For whom the LORD loves He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights

Proverbs 3:12

Just as mothers are well thought of by God and worthy of His concentration in the Bible; fathers are highly valued in God’s heart and His creative and eternal plans for families and cultures. We don’t have to go very far from the beginning of human history to view the impact whether for good or for evil that fathers have on their sons and daughters and simultaneously a father’s impact on his own culture and even for the generations following his life!

All the lists of genealogy God records in the Bible of so and so begat so and so are clear reminders of just how seriously God takes the role of fathers in the family, society, history and eternity. The first of those lists is found in Genesis chapter four where interestingly God puts on record the early descendants of Cain; who you may remember killed his brother Abel and then pleaded with God for mercy. This list of descendants is a statement that God did indeed show Cain mercy. Of course, what Cain did with that mercy was all on him. The list given here is rather short, in biblical comparisons, and ends with Lamech (not Noah’s father) also being described as a murderer and linking himself to his great-great-grandfather; Cain. 

The next genealogy list is that of Adam through the line of Seth; the son born to Adam and Eve after the murder of Abel. This is a lengthy list and covers about two thousand years which includes Enoch (not Cain’s son). Enoch was given the amazing epitaph “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him up”; which means he did not die. God just took him straight up to heaven. (Genesis 5:19-24) Enoch is mentioned again in Luke chapter three in the lineage of Jesus through his earthly father, Jospeh. This is an amazing list of sons going all the way back to “Seth who was the son of Adam”! Enoch is also mentioned in the ‘Hall of Fame of Faith’ found in Hebrews. And that is all we know about Enoch, but what a declaration of his intimacy with God! 

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. 

Hebrews 5:11

Next in this genealogy of Seth is Methuselah who has the distinction of being the longest living man ever! He lived 969 years (Adam lived 930 years!) Methuselah was the grandfather of Noah! This is a father we know quite a bit about, but mainly that through his faith and obedience to God; he saved mankind! Nothing special about that!

The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 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. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his lifetime; Noah walked with God. Noah became the father of three sons:
Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 

Genesis 6:6-10

Cain as a father had a short list of descendants mentioned in the Bible. We can assume there were more descendants, and these fathers were talented, as mentioned in this lineage. But this list ends with the inclusion of a confessed murderer and malcontent who basically blamed his great-great-grandfather and dared to claim a larger portion of God’s mercy than Cain received and that there is no record that such mercy was ever given by God to Lamech. (Remember, not the Lamech of Noah’s father.)

Alternatively, Seth as a father had a much longer list in his lineage. Not just in Genesis, but as we mentioned, a thousands-of-year’s list all the way to Jospeh, the earthly father of Jesus, the promised Messiah! This list of fathers did not include even one perfect Dad! All of them needed God’s mercy and grace! And it was up to each of them what they personally did with that mercy and grace. Most of the names in Seth’s lineage list and the others given in the Bible are only mentioned in the “list” and we know little or nothing more about them. What we do know is that God preserved each dad for His intended purpose to fulfill His promise to Adam and Eve back in Genesis chapter three to provide a Savior to defeat death and conquer the grave! AMAZING!

In the good, the bad, and the sometimes very ugly; Proverbs has a lot to say about fathers and we will delve into 31 of those instances in the upcoming months…About Fathers!