Page 34 - Advanced OT Survey Revised

NOTE: Bible narrative is Christocentric. This means that the narrative of the Bible has a very significant
interest in following the lineage of Christ and how God preserves “the offspring or the Seed.”

Chapter 4 shows the results of sin revealed through the death of Abel. Cain’s bloodline died during the
flood and God preserved a faithful bloodline of Seth who was also the great grandfather of Noah. The
flood was a result of man’s sinfulness and God’s anger against ungodliness. The flood shows that God is
just and will not let unrighteousness continue without being punished. Noah found favor in the eyes of
God because of faith in God. He was saved because he believed what God had commanded him to do
with the Ark. The Ark is symbolic of Christ. God was recreating the earth during the flood.

However, there was one major problem. The people who went in the Ark were still sinful. This is why
after the global flood, man still continued in sinful ways as evidenced by the Tower of Babel.

When God created mankind, he wanted them to fill the earth. But due to sin mankind decided to build a
high tower of Babel and remain in one place. This rebellion was led under the leadership of Nimrod. God
judged the people by confusing their single languages into many languages and scattered them all over
the earth. As earlier mentioned in the preamble that the book of Genesis is a book of origin—this could
be the origin of Languages.

Noah’s Ark and the Flood with Dr. Georgia Purdom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ma-LP0UDtw

Chapters 12-50 focus on four key characters; - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

When God destroyed the earth with a flood, he made a covenant with Noah. This time God was going
to make another covenant with a man named Abraham. NOTE: Covenants were a way God related with
mankind. Also, a covenant was something that people in the middle eastern culture understood well. It
was way making an agreement under oath. God made a three-part promise to Abraham.

 To make him a great man and bless him.
 Create a great nation out of him (these words sound very ironic in the instance when they are
spoken because Abraham and his wife were past bearing age) and give them a land (Canaan)
forever.
 Bring blessing to all peoples through his descendants. xxii

Abraham was promised a seed not seeds, meaning one. The idea of “the Seed” is further explained by
the Apostle Paul in Galatians 3-4 and it was to point to Christ as the ultimate. Isaac is the promised son
but not the ultimate seed. God fulfilled his promise by giving Sarah and Abraham (in their old age) a son,
Isaac. Isaac begot twins, Esau and Jacob. It is also important to understand that God confirmed his
covenant with Abraham to Isaac. Of his two sons, God chose Jacob. As it is written, “Jacob have I love
and Esau I hated. (Esau is the descendant of the Edomites.)

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