Give the cause of the division of the United Kingdom.

What was the course of history in the Northern Kingdom?

What course did history take in the Southern Kingdom?

Give the two prominent features of period five.

What marked change had come over Judah between the captivity and the return?

Give the great names that are prominent in the several periods into which we have divided the Old Testament times.

Lesson 2

From Creation to Abraham

Old Testament Division--Prelude, First Period, Second Period

PRINc.i.p.aL EVENTS

Prelude.

#Account of the Creation.#--The creation days: Light (Gen.

1:3-5); firmament (1:6-8); land and water separated, vegetation (1:9-13); heavenly bodies--sun, moon, stars (1:14-19); fish, birds and animals (1:19-25); man (1:26-31).

First Period.

#Creation of Man.#--Man made in G.o.d's image (Gen. 1:27); creation of Eve (Gen. 2:21, 22). Entrance of sin and the fall (3:1-6); Cain, son of Adam and Eve, killed his brother Abel (4:3-8).

Second Period.

#The Flood.#--The prevalence of wickedness (Gen. 6:5) caused G.o.d to destroy the population of the world by flood, with the exception of Noah, his family, and selected animals (Gen.

6-8). G.o.d made a covenant with Noah not to destroy the people again by flood (9:8-17)

#The Tower of Babel.#--The wickedness in the heart of men found expression in the building of the great tower of Babel, and the punishment therefor was the confusion of tongues (11:1-9).

#TIME.#--From an unknown time to 1928 B. C.

#PLACES.#--Garden of Eden, Western Asia, Babylon.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

#SIGNIFICANCE OF EVENTS.#--The creative period marks G.o.d as the supreme author of the universe and of its inhabitants; sinless at first, man falls, and begins the battle with evil which shall cease only with the ultimate complete triumph of Christ, the Redeemer. The flood marks the first of a series of tremendous efforts to save the world from the thraldom of sin.

Before the Chosen Family

#9. Prelude.#--This is the beginning of all things, and well suits the cravings of the human mind. It says, "In the beginning G.o.d created."

This beginning does not go as far back as that of John 1:1, for that antedates creation and points to a beginning before G.o.d created. That is, John sweeps back to that beginning when as yet there was none but G.o.d. If this statement of Genesis 1:1 is compared with creation myths as found among other nations, it will at once be seen to be far grander and more in accord with our best thoughts of the divine activity. Unbelief may say, "In the beginning matter," or "in the beginning force," but that does not satisfy the human heart as do the words of the sacred writer.

#In this beginning# we see the origin of all things. Genesis means "beginnings," and in this book we find the beginnings of matter, of vegetable life, of animal life, of man, of sin, of sacrifice, of material civilization, of the Covenant People, and of Redemption.

Truly a wonderful book. Well has it been said that "_Genesis enfolds all that the rest of the Bible unfolds._" In this book we find the germ of all that is to follow. If we would know the inner significance of all that we find in Genesis we must look to Revelation.

#10. Period One.--Adam to Noah.# Here comes the story of the creation of man. Innocent he was at the first, but in the trial to which he is brought, man fails, and disobeys. As sinner, he now hides from the face of G.o.d, and has to be sought out by his heavenly Father. Sin created a barrier between G.o.d the Holy One and man the sinner. Then it is that G.o.d begins his work of redemption, and in Genesis 3:15 we see the first promise of that redemption that is to be fulfilled in Jesus in later days. In this period we see the first sacrifice, and in it, too, we come across the full fruitage of hatred, which culminated in murder. Man proves to be a sad failure, and the record is that G.o.d looks down from heaven to see how man is acting. "And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually"

(Gen. 6:5). From that day to this, man when left to himself reproduces this picture, as may be seen in those lands where there is no light of the gospel of the grace of G.o.d.

#The chief characters# of this period are Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Enoch, who "walked with G.o.d: and he was not; for G.o.d took him," Noah and his three sons--Shem, Ham, and j.a.pheth.

#11. Period Two.#--This lasts from #Noah to Abraham#. G.o.d blots out the human race as it then existed and begins it anew. So far, all that we know of the human race lived in the Euphrates valley, and all modern research confirms the Bible statement with regard to this. It need not be maintained that the flood was universal, in the sense that it covered the whole world, as we now know it. All that is needful to believe is that the "known world" was subject to a devastating flood that caused the human race to perish, with the exception of Noah and his family. Warned by G.o.d Noah builds the ark, and embarks in it. The rains descend and the fountains of the great deep are broken up, and the land is submerged. In due time, the rains cease, and the floods dry up, and Noah sends out first a raven, which returns not. Then he sends out a dove, which comes back to the ark, not finding any resting-place. In seven days he sends out another dove, which returns bringing an olive-leaf in her mouth. The third time he sends forth a dove, which returns not. Then in due time Noah goes forth from the ark, which had rested on Mount Ararat in Armenia.

#12.# Now follows the beautiful story of the sacrifice that Noah offers, and the promise of G.o.d never again to send a deluge on the earth. This promise is confirmed by the symbol of the rainbow. Of course there had been rainbows before this, but this time G.o.d takes the rainbow and makes it a symbol of his mercy to sinful man.

#13. The Tower of Babel.#--In this period we there is a great advance in civilization, as may be seen by a careful reading of Genesis 10:1-32. Cities are built and nations are founded by the descendants of the Patriarch Noah. But the evil tendency of the human heart again shows itself, and the pride of man's achievement fills the heart of the descendants of Noah. Then comes the story of the tower of Babel, and in this we read most significantly, "And they said, Come, let us build." To this G.o.d's reply is "Come, let us confound." Man's pride is to be abased, and put to confusion. So the human race is scattered abroad and its cherished plans are broken up. For the second time, man is seen to be a failure, and there is call for another way of dealing with the race if the truth is to be preserved. This third beginning is to be found in Period Three, with which our next lesson will deal.

Test Questions

State how the Gospel of John has a sweep farther back even than Genesis 1:1.

What beginnings may we find in the book of Genesis?

How does man act toward G.o.d, as soon as he transgresses his law?

Where do we find the beginning of the story of redemption?

Give the names of the chief actors in this first period of Bible history.

Give the divine estimate of the moral condition of man before the flood.

Where does the Bible place the story of the beginnings of the human race?

Give the story of the building of the ark and of the flood.

In the second period, what may we say of civilization? How did its magnitude show itself?

Give the record of the scattering of the human race.

Was the second trial of man any more successful than the first, regarded from the religious standpoint?

Lesson 3

From Abraham to Jacob