From the Fall to the Flood.
Gen. Chs. 4-8.
Cain and Abel. These two, who are apparently the oldest children of
the first pair, were no doubt born soon after the expulsion from the
garden. One tilled the soil and the other was a shepherd. They each
appear to have been attentive to worship. Their offerings, however,
were very different and no doubt revealed a difference of spirit. The
superiority of Abel's offering was in the faith in which it was made
(Heb. 11:4), meaning perhaps that he relied upon the promise of God
and that he apprehended the truth that without shedding of blood there
is no remission. (Heb. 12:24).
Because God granted to Abel a token of acceptance of his offering and
failed to grant a like token to Cain, the latter became jealous and
finally slew his brother. Thus early did Adam and Eve begin to reap
the effects of sin. The record, in kindness to them, makes no mention
of the great sorrow that must have come to them as they saw their
second son murdered by their first-born. These two sons represent two
types running through all the Bible and indeed through all history-the
unchecked power of evil and the triumph of faith. They represent two
types of religion, one of faith and the other of works. Then as in all
succeeding ages the true worshipers were persecuted by false
worshipers.
God showed his mercy to Cain whom he sent away from the place of
worship at the east of the garden by putting upon him the divine mark
so that no one should destroy him. He also allowed him to prosper and
it was through his descendants that civilization began to show itself.
Cain and Seth-Two Races. Another son was born to Adam named Seth.
Probably others have been born since the death of Abel but none of a
like spirit to Abel and hence none worthy to become the head of a
spiritual branch of mankind. Cain's descendants applied themselves to
the arts and to manufactures, to the building of cities and the making
those things that furnish earthly comfort, while the descendants of
Seth, were selected to be the instruments of religious uplift and to
have communion with Jehovah. Through inter-marriage with the
descendants of Cain, however, the generation of Seth was corrupted.
This led to a period of great wickedness and the destruction of the
people by the flood.
The great age of those who lived in this period may have been a
provision of nature for the promotion of a rapid increase of the race
and for the advancement of knowledge. The revelation of God to them
could thereby be the better preserved. Then, too, the body of man was
not originally subject to death and when it became so because of his
sin, the process of decay may have been less rapid. And, besides, the
effect of hereditary disease had not begun to effect and weaken the
race.
The Great Wickedness. As indicated above, this Wickedness seemed to
arise from the intermarriage of the descendants of Seth and those of
Cain. The descendants of Seth were called "the song of God," because
they were the religious seed. When they looked upon the beautiful
daughters of Cain (called the daughters of man because they
represented the irreligious portion of the race), they married them
and thereby brought the whole race into such corruption that "every
imagination of the thought of his heart was only evil continually"
(Gen. 6:5). God therefore declared "My Spirit shall not always strive
with man" and set the limit when he should quit thus striving with him
at one-hundred and twenty years (Gen. 6:3). After that God proposed to
destroy the whole wicked race from off the face of the earth (Gen.
6:7).
Noah God's Chosen Man. The narrative tells us (Gen. 6:8) that "Noah
found favor in the eyes of Jehovah." This was no doubt because his
character and acts were acceptable to Him. He was the tenth and last
in the Sethic line. He was the son of Lamech (Gen. 5:28), a godly man,
who had felt the weight of burden because of the curse which God had
pronounced upon the ground because of Adam's sin. He was called Noah
by his father, because he said the child would be a source of comfort
concerning their toil growing out of that curse (Gen. 5:39). He was a
just and perfect man and walked with God (Gen. 6:9; 7:1). Compare also
I Peter 3:20 and Heb. 11:7. He is also called a preacher of
righteousness (II Peter 2:5) and it is probable that, during the
one-hundred and twenty years that were likely employed in building the
ark, he preached to his generation and tried to lead them to
repentance. He was, however, unable to influence any save his own
family. The saving of his own family was, however, a splendid monument
of his life.
The Ark. Noah built the ark according to the pattern given him by
Jehovah. It was a sort of box-like boat 525 ft. long 87-1/2 ft. wide
and 42-1/2 ft. deep, if we count a cubit at twenty-one inches. It was
three stories high, and the building of it was a huge undertaking. We
need not, however, think of it as an undertaking beyond the resources
of the times. All those early people seem to have been fond of
colossal works. The building of this Ark was not only an object lesson
to the ungodly people of the time but a satisfactory proof of the
faith of the builder.
The Flood. At the command of Jehovah Noah and his household entered
the Ark carrying two of every species of unclean, and seven of every
clean kind of animal and creeping things. They were shut in by the
hand of God. The scripture passes silently over all horrors that
filled the earth as man and beast were destroyed. We may imagine them
trying by strength to get out of reach of the rising waters, but no
mental culture or mechanical skill or physical culture, neither tears
and entreaties could deliver man from the destruction which God had
determined because of sin. It was seven months before the Ark rested
on Ararat and more than five more before the ransomed company departed
from it.
The Sacrifice and Rainbow Covenant. Upon leaving the Ark Noah
expressed his thanksgiving and devotion to God by erecting an altar to
Jehovah and offering thereon a sacrifice consisting of victims of
every species of clean bird and beast. The fragrance of this
sacrifice, such as the world had never seen before, was pleasant to
Jehovah and he visited Noah with a promise that he would not again
send such a flood upon the earth. The rainbow was given as a pledge of
the promise made him. It was to be the constant seal of mercy on God's
part, and it is not necessary to worry over the question as to whether
there had never been a rainbow before or whether it was simply
appropriated as a sign. In this new covenant the earth was put under
Noah, as it was under Adam at first. He was, however, allowed to eat
flesh, only mans blood was not to be shed and the seasons were to
continue in regularity. Thus the race started anew as a saved group,
rescued through the faith of Noah.
Confirmation of Tradition and Geology. Perhaps no other event of
scripture history has found so large a place in ancient traditions and
legends as has the flood. It is found in each of the three great
races-the Semites; the Aryan; and the Tutarian. It is found alike
among savage and civilized races, and as might be expected is most
accurate in the countries that were nearest to where the Ark rested.
Among the most important of these early traditions are those of
Babylon. Greece, China, and America. In a general way these traditions
may be said to agree with the Biblical story in the following
particulars: (1) That a flood destroyed an evil world; (2) That one
righteous family was saved in a boat and that animals were saved with
them; (3) That the boat landed on a mountain; (4) That a bird was sent
out of the boat; (5) That the saved family built an altar and
worshiped God with sacrifice. All these stories tend to corroborate
the Biblical story and to show that the whole race must have spring
from this common home from which they have been scattered abroad.
Geology has also done much to confirm the flood story. Geologists are
well acquainted with facts in world history that bring the flood
"entirely within the range of natural phenomena." The Scripture (Gen.
7:11) speaks of the fountains of the deep being broken, language that
could refer to the inrushing of the sea upon a depression of the earth
which later rose again. Such elevations and depressions have occurred
many times. An example is the elevation of the coast of Chile by an
earthquake in 1822. Such an explanation by no means destroys the
miracle of it, since the coming just when Noah had completed the ark
and entered it and just when God said it would come, provided the
element of miracle. A wide-spread flood is also required by the
discovery of evidence in the earth of the destruction of animal life.
Some Teachings of This Period. The teachings of this period may be
divided into three groups: Those concerning Cain and Abel; those
concerning Cain and Seth. or the two races; those concerning the
flood.
Those concerning Cain and Abel are: (1) The mere fact of having
worshiped is not a guarantee of acceptance with God. (2) Both the
spirit and the form of worship must please Jehovah. (3) God tries to
point out the right way to men and only punishes when man fails to
give heed. (4) Man is free and though God may turn to show him a
better way, he will not restrain him by force even from the worst
crimes. (5) To try to shun the responsibility of being our brother's
keeper is to show the spirit of Cain.
The story of Cain and Seth, or the two races show: (1) That our acts
reveal our thoughts. (2) That the indulgence of our lusts and
appetites disgraces the noblest people. (3) That outward culture
without true religion will not save a people. (4) The noble and good
will finally dominate other men.
The story of the flood teaches: (1) That Jehovah can not make men
righteous against their will. (2) That men by wickedness grieve God
and thwart his purposes. (3) That man has, therefore, power to cause
his own destruction. (4) That God does not save because of numbers or
civilization, but because of character and obedience to his laws. (5)
That God is pleased with the worship of those who obey him.
For Study and Discussion, (1) The consequences of sin as seen in this
period with special reference to the new truths added to those of the
former period. (2) New truths about God. (3) The beginning of the arts
of civilization. (4) The unity of the race. (S) The names and ages of
the six oldest men and whether any one of them could have known
personally both Adam and Noah. (6) The size, architecture and the task
of building the Ark. (7) The flood as a whole. (8) The inhabitants of
the Ark. (9) The departure from the Ark, and the new covenant. (10)
The flood as a divine judgment especially in the light of the judgment
put upon Adam and Cain. (11) Noah as the first man mentioned who saved
others and the way in which he represents Jesus. (12) Evidences of
man's freedom as seen in this and the former chapters. (13) Worship as
seen in the two periods studied.