In the Flood, Noah and his family of eight were the only persons to survive. When they had come from the ark after the Flood, God gave them the promise that he would not again wipe out "all flesh." Ch. 9:11. But after it appeared that God's judgments had not made them fear him, God was just as angry with Noah's descendants as he had been with the men before the Flood. Pride led them to build a tower to be a rallying point for their worship of self. But God showed them that men cannot long work together with a sinful purpose as their common object; he broke up their unity in sin by confusing their speech, ch. 11, and scattering them over the earth, ch. 10. This second disappointment found its brighter side in the line of men descended from Noah through Shem, ch. 11:10, who also cherished God's promises. And the last stroke of the writer's pen in these earliest chapters of the Bible introduces the reader to the family of Terah in that line of Shem, and thus prepares the way for a closer acquaintance with Terah's son, Abraham, "the friend of God." QUESTIONS ON LESSON I 1. About how large is the world of the Old Testament, and where does it lie? 2. What special importance has Palestine because of its position? 3. How much of the story in Genesis is told before we are carried to Palestine? 4. Locate on a map the scene of those earliest events in human history. 5. Show how the first two chapters of Genesis prepare for the tragedy of sin and death that follows. 6. How does the brighter side of hope and faith appear from Adam to Noah? 7. What effect did the Flood have on men's sin and their faith in God? 8. Trace the descent of the man God chose to become "the father of the faithful." LESSON II The Patriarchs Genesis, Chapters 12 to 50 God's purpose to save and bless all mankind was to be carried out in a wonderful way. He selected and "called" one man to become the head and ancestor of a single nation. And in this man and the nation descended from him, God purposed to bless the whole world. Abraham was that man, and Israel was that nation. God made known his purpose in what the Bible calls the Promise, Gal. 3:17, the Blessing, v. 14, or the Covenant, v. 17. Its terms are given many times over in the book of Genesis, but the essence of it lies already in the first word of God to Abraham, Gen. 12:3, "In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed."