confess Jesus as, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of
Israel!” Can you see the smile that must
have lit up Jesus' face at hearing this?
His final words concerning angels ascending and descending on the Son of
Man hearkens back to the first Israel in his vision in a deserted place and his
reaction also was amazement at seeing what he saw that night.
When Jesus is compared with Moses it is not only as a man,
but in all that He did. Moses was a
servant in the house of God. He was an
exalted servant, but a servant nonetheless and Moses would take no umbrage to
that description. He knew his place in
the grand scheme of things. It was when
he spoke the words, "Must we bring water out of this rock?" that he
was no longer fit to enter the land. One
of the accusations hurled at Jesus was that he claimed equality with God. It was this very thing Moses did for which
God barred him from being the deliverer.
Jesus was and is equal with God. He
was not only the builder of the house, He is the house itself. The writer points to this reality in order to
exalt Jesus, not dishonor Moses. We are
those who are called to proclaim Jesus and call upon His Name, just as the
people did at the time of Seth, just as Nathanael did.
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