Paul, Noah, and the Promised Seed
In Galatians 3:16, Paul says, “The promises were made to Abraham and to his seed. It does not say, “and to seeds,” referring to many, but referring to one—“and to your seed”—who is Messiah.” New Testament scholarship tends to view this verse as Paul’s creative (and somewhat grammatically disingenuous) reimagining of the original text of Genesis. There, God promises the land of Canaan to Abraham and his “seed” (זֶרַע; zera)—a clear reference to many descendants rather than one particular person (see Genesis 12:7; 13:15; 24:7). Modern scholars conclude that Paul forces an unnatural reading of Genesis in order to “find” a reference to Jesus in its pages. Yet this kind of genealogical focus on a single seed is built into Genesis itself. By highlighting Yeshua within a long line of biblical descendants, Paul follows a similar emphasis on Noah in the genealogy of Genesis 5. The presentation of Noah offers Paul a template for identifying one offspring among the generations who will act as a salvific seed for the rest of humanity.
Reading the genealogy in Genesis 5—especially in Hebrew—can be a hypnotic experience. Over and over, the same refrain reappears: Scripture recounts all the days of a given man’s life, and says, “And he begat sons and daughters” (וַיּוֹלֶד בָּנִים וּבָנוֹת; vayoled banim u’vanot). Adam lived “eight hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters” (Gen 5:4). Seth lived “eight hundred and seven years, and he begat sons and daughters” (5:7). “Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters” (5:22). Then, after eight references to “sons and daughters” (בָּנִים וּבָנוֹת; banim u’vanot), Genesis 5:28 states, “And Lamech lived 182 years, and he begat a son (וַיּוֹלֶד בֵּן; vayoled ben).” It is difficult to overstate the literary impact of this abrupt shift to a single son after so many sons and daughters. It’s as though all the descendants in the genealogy were leading up to this single seed.
The next verse says that Lamech “called his name Noah (נֹחַ; Noach), saying, ‘From the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief (נָחַם; nacham) from our work and from the painful labor of our hands” (5:29). Noah's two-letter Hebrew name contains the same two letters that begin the Hebrew word for “relief,” so that his name foreshadows his role as a comforter to humanity. Similarly, Jesus’s Hebrew name, Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ), comes from the word for “salvation” (יְשׁוּעָה; yeshuah), which is why the angel tells Joseph, “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). The presentation of Noah in Scripture’s first genealogy gives Paul a good reason to see his Messiah as the awaited “seed” of Abraham who offers comfort and rest to the world.
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