CREATION AND HISTORY OF THE EARLY

WORLD 
Part II: THE COVENANT ORDEAL'THE TEST OF
FREE WILL
Biblical Period 1 
Lesson #3
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Beloved heavenly Father,

We thank you for your faithfulness through the ages and for the privilege of
studying Your saving Word.  Help us now as we go back into the Old Testament
to study Salvation History...Your design, Your plan that You gave to draw Your
people closer and closer to the coming of the Christ, our Savior and Redeemer.
Rekindle within our hearts the fire of knowing the truth and the deeper spiritual
revelation of Your Holy Word, send Your Holy Spirit to guide us in our study.  In
the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen

+++
"For God created human beings to be immortal, he made them as an image of
his own nature; death came into the world only through the Devil's envy, as those
who belong to him find to their cost."" Wisdom 2:23

"How did you come to fall from the heavens, Daystar, son of Dawn? How did you
come to be thrown to the ground, conqueror of nations?"  Isaiah 14:12

"Then a second sign appeared in the sky: there was a huge red dragon with
seven heads and ten horns, and each of the seven heads crowned with a
coronet.  [...] And now war broke out in heaven, when Michael with his angels
attacked the dragon.  The dragon fought back with his angels, but they were
defeated and driven out of heaven.  The great dragon, the primeval serpent,
known as the devil or Satan, who had led all the world astray, was hurled down
to the earth and his angels were hurled down with him."Revelation 12:3, 7-9

We now come to one of the most bizarre accounts in Sacred Scripture.

Please read Genesis 3:1-7.

In Genesis 2:25 we are told that the man and woman were naked but
unashamed.  In the description of the serpent as "subtle" there is a play on the
Hebrews words for "subtle" = aruwm, and "naked" = arom.  The serpent
addresses the virgin bride Eve in Genesis 3:1 and yet the second person plural
form of the verb indicates that he is also including Adam in this discussion: "Did
God [Elohim] really say you [plural] were not to eat from any of the trees in the
garden?" 

Notice how subtly he has distorted God's words.

Question: What does Eve reply and is her reply accurate?

Answer: No it is not.  God did not tell them they couldn't touch the tree.  Notice
that even though the serpent is speaking to the couple it is only Eve who replies.

Question: Why is it that Adam is silent and leaves his bride to respond alone to
the serpent's challenge?  And why is it that God has allowed the first couple to
under go this temptation [Covenant Ordeal]?
Answer: God has allowed Satan to challenge His covenant with Adam by
permitting Satan to subject Adam and Eve to a "covenant ordeal."  This covenant
ordeal is a free will test of Adam and Eve's fidelity to God and the covenant He
has formed with them.  Love of God and obedience to Him must be freely given.
True love cannot be forced.  Domination is the antithesis of love.

Question: Is there an implication that might be drawn in this exchange between

the virgin Eve and the serpent and what we have been taught about of our
covenant obligations?
Answer: Yes. It is important to understand and practice your faith.  Pleading
ignorance for willful disobedience with full knowledge of God's laws as taught by
His Church will not be an excuse.

Notice that the serpent is addressing both Adam and Eve because he again uses
the plural "you".

The serpent's enticement in verses 5 and 6 are the same temptations with which
he has tempted mankind down through the ages.  Satan will use these same
temptations when he challenges Christ, the "Second Adam" at the Mount of
Temptations [see lesson #11].

Question: What are the three temptations?

Answer: It looks good, it tastes good, it gives knowledge = it gives pleasure, it
gives wisdom/knowledge and therefore it gives power.

The New Testament portrays Jesus as the "Second Adam" whose obedience
and sacrificial death on the cross undo Adam's disobedience [see Romans 5:12-
21 and 1 Corinthians 15:45].  Jesus, the Second Adam, triumphed over the same
temptations to which the first Adam fell into sin.  St. John identified these
temptations as the lusts of the flesh, the eyes, and the pride of life in 1 John
2:16 [CCC# 411 & 504].
 TEMPTATION: The first and second Adams
contrasted

1 John 2:16 Genesis 3:6 Luke 4:1-13

"If anyone loves the The First Adam: "Did Second Adam = Jesus
world, the love of the God really say you were of Nazareth: "Then the
Father finds no place in not to eat from any of the devil said to Him...
him..." trees...?"

the lust of the flesh: "The woman saw the tree "tell this stone to turn into
"disordered bodily was good to eat.." a loaf"
desires"

the lust of the eyes: "..and pleasing to the "the devil...showed Him
"disordered desires of the eye, and..." all the kingdoms of the
eyes" world"

the pride of life: "that it was enticing for "If you are the Son
"pride in possession" the wisdom that it could ...throw Yourself down
give." from here"

Question: As his bride reaches for the forbidden fruit why doesn't Adam leap to
her defense?  Hasn't he been commanded to "shamar"/ "guard" the garden? 
Why might he fear the serpent?  Hint: read Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:12-
19 and Revelation 12:3 & 7-9.
Answer: This is not your garden-variety snake.  Jewish and Christian tradition
identifies the serpent as Satan [see CCC# 391]. The Isaiah 14:12-15 passage
and Revelation 12:7-9 have been traditionally understood to be a description of
the serpent and his fall from the heavenly court while the Ezekiel 28:12-
19 passage and Revelation 12:3 have been traditionally understood to be a
description of the serpent in Eden and of Satan attacking the Church.  Ezekiel
28:12-19: "You used to be a model of perfection, full of wisdom, perfect in
beauty; you were in Eden, in the garden of God.  All kinds of gem formed your
mantle.[...] I have thrown you down from the mountain of God and destroyed
you, guardian winged creature amid the coals.  Your heart has grown proud
because of your beauty, your wisdom has been corrupted by your splendor. [...]
You are an object of terror; gone for ever."  Revelation 3 "...there was a huge red
dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and each of the seven heads crowned
with a coronet." Identified in verse 9 as: "The great dragon, the primeval serpent,
known as the devil of Satan who had led all the world astray..."

In this confrontation Satan, the serpent, had the power not only to seduce but he
also had the power to harm.  See CCC# 394-5 [#395: "..Satan may act in the
world out of hatred for God and his kingdom in Christ Jesus, and although his
action may cause grave injuries--of a spiritual nature and, indirectly, even of a
physically nature--to each man and to society, the action is permitted by divine
providence which with strength and gentleness guides human and cosmic
history.  It is a great mystery that providence should permit diabolical activity, but
'we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him.'"

The serpent subtly changes the force of the covenant curse and tells half-truths. 
He tells Eve, "You will not die". But is his statement an assurance or a threat? 
Remember when God pronounced the curse associated with eating the fruit of
the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, He said to them [in the literal
translation of the text] "for the day you eat of it you will die to die...".  Satan,
however only speaks in terms of a single death, "...you will not die!" Isn't it
possible that there may be an implied threat: "you will not die/suffer physical
death if you eat the fruit"?  Could that have been Satan's way of presenting an
ultimatum, "eat the fruit of I will kill you."?

Question: If Adam was a sinless, immortal man what did he really have to fear?
Answer:  Adam and his bride had no natural sense of supernatural life but to
fear suffering and death is part of the human condition. There was, after all,
another sinless man, in a garden who sweated blood in His agony over His
impending death, but Jesus, the "Second Adam" would triumph over the same
sort of temptation to which the first Adam succumbed.

It is possible that Adam was afraid and so he stood silently and allowed his bride
to fall into sin and then he joined her in choosing spiritual death in order to be
spared physical suffering?   He should have been willing to sacrifice his life for
his bride, trusting that God would restore him. Had Adam forgotten the Covenant
promise of The Tree of Life, the symbol of immortality?  Adam's refusal to
sacrifice is what led to original sin, and he committed that sin even before he
tasted the fruit. "Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his
heart" Catechism of the Catholic Church #397.

The drama of the Fall describes both the natural and supernatural implications of
our first parent's decision:

 They had to choose between two kinds of life: natural and supernatural
 They had to choose between two kinds of death: physical and spiritual.
 They had to choose between two kinds of wisdom: human and divine, and
ultimately
 They had to choose between two kinds of fear: fear of God or fear of
suffering.

At that moment our original parents became "disgraced".  They lost their
covenantal status of divine son-ship [see CCC # 405].  The sin of Adam and Eve
is called originating original sin [originale originans].  Their sin was personal and
mortal--it affected the whole of human nature.  It was personal because it was
freely committed; it was mortal because God imposed the serious obligation of
double death [physical and spiritual]; and it affected the whole human race by
depriving succeeding generations of the supernatural life of divine son-ship and
the preternatural gifts they would have possessed on entering the world if Adam
and his bride had not sinned. 

Original sin is a state and not an act.  It is a sin that is contracted by our first
parents that will be transmitted by propagation to the entire human race through
the transmission of a human nature deprived of original holiness.  Adam's
descendants, deprived of a state of divine holiness will become subject to [but
not totally corrupted by] the inclination to sin, a condition the Church defines as
"concupiscence". See CCC#404-06

Question: How is it that Adam and Eve had aspired to be "like" God as Satan
had promised them in Genesis 2:5 "your eyes will be opened and you will be like
gods, knowing good from evil." What is the implication of their sin in addition to
disobedience?
Answer: The knowledge that Adam and Eve acquired by eating the forbidden
fruit is a privilege which God had reserved to Himself and which Adam and Eve,
by sinning, had usurped.  They had usurped the power of deciding for
themselves what is good and what is evil and therefore declaring complete moral
independence from God.  St. Augustan, St. Thomas Aquinas and other Church
Fathers saw this first sin as an attack on God's sovereignty; it is a sin of pride
that man should aspire to be "like God".

The sin of Adam and Eve became a breach in the divine Covenant relationship
man had enjoyed with God the Father.  From that time forward the descendants
of Adam and Eve would inherit the stain of original sin along with their physically
inherited traits.  Only Adam's self-sacrificial love would have saved him and his
bride and perfected them in the image of God; now only through divine
intervention and supernatural means would this stain be healed.

Please read Genesis 3:8-13

Genesis 3:8 "The man and his wife heard the sound [Hebrew = "kol"] of Yahweh
God [Elohim] walking in the garden in the cool [ruah] of the day, and they hid
from Yahewh God [Elohim] among the trees of the garden." In the "cool of the
day" is more literally translated "in the spirit /wind /or breath of the day".  It was
the hour of the day when God communed in fellowship with His human children.

Note: The "forbidden fruit" was probably not an apple.  In Latin "malum" means
both "bad" and "apple", hence the "bad" epitaph for the common apple.  It is
more likely that the fruit was the fig.  Both Adam and Eve tried to use fig leaves to
cover themselves in their nakedness and in Scripture the fig tree is often the
symbol of judgment and of a disobedient Israel.  For example, Jesus curses the
fig tree His last week in Jerusalem for not "bearing fruit".  In this episode, Jesus
is performing a symbolic action in which the fig tree represents the Old Covenant
people who will be punished for their fruitlessness [see Matthew 21:18-22; also
see Jeremiah 5:17; 8:13; Isaiah 34:1-4; Joel 1:7, 12].

In Genesis 3:9 God calls to His children and asks the rhetorical question "Where
are you?"  
Yahweh Elohim is all knowing and all seeing and so of course He knows where
they are and what they have done.  God asks the question in the same way that
we might question our children if we found that they had taken the crayons we
had given them and marked on the wall.  We know what they have done but we
may demand of them "What have YOU done!" Genesis 3:9 is the first call to
confession and repentance [God essentially will ask this same question of
Adam's son Cain in chapter 4].

Question: What is the significance of the "hour" of the day in Genesis 3:8? 

What 4 questions does God ask Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:9-11 and why does
He ask these questions?  Please read Genesis 3:8-13.
Answer: Our first parents have fallen from grace in Genesis 3:1-7.  It is the
liturgical "hour" of communion between man and God when Yahweh comes to
Adam and Eve in the afternoon in the Garden of Eden.  Adam and Eve are
hiding, ashamed of their naked condition.  No longer are they "clothed in grace",
instead they have become dis-graced and they are ashamed in their condition of
sin to be in the presence of God.  He asks them 4 questions:

1. "Where are you?" (Gen 3:9)

2. "Who told you that you were naked?" (Gen 3:11)
3. "Have you been eating from the forbidden tree?" (Gen 3:13)
4. "Why did you do that? (Gen 3:13)

The first question, "Where are you?" is not a question of physical location. God,
being omniscient knows exactly where Adam and Eve are hiding in the garden.
God's question is instead concerned with their spiritual condition: "Where are you
in your relationship with Me?" The second question establishes that they are no
longer "clothed in grace" but have become "dis-graced" and are deprived of
divine son-ship in the family of God. The third calls for an acknowledgement of
their sin, and the fourth question is an invitation to turn away from sin in order to
turn back to holiness. In asking the four questions God the Father is calling His
children to confession: Yahweh is asking Adam and Eve to examine their spiritual
state, to acknowledge their sin, to confess their sin, and in expressing contrition
and repentance to turn away from sin:

1. The first question called Adam and Eve to an examination of conscience.

2. The second question was a call for an admission of sin.
3. The third question was a call to bear the accountability for the sin committed.
4. The fourth question was an invitation to repent their sin in an act of contrition and
in turning away from sin to turn back to God.
These are the questions God is asking every sinner who comes into His
presence in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  In the Sacrament of Reconciliation,
we come to God as fallen children seeking forgiveness for our sins from a just
and loving Father (CCC 980; 1422-24; 1468-70).

Note: When liturgical worship is established in the Temple in Jerusalem the late
afternoon'3PM, is the time of the day when the second Tamid lamb is offered in
sacrifice for the covenant community.  This time of the day at the hour of this
special sacrifice at the Temple is also called "the hour of confession."   It is the
same hour of the day that the Gospels tell us that Jesus will give up His life on
the Cross.

Question: In Genesis 3:9-10 why do Adam and Eve tell God they were too
fearful to come to Him when He called them?
Answer: Because they are naked. 

Question: But they were naked previously and they were not afraid or ashamed. 
How has their condition changed?  
Answer: Some Bible scholars interpret this passage as their eyes being opened
to "lust" in their naked condition.  Other scholars point out that the catastrophic
change is that Adam and Eve are no longer "clothed in grace" and have become
"spiritually naked" in their fall from divine son-ship.

Question: When questioned by God Adam and Eve begin to make excuses for
their fall from grace.  What are their excuses?
Answer: Adam blames Eve but Adam also blames God for giving him Eve "It
was the woman you put me with..."  Eve blames the serpent--"the devil made
me do it".  Neither of these excuses will save them from God's judgment. 

Question: When each of us face divine judgment at the end of our earthly lives
what will our excuses be?  Will we recite a litany of excuses like Adam and Eve
even though we have been taught our Covenant obligations by Mother Church:
"celebrate the Sacraments, keep the Commandments, make God first in your life,
love your brother as yourself...?
Answer: Jesus speaks of this in Matthew 7:21-23 and Luke 13:25-27.  His
answer to excuses will be "I have never known you; away from me, all evil
doers!"

Disobedience to the Covenant results in Covenant judgments usually in the form

of curses.  Covenant judgments are always meant to be redemptive with the
desired result of returning the disobedient to fellowship with God as their Father. 

Please read Genesis 3:14-19.

First God curses the serpent and then in Genesis 3:15 there is one of the most
significantly prophetic passages in the Bible.  The Fathers of the Church called it
the "Proto-evangelium" or the "first good news".  Genesis 3: 14-19 is both a
covenant curse and a covenant promise/prophecy:

Genesis 3:15 "I shall put enmity between you and the woman, and between your
offspring [seed] and hers [seed]; it [he,she,it = indefinite pronoun] will bruise [or
crush] your head and you will strike its [he, she, it = indefinite pronoun] heel."

Initially this curse/prophecy seems to be directed to the serpent and the woman
Eve.  The "seed" or children of the serpent are humans who reject the One True
God and therefore choose the serpent as their father [see Mt
3:7; 12:34; 23:33; Luke 3:7]. As in English, "seed" can be understood in the
individual or collective sense.  Eve, the first to bear the title "woman", gave birth
to generations of children by the laws of nature through intercourse with her
husband, Adam, and the line of those children who remained in a covenant
relationship with Yahweh lived in opposition to the "seed" of Satan.   But what
about the curious wording "seed" of the Woman? Does a woman have "seed"
and can she give birth to a child/children without the "seed" of a man? This is the
verse that the Fathers of the Church saw as the prophecy of a future redeemer
and therefore called this verse the "first good news", in Greek, the Proto-
evangelium. 

Question: What did the Fathers of the Church see as prophetic in Genesis 3:15?

Is there another who would bear the title "woman" who would give birth to a child,
her "seed", without intercourse with a natural man?  Hint: see John
2:4 and 19:26-27.  Please note that the Greek Septuagint translation in use in the
1st century used the masculine pronoun "he will bruise/crush" and not "it".  The
Greek translation therefore ascribed the victory not to one of "the woman's"
descendants in general but to one son in particular!  
Answer:  Jesus' mother's name was Mary, but Jesus called her "Woman"
because it was her title [see John 2:4 & 19:26].  She is "the woman" prophesied
in Genesis 3:15 whose "seed" (=Jesus), would crush the head of the
serpent/Satan.  The use of the definite article "the" [ha in Hebrew] is significant
considering that an indefinite article could have been used but was not.  The use
of the definite article implies a specific woman and not just any woman in
general.  Since the first centuries of Christianity, it has been the teaching of the
Church that this verse prophesized a specific woman in Salvation History.  The
woman whose son would crush the serpent is Mary of Nazareth.  It is Mary's son
Jesus, the Second Adam, who will defeat Satan.  But in the collective sense of
this passage, Mary's other children [born to her spiritually'not physically], the New
Covenant believers who through their re-birth into the heavenly family, become
the sons and daughters of the New Covenant in the blood of Christ, will also do
battle with the serpent and his "seed" [see Revelation 12:17].  The prophecy of
the "seed of the woman" "crushing the head of the serpent" was beautifully
portrayed in the film "The Passion of the Christ" when Jesus, the New Adam,
stood and crushed the snake after He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. [see
CCC# 411 & 504]

Note: the phrase "strike its heel" at the end of Genesis 3:15 is an idiomatic
expression in Hebrew meaning, "to do violence".  Such an act of violence is also
expressed in John 13:18 where Jesus tells the Apostles: "He who shares my
table takes advantage of me."  The literal Greek reads "lifts up his heel against
me" = does violence against me, referring to Judas Iscariot.

Now God turns to the woman, Eve in Genesis 3:16. 

Question: What is Eve's judgment?

Answer: Her judgment is to be dominated by her husband and to bear their
offspring in pain.  The initial blessings of fertility and domination in Genesis
1:28 have been turned against her.

But Jewish scholars saw the Covenant curse of pain of childbirth linked to the
prophecy of the coming of the One who will defeat the serpent.  Jewish tradition
has always linked pain in childbirth to the suffering of Israel struggling to bring
forth the Messiah in the writings of the ancient Jewish scholars and in the
prophetic books [see Isaiah 26:16-18; 54:1-6; 66:7-11; Micah 4:9-10, for
example].  There is sufficient evidence in both Jewish and Christian tradition
that Genesis 3:15-16 was always seen by the Church, both Old and New
Covenant, as a promise of the Messiah, the future redeemer.  [Also see
Revelation 12:1ff.  This scene looks back to the prophecy of Genesis 3:15-17. 
The "woman" in Revelation chapter 12 represents Israel in the messianic era
bringing forth the Messiah and also Mary, the new Eve, the daughter of Israel
who fulfilled the prophecy and gave birth to the promised Messiah].

In Genesis 3:17-19 God's covenant judgment falls on Adam; for both Adam and
Eve and their offspring the initial blessings of fertility and dominion in Genesis
1:28-30are now subject to struggle and suffering.  The inspired writer of Wisdom
in interpreting the Fall of man in Genesis chapter 3 writes that the death
introduced by the devil is spiritual death, with physical death as its
consequence: Wisdom 1:13-15, "For God did not make Death, he takes no
pleasure in destroying the living.  To exist'for this he created all things; the
creatures of the world have health in them, in them is no fatal poison, and Hades
has no power over the world: for uprightness is immortal." As a result of Adam
and Eve's sin in usurping God's power and authority in their desire to judge good
and evil for themselves [Genesis 3:5], they "died" to sin and sin came to "live" in
humanity with the consequence that spiritual and physical death became the
"reward" of sin. 

Please read Genesis 3:20-24

Genesis 3:22 "Then Yahweh God [Elohim] said, 'Now that the man has become
like on of us in knowing good from evil, he must not be allowed to reach out his
hand and pick from the tree of life too, and eat and live forever."

Please note the use of the plural "us" in verse 22 [second person plural also used
in Genesis 1:26].

Question: What further judgment is place on Adam and Eve and why?

Answer: They will be banished from the Garden of Eden because if they eat
from the Tree of Life they will continue to live forever in a state of mortal sin. The
greatest punishment for our first parents in their dismissal from the Garden was
the loss of intimacy with God as Father.

Question: Was there a remedy for the loss of intimacy, the lost of divine son-
ship and immortality through Adam's inability to love God and to love Eve to the
point of sacrificing himself?  Was there a remedy to keep mankind from eternal
death?
Answer: Yes, the remedy was sacrifice, exactly what Adam was unwilling to give
for his bride. Leviticus 17:11 "For the life of the creature is in the blood, and I
have given it to you for performing the rite of expiation on the altar for your lives,
for blood is what expiated for a life."

The first blood sacrifice will be the animals Yahweh sacrifices on behalf of Adam
and Eve in order to clothe their nakedness [see Genesis 3:21]'a poor substitution
for the clothing of the grace they have lost.

CAIN AND ABEL

Please read Genesis 4:1-16 

Adam fathers two sons, Cain the elder son, the re'shiyt, and Abel.  Human
"fathering" is communicating one's human nature.  It is an imperfect act because
children born naturally are born without grace, the result of Adam and Eve's fall
from grace.  They are born literally and physically disgraced.

Question: These two sons of Adam and Eve are commanded to bring a sacrifice
to Yahweh.  What does Abel bring? 
Answer: a lamb, the firstborn of his flock; the best he had to offer. Hebrews
11:4 says that "Abel's sacrifice was acceptable because he offered God a better
sacrifice than Cain and for that he was acknowledged as upright when God
himself made acknowledgement of his offerings."

Question: Why is Cain's sacrifice not acceptable?  Hint: see Genesis 4:7 and

especially Leviticus 17:11 [also Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 7:26; Deuteronomy
12:16 and Hebrews 9:22].
Answer: The implications of Cain's unworthiness is not clear simply from reading
this passage but Leviticus 17:11 establishes that the remedy for sin is sacrifice in
the shedding of blood for atonement of sin: "For the life of the creature is in the
blood, and I have given it to you for performing the rite of expiation on the altar
for your lives."  And in Hebrews 9:22, speaking of the Old Covenant rituals "In
fact, according to the Law, practically every purification takes place by means of
blood; and if there is no shedding of blood, there is no remission [of sins]."

In other words, instead of the death of the individual for sins committed, the
sinner confesses his sins and the animal dies in the place of the sinner, its
sacrificial blood covering the sins of the offender.  That this is a question of sin
and atonement is made clear by God's warning to Cain in Genesis 4:7.  Cain's
sacrifice is not acceptable because he has not brought a blood sacrifice, which
he could have obtained by trading his produce with his brother for a lamb from
Abel's flocks.

Question: Is the death of the sacrificial animal the end result or is it only the first
step?
Answer: It is only the first step.  First there is atonement and then there is
restoration of communion between God and sinner.  In addition to bloody sin
sacrifices there will also be communion sacrifices to celebrate the restoration of
fellowship with God.  A communion sacrifice could be an animal sacrifice in
association with a grain offering but a grain offering was never used in sin
sacrifices'blood expiates for sin.  Cain's sacrifice was unacceptable as a sin
sacrifice'there was no shedding of blood, but it would have been acceptable as a
communion offering. 

Question: If Cain was only bringing a communion offering what was the
implication of his gesture?
Answer: Cain was denying that he was in sin.  God corrected that misplaced
belief when He told Cain "Sin is crouching at the door hungry to get you."  God's
assurance that "You can still master him" was an opportunity to confess his sins
and offer a blood sacrifice but Cain in his sin of pride and self-sufficiency refuses
and instead kills his brother.

Question: Why is it that Cain kills his brother?  What passion motivates him to
commit such a crime?
Answer: Jealousy.  The first murder in history was committed because of the sin
of jealousy.  For Christians Abel has always been considered a "type" of Christ.

Question: Why did Satan set out to destroy mankind?  Hint: see Wisdom 1:13-
15 and 2:24.
Answer: Wisdom 2:24, "Death came into the world only through the Devil's
envy, as those who belong to him find to their cost."

Question:  Read Matthew 27:18 and Mark 15:10.  What reason does Scripture

give for Jesus being condemned to death by His accusers?
Answer: Jealousy.  It was this same envy or jealousy that lead to the death of
Abel and it was this sin that Satan used to bring those under his power [the "seed
of Satan"] to condemn Jesus to death: "For Pilate knew it was out of jealousy
that they handed him over." Matthew 27:18 [also see Mark 15:10; 1 John 3:11-
12; Hebrews 11:4].  See the prophecy in Wisdom 2:12-24 for an excellent
example of the jealously sinners feel against the righteous.  This passage in
Wisdom is a foreshadow of Christ's Passion and the taunting and condemnation
He endured on the Cross.

Question: What two questions does God ask Cain in Genesis 4:9-10 and how is
it related to the question God asked Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:9?
Answer: God asks Cain "Where is your brother?"  and "What have you done?" 
These are rhetorical questions because God already knows the answers'the
questions are a call to confession, repentance and accountability.

Genesis 4:10 continues "Your brother's blood cries out to me from the soil" [New

American translation]. The Hebrew word used for "blood" in this verse, d'mei, is
the plural word for blood'literally "bloods."  Jewish Rabbis understood the use of
the plural to mean that Abel's blood and the "blood of his unborn
descendants" cry out from the earth [see Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5].  From the
perspective of this first murder, every murder down through history has been the
murder not only of a brother but a mass murder since the murderer bears the
responsibility not only for his victim but also for the other lives that have been
destroyed.

Question: In Genesis 4:9 when confronted by God Cain will ask the

question "Am I my brother's keeper?"  What is the answer to his question?
Answer: The answer for Cain and for all of us is "YES".  The core meaning of
Cain's story is that every murder committed in the human race is the murder of
one family member by another.  In Mark 12:33 Jesus identifies our command to
love God and our "brother": "To love him with all your heart, with all your
understanding and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, this is far
more important than any burnt offering or sacrifice." The horror of humanity's
inability to love this way without the filling and indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the
hearts of redeemed man is hauntingly expressed in the short poem by Israel poet
Dan Pagis wrote about the Holocaust entitled "Written in Pencil in a Sealed
Freight Car:"  Here, in this carload, I, Eve, with my son Abel.  If you see my older
boy, Cain, the son of Adam, tell him that I...."

[Jewish Literacy, Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, William Morrow Publishers, 2001,

page 9]

Cain is banished and loses his position as the "reshiyt", the firstborn son and
heir.  His place will be taken by Adam and Eve's son Seth and God's covenant
will continue through his line.  Cain is the first of the many disgraced firstborn
sons of Genesis.
 GENESIS and the LINE OF THE HOLY SEED

Deposed Younger Genesis

Firstborn Sons Brother
Holy Seed

Cain Seth* 4:25-26

Ishmael Isaac* 21:12
Esau Jacob* 25:23
Ruben Judah* 49:3-4; 8-10
Zerah Perez* 38:27-30
Manasseh Ephraim 48:17-19
* line of the holy seed leads to the Messiah,
Jesus of Nazareth:
Matthew 1:1-16 and Luke 3:23-38

Question: Sacrifice has been established as the imperfect temporary remedy for

the sentence of eternal death that sin imposes.  Why is this remedy imperfect?
Answer: No animal can be "perfect" enough to completely remove sin.  There is
no promise of eternal bliss in the presence of God.  There is only the grave
[Sheol in Hebrew].  In the Old Covenant blessings are temporal and so are
punishments.  In the New Covenant blessings are eternal but so are the
punishments!

Genesis 4:18-24 lists the descendants of Cain.  They are only listed to the
6th generation.

Please read Genesis 5 - The Toledoth of Adam and Seth

Chapter 5 signals a major break in the narrative.  This section of Genesis is built
around the list of the descendants of Adam.  In Hebrew is it called a "toledoth."
Toledoth in Hebrew means "generations".  This family genealogy lists 10
generations from Adam to Noah.  We do not know if there are 10 literal
generations. The number 10 may be symbolic.  In Hebrew tradition 10 is the
number for "perfection of order".   The toledoth continues until the death of Noah
in 9:29 and then a new list of the sons of Noah begins [10:1-11:26].  The second
list ends with the birth of Abraham [11:26].  These genealogical lists are
important because they link the Old Testament to Jesus of Nazareth.

Please read Genesis 6:1- 9:17  

This will be the first of one of the great reoccurring themes of the Bible: creation
to de-creation to regeneration.

Genesis 6:1-4 is a very intriguing passage that has caused much

speculation. "...the sons of God looking at the women, saw how beautiful they
were and married as many of them as they chose." Other translations read "the
sons of God looked at the daughters of men and found them to be beautiful...".
Some scholars, both ancient [Book of Enoch] and modern have interpreted this
verse to mean that angels, sometimes in Scripture referred to as "sons of God",
intermarried with human women and produced offspring.  However, this
interpretation is not compatible with Scripture.  In Matthew 22:30 and Mark
12:25 Jesus clearly teaches that heavenly messengers [the Greek word
"angelos" means messenger] are pure spirit and cannot marry.  Instead a more
reasonable interpretation, and the interpretation the Fathers of the Church
commonly take, is that "sons of God" or men from the Covenant line of Seth,
intermarried with women from outside the covenant, perhaps daughters of Cain. 
This "inter-faith" marriage produced men who were "the heroes of days gone by,
men of renown."  The word translated "heroes" in Hebrew is gibbor, which can
be more accurately translated as "warrior", "mighty men", or "fighting men."  The
Hebrew word translated as "renown" in this passage is in the literal Hebrew "men
of their own name [shem]", in other words, "fighting, violent men who made their
own name"-- men of political power, men of infamy who operated outside of the
covenant as a law unto themselves.

Man had usurped God's sovereignty in judging good and evil.  Many men were
no longer in communion with God and set for themselves their own moral limits. 
The result was chaos. "Yahweh saw that human wickedness was great on the
earth and that his heart contrived nothing but wicked schemes all day long. 
Yahweh regretted having made human beings on earth and was grieved at
heart." [Genesis 6:5-6].  Human tolerance for sin is incompatible with God's
holiness.  God's presence is among all men and women but only men and
women of holiness commune with God.

THE GREAT FLOOD

There are 7 principal stages in the Great Flood narrative:

1. The decision to send the Flood and to rescue Noah [6:5-12]

2. The command to build the ark [6:13-22]
3. The command to enter the ark [7:1-5]
4. The flood waters come [7:6-24]
5. The floods abate [8:1-14]
6. The command to exit the ark [8:15-19]
7. The building of the altar and the establishment of the Noachide Covenant 8:20-
9:19]
The cause of the Flood is directly tied to the earlier account of the Fall in Genesis
chapter 3.  As a result of man's Fall from grace humankind had obtained the
"knowledge of good and evil" but that knowledge has not been beneficial to the
earth. Man's sinfulness and willfulness has corrupted the earth. In Genesis
chapter 1 God prepared the "good" land for human habitation; now He will take
away the good land.

Genesis 6:8: "But Noah won God's favor."  Literally won God's grace!  Noah's
name means "rest" or "comfort" and it is not a coincidence that the reverse of the
Hebrew constants of Noah's name form the word "grace" in Hebrew.  Noah's
faithfulness and righteousness was a "comfort" to God and so God filled Noah
with grace.  The main story of the Flood is not to show why God sent the
great Flood but rather to show why God saved Noah and his family.  The
focus of the story is clear: God saves those who "walk with" Him and who do not
"corrupt His way" [Genesis 6:9-12].  The writer of the New Testament book of
Hebrews identifies Noah as on of the "heroes of the faith" and records: "His faith
was a judgment on the world, and he was able to claim the uprightness, which
comes from faith." [Hebrews 11:7].  Noah and his family become a faithful and
righteous remnant [Genesis 7:23]--a common theme that will be found in the
future writings of the Prophets [for example Isaiah 8:17-18; 10:21; 40:31], in the
return from the Babylonian exile [Ezra 2:1-2, 64-70], and in the New Testament
[James 5:7-11].  In this context the deliverance of Noah and his family is an
image of the future salvation of faithful believers [see Matthew 24:37-39].

Please read Genesis 6:17-9:17.

Question: God tells Noah that He will destroy the whole earth but what does
God promise to establish with Noah?
Answer: God will establish His Covenant with Noah and his family.

Question: How many pairs of animals will Noah take aboard the Ark?
Answer: 7 pairs of clean animals; 2 pairs unclean.

The entire Flood sequence is full of 7s and 40s.  I counted seven 7s

[7:2,3,4, 10; 8:10, 12, &14] and seven 40s [7:4,4,4,12,12,17, & 8:6].  7 is the
number of perfection and fullness, especially spiritual perfection and 40 is the
number of consecration and the number of testing. [see the document "The
Significance of Numbers in Scripture" in the Documents section for further
information on the symbolism of numbers in Scripture].

Question: How old is Noah when he enters the ark? See Genesis 7:11

Answer: Noah is 600 years old.

Question: How many people are saved aboard the ark?

Answer: Eight.  The number 8 in Scripture is symbolically the number of
salvation, redemption, and regeneration.
In Genesis 7:11 the flood began in the 2nd month on the 17th day.  In Genesis 8:3-
4 the waters receded at the end of 150 days and then the ark came to rest on the
17thday of the month.  The intervening time was exactly 5 months of 30 days per
month.  Genesis 8:13-15 records that the waters dried from the earth in the
1st month on the 1st day. And in the 2nd month on the 27th day Noah went out. 
When you calculate the duration of the flood it is 1 year and 11 days.  In the Bible
a lunar calendar was used to mark time.  A lunar calendar has 354 days.  But the
when you realize that the flood lasted 1 year [lunar] and 11 days that calculates
out to be a solar year of 365 days!  In the Jewish calendar the 1st civil month is
Tishri which comes in the early Fall.  According the Jewish tradition both the old
Creation and the restored Creation after the Great Flood occurred in the month of
Tishri.

Question: reading Genesis 8:15-19 how does the description of events follow

the pattern of Creation in Genesis?  Compare Genesis 1:2 with Genesis 8:8-9.
Answer:

1. The dove "hovering" over the waters of chaos [Genesis 8:8-9] is reminiscent of
the Spirit of God "hovering" over the waters of Creation [Genesis 1:2].  The same
Hebrew word rahap is used.  The Father's of the Church will see a connection to
God the Holy Spirit "hovering" in the form of a dove over Jesus' baptismal waters.
2. In Genesis 8:17 and 9:7 there is the command to "be fruitful and multiply" as
in Genesis 1:28.
3. The creation of a covenant with Noah in Genesis 8:20-9:17 and the covenant
with Adam in Genesis 1:28-30 and 2:15-17.

Question: What is the first thing Noah does when he and his family exit the ark?
Answer: Noah builds an altar and makes sacrifice, reestablishing communion
with God.  Notice that God does not have to command sacrifice--sacrifice is
already an established part of worship and has been since the time of the
Fall.

And then God pronounces the Covenant promises:

Question:  What are the promises and blessings of the Noachide Covenant

in 8:20-9:5?
Answer:

1. To never again curse the earth because of human beings

2. Never again to kill every living thing
3. God sets the seasons
4. Blessing of fertility and dominion to Noah's family
5. Permission to eat animals

Question: What are the Covenant restrictions and obligations? See Genesis 9:3-

7
Answer: Not to eat raw meat or to drink blood [this covenant restriction is
going to have a significant impact on future events recorded in the Gospel
of John chapter 6!]  The law of capital punishment for homicide is enacted.  [This
covenant prohibition against eating fat, raw flesh, or blood will be repeated 7
times in 5 Biblical passages: Genesis 9:4; Leviticus
3:17; 7:26; 17:10, 12; Deuteronomy 12:16, 23].

In addition to the covenant restriction concerning the prohibition against

consuming blood or raw flesh, Yahweh also establishes a rule of law under which
those in covenant with Yahweh are bound to live in justice.  According to the
Jewish oral tradition there are 7 laws of the Noachide Covenant.  These laws
include prohibitions against:

1. Idolatry and the eating of animals sacrificed to idols

2. Theft
3. Murder
4. Sexual immorality (incest, adultery, etc.)
5. Eating of raw flesh, drinking of blood

And the positive command to:

6. Bless the divine name
7. Establish courts of justice.

Noachide Covenant laws: Tanach, Stone Edition, page 2028; Sanhedrin 56a.

Question: In the ratification of the Covenant Yahweh sets a covenant sign. 

What is the sign of the Noachide Covenant and what repeated theme do you see
in the choice of this sign?
Answer: The Rainbow, which is formed of 7 colors [red, orange, yellow, green,
blue, indigo, and violet], and the 3 time repetition of the "bow" in the sky [Genesis
9:13, 14, & 16].

Question: Is this covenant limited to Noah's family?

Answer: No, for all creation, just as the first covenant [Genesis 9:8-12].  See
a list of the Biblical covenants with Yahweh in the Appendix of this lesson.

The word "covenant" is usually translated b'rith in Hebrew and diatheke in

Greek.  In the Bible there are two kinds of covenants: what scholars refer to as
the "covenant grant" and the "covenant treaty" format covenant.  The "covenant
grant" like the royal decree of an ancient king, is unconditional and in the case of
covenants formed by Yahweh, divine.  These covenants are usually understood
to be an irrevocable divine gift of God's grace.  Noah's covenant is an example of
a royal grant covenant because God promised the rainbow would be a perpetual
sign for all generations.   The covenant made with Abraham and later with David
is also an everlasting covenant.  Other covenants like the covenant with Adam
and later with the children of Israel at Sinai are conditional and based upon
covenant obligations.  In this form of covenant, blessings are upon those who
observe the conditions of the covenant but curses fall on those who violate the
trust of the covenant.  Adam violated the covenant trust to guard Eden and to not
eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the covenant curse fell on
him and on his descendants and he was expelled from Eden.  See the Chart of
Yahweh's Biblical Covenants in the appendix to this lesson.

Question: Is there any archaeological evidence to support the flood narrative?

Answer: Every Mesopotamian ancient culture and most world cultures including
the Mayan of Central America have a Great Flood myth but until fairly recently
there was not enough archaeological evidence to support the account of the
Great Flood in Noah's time.  Five years ago the marine scientist Robert Ballard
discovered that the Black Sea had once been a fresh water lake.  At some time,
approximately 6,000 years ago a flood of such gigantic proportions occurred that
the sea levels were raised to the point that salt water spilled across the land
barrier between the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea forever altering the
fresh water lake.  When the flood waters receded the salt water trapped in the
Black Sea left that body of water an inland salt water sea.  Ballard not only
discovered the ancient shoreline of the fresh water lake but an ancient house that
once existed along the old shore line. Ballard's evidence does not prove that a
worldwide flood once swept the entire earth, but it does prove, at least, that a
flood of proportions unknown in modern history changed that part of the world
approximately 6 thousand years ago.

Genesis 9:18-29 was not on your list of Scripture readings but it is worth

commenting on this passage. Shem is the righteous re'shiyt, firstborn son, of
Noah.  For the first time [Genesis 9:26] Yahweh is identified with one person by
name: "Blessed be Yahweh, God of Shem." It is important to the narrative that
the text mentions Shem's name in Hebrew literally means, "name".  Shem will
become the father of all the Semitic peoples of the Near East.

These verses in Genesis 9:18-25 are also a repeated pattern from the Creation
narrative and the outcome is remarkably similar to the outcome of the narrative of
the Garden of Eden.  Adam ate forbidden fruit in a garden and became naked
and Noah gets drunk in an orchard and is uncovered in his nakedness.  Noah
like Adam abuses God's good gifts, and like Adam the effects of that sin were to
be felt in the lives of the generations to follow. It is the beginning of the struggle
between the Canaanites who take possession of the "good land" and the children
of God, to whom it is promised.

Shem, the righteous firstborn, and his brother Japheth cover their father's
nakedness but the third son, Ham, has committed a sin that will cause Ham's
firstborn son, Canaan, to be cursed. It has been suggested by Bible scholars that
the sin is sexual in nature and that Ham has used the opportunity of his father's
drunkenness to have intercourse with his own mother.  In ancient societies the
robe or coat of the ruler is a sign of his power and authority [i.e. Joseph's coat
in Genesis 37:3].  It is significant that Noah's robe is found outside his tent. 
Sexual possession of the woman or women of a ruler is also a claim to power.  A
Biblical example would be Absalom son of David who usurped his father's harem
when he asserted his right to the throne [see 2 Samuel 16:20-23].  It is possible
that Canaan is cursed because he is the result of an incestuous union between
Ham and his mother.  Canaan will usurp the land given to Shem, the land known
by his name, Canaan. Ham will become the father of both the Egyptians
[Mizraim] and Canaan, the father of the Canaanites, cultures in which incest was
part of their religious mythology.  History has shown that people celebrate
their origins in their worship. 

Please read Genesis 11:1-9 The Tower of Babel

As a prelude to chapter 11 Genesis chapter 10 lists the descendents of Noah's
sons, Shem, Japheth, and Ham. A pattern emerges in this toledoth.  It is a
pattern that is determined by the number 70.  There are exactly seventy names
represented in the list in which all the nations of the earth find their ultimate
origins in the three sons of Noah.  It is an important theme in this part of the story
that will be repeated later in Scripture, that there was an intended unity among all
human beings. 

But Genesis chapter 10 is not simply a list of seventy names.  Several historical
notes are included that will have relevance to a particular event in the future.  For
example, Ham's grandson Nimrod will found the kingdom of Babylon, home of
the Tower of Babel, and Ham's son Mizraim will become the father of the
Egyptians.  Japheth will become the father of the gentile nations across the seas
and Shem the father of the Semitic peoples.  In the line of Shem there is a
dividing line that runs through the two sons of his grandson Eber [Heber; origin of
the word "Hebrew"].  One line, the line of Peleg, becomes the "promised seed"
and leads to the family of Abraham.   Genesis 10:25 notes that in Peleg's day
"the land was divided" meaning two lines of the covenant people diverged.  One
remaining faithful to Yahweh and His name [the theme of the "faithful remnant"]
and the other seeking their own way to make a "name" for themselves.

The central question of the story of the Tower of Babel is why did God judged the
builders of the city? The clues lie in the repetition of key words in the story, for
example the Hebrew word "shem" which means, "name".

Question:  According to the builders of the city what was the reason for building
the city and the tower?  Hint: see 11:4
Answer: To make a "shem", or name for themselves, so they do not get
scattered over the world.  They want to form their own government and to do so
they must remain united and powerful to overwhelm their opposition.

Question: Against whom do the people of the city want to exercise this power? 
If it is Shem ["name"], the righteousness son of Noah who now has the power
and authority of the Covenant as God's representative to the people what is it
that might motivate of the people of the city to "make a name for themselves"?
Answer: It may be an attempt to revolt against Shem, the man God has named
as His representative, the man who carries God's authority through the Covenant
which includes all men on earth.  United in their efforts and in a majority against
the people of God they are a serious threat to God's plan of salvation: He will
need to preserve a faithful remnant from which the promised Messiah will come.

Question: When God saw their plan He initiated one of His own. What did God
do?
Answer: He reversed their plan and scattering them over "all the land"; just what
the builders were attempting to prevent [Genesis 11:8], and He confused their
languages.  The Hebrew root "bll" means "to confuse", but the name "Babel"
actually means "gate of god"; but Babel is a "false" gate.  Jesus will identify
Himself in John 10:9 and John 14:6 as both the true "gate" and the "way" to
heaven/ eternal life. It is as St. Rose of Lima said: "The Cross is the only ladder
to heaven!"   Scattered and confused the city people are now prevented from
uniting against and overwhelming the people of God. 

The real significance of the story lies in its connection to the themes of the earlier
narratives where it was God's plan to bless humanity by providing them with that
which is "good" and the human failure to trust God and be satisfied with the good
He has provided.  The mark of human failure was the attempt to grasp the "good"
on their own rather than to trust God to provide it for them. Just as Adam's family
became broken through the sin of Cain now the human family is broken and
scattered across the earth.  It will take a supernatural event in God's plan for
humanity to call the scattered children back into a one-world family.  The reversal
of Babel will take place on the event of the second great Pentecost in 30AD.

THE TOWER OF BABEL COMPARED TO THE SECOND PENTECOST

Tower of Babel Genesis 11 Second Pentecost Acts 2

1. Confusion of tongues; end of one 1. Reversal of Babel: tongues are

universal language (Genesis 11:9) understood = universal language of the
Gospel of salvation (Acts 2: 5-10)

2. In judgment, God scattered the 2. People will spread the Gospel of

people to the four corners of the earth, Jesus Christ and will bring into the New
bringing to an end one universal family Covenant family the harvest of souls
(Genesis 11:8) from every corner of the earth (Acts
1:8)

3. Language is used to promote a 3. Language is used as a "sign" to

human agenda: "Let's make a name for announce the mighty works of God
ourselves..." (Genesis 11:4). The (Acts 1:6).  It is the language of the
confusion of tongues is a "sign" of the Gospel of salvation that will be used to
disunity of the human family. reverse the disunity of Babel.

4. Results in disunity (Genesis 11:8-9) 4. Results in unity in the Body of Christ

(1 Corinthians 12:12-27; Galatians
2:28)

Questions for group discussion:

Question: In St. Paul's letter to the Romans 5:12-14 St. Paul writes: "Well then;

it was through one man that sin came into the world, and through sin death, and
thus death has spread through the whole human race because everyone has
sinned.  Sin already existed in the world before there was any law, even though
sin is not reckoned when there is no law.  Nonetheless death reigned over all
from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sin was not the breaking of a
commandment, as Adam's was.  He prefigured the One who was to come..." 
How did Adam "prefigure" Jesus Christ?  What connection is there to Genesis
3:15?
Answer: The Apostle Paul and the Fathers of the Church wrote of Jesus as the
"Second Adam."  It was through the man Adam that sin came into the world and
that great wrong was undone by Jesus the "Second Adam" who resisted the
temptation of Satan and died on the Cross in sacrifice for the sins of the world. 
Jesus' sacrificial death was necessary to undo the sin of the first Adam as God
had promised in Genesis 3:15.  Known as the "Protoevangelium" (first gospel or
"good news") Genesis 3:15 contains the promise of the redemption of mankind
after the Fall of Adam and Eve.  The Incarnation of the Christ was the
manifestation of the promise and it was fulfilled with Jesus Christ's sacrificial
death and glorious resurrection.  The "Woman" Mary's son Jesus is the "Second
Adam" whose obedience and sacrificial death on the Cross undo Adam's
disobedience [see Romans 5:12-21 and 1 Corinthians 15:45].  Jesus, the Second
Adam, triumphed over the same temptations to which the first Adam fell into sin
and brought sin, suffering and death to the world.

Question: What exactly was the first sin that became a stain on humanity?  Do
you see evidence of that sin continuing today?  Give some examples.
Answer: In their desire to decide good and evil for themselves [Genesis 2:5]
Adam and Eve were usurping the sovereignty of God.  When we decide to follow
our own conscience, even when we know our choices conflict with the Laws of
God and the teachings of Mother Church, we are not only exhibiting the sin of
disobedience but we are, like Adam and Eve, deciding to be our own god by
usurping the sovereignty of God.   The sins of abortion and divorce are two of the
more obvious examples of usurping the sovereignty of God the Almighty. 

Question: Genesis 1:26 and 5:1-2 records that Adam was created in the image

and likeness of God.  However, Genesis 5:3 also records that when Adam
fathered a son, that son [and all future children] were "fathered" in Adam's
likeness after Adam's image.  What is the similarity and what is the difference
between Adam's creation in God's image and likeness and the image and
likeness of Adam's "fathered" offspring?
Answer: Every human being receives from Adam a likeness to God which
becomes a quality of human nature'the quality of goodness and the gift of an
immortal soul. This unique relationship with God separates man from all the other
creatures of creation and expresses a resemblance in intellect, will and divine
nature.  However, because of Adam's fall from grace, human fathering is
imperfect and we receive from our original parents the inherited stain of original
sin which is passed down through every human generation.  It is through God the
Father's grace that we also have the means to be freed from original sin, the
power to resist the tendency to sin, and the strength to cling to the righteousness
for which God intended every human to possess through His perfectly "fathered"
Son, Jesus Christ.  It is in the Sacrament of Baptism that man can be freed from
this inherited imperfection of original sin and be "born again" or "born from
above" [John 3:3, 7] and become children of righteousness in the family of
God'living in the image and likeness of our Father [see CCC# 389; 402-5; 407-9;
1250; 1263-65].

Appendix:  The Covenant's Yahweh formed in the Old and New Testaments:

EIGHT MAJOR COVENANTS OF THE OLD AND

NEW TESTAMENTS

"But Yahweh's faithful love for those who fear him is from eternity and for ever;
and his saving justice to their children's children; as long as they keep his
covenant, and carefully obey his precepts." Palms 103:17-18

COVENANT SIGN TEXT

1.         Adam  Tree of Life Genesis 1:28-30: "God

-fertility blessed them, saying to
-dominion over the earth them, 'Be fruitful,
multiply, fill the earth and
subdue it..."Genesis 2:15-
17: "Yahweh God took
the man and settled him
in the garden of Eden to
cultivate and take care of
it..."

2.      Noah and the earth Rainbow Genesis 6:18; 9:9-

-never destroyed by flood 17: "God spoke as
again follows to Noah and his

3.      Abraham = 3-fold,
(continues with Isaac,
Jacob & descendants)
-land, nation
(descendants)
& world wide blessing
4.     Moses & Israel
-Sinai Covenant
establishing divine liturgy
& covenant sacraments
5.  Aaron & Sons
-perpetual ministerial
priesthood
6.  Phinehas
-perpetual priesthood in
Covenant of Peace
(prefigures Christ)
7.   David & descendants
-dynasty and throne
forever secure
sons, 'I am now
establishing my covenant
with you and with your
descendants to come..."
Circumcision Genesis 12:3; 15:1-18; 
On the 8th day 17:1-27; 18:18 & 22:18; 2
6:3-5; 28:10-14;
Exodus 2:24:
"God remembered his
covenant with Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob."
Ark of the Covenant Exodus 19-24; Deut. 5;
Tabernacle "So now, if you are really
10 Commandments prepared to obey me and
keep my covenant, you,
out of all peoples, shall
be my personal
possession" Ex 19:5
Salt Leviticus 2:13;
Numbers 18:19:
"Everything the Israelites
set aside for Yahweh
from the holy things, I
give to you and your
sons and daughters, by
perpetual decree. This is
a covenant of salt for
ever before Yahweh, for
you and your
descendants too."
Seamless robe & miter Numbers 25:11-15: "To
him I grant my covenant
of peace.  To him and his
descendants after him,
this covenant will assure
the priesthood for ever."
Throne/ Temple 2 Samuel 7:11-
17; 23:5: "Yes, my House
stands firm with God: He
has made an eternal
covenant with me..."
8.   Jesus The Cross, Luke 22:20: "...This cup
(Yah-shua = Yahweh the true "Tree of Life" is the new covenant in
saves or I save) my blood poured out for
also written you."
Yehosua = Joshua 1 Corinthians
11:25: "..This cup is the
new covenant in my
blood.  Whenever you
drink it, do this as a
memorial of me.'"

Michal Hunt,  Copyright © 2008 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.

The next Biblical period will be the Age of the Patriarchs. 

The readings for Biblical period #2

#2 THE PATRIARCHS

God calls Abram Genesis 12:1-9

Abram's tithe to Melchezedek Genesis 14:17-24
God's Three-fold Covenant with Genesis 15:1-21
Abram/
Covenant #3 part 1
The Birth of Ishmael Genesis 16:1-15
Abram becomes Abraham/ Genesis 17:1-27
part 2 of Abraham's Covenant
The Theophany at Mamre Genesis 18:1-15
Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah Genesis 18:16-19:38
The Birth of Isaac and the banishment Genesis 21:1-21
of Ishmael
The Binding of Isaac/  Genesis 22:1-19
Part 3 of Abraham's Covenant
Abraham's Covenant continues with  Genesis 24-32
Isaac and Jacob
Jacob's name is changed to Israel/ Genesis 32:22-32; 37:1-
Joseph & the 12 Tribes in Egypt 47:28
The Blessing of Joseph's Sons/ Genesis 48:8- 49:33
The Prophecy of Jacob-Israel

                                               

Resources and recommended reading:

1. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible,  [Thomas Nelson Publishers,
1984].
2. Dictionary of the Bible, John L. McKenzie, S.J., [Bruce Publishing, 1965].
3. The Five Books of Moses, Everett Fox, [Schochen Books, 1995].
4. Sinai and Zion: An Entry Into The Jewish Bible, Jon Levenson,
[HarperSanFrancisco, 1987].
5. Walking the Bible, Bruce Felier, [Perennial, 2001].
6. Paradise Restored, Bruce Chilton, [Dominion Press, 1994].
7. Swear to God, Dr. Scott Hahn, [Doubleday, 2004].
8. On Genesis, St. Augustan, translation Edmund Hill, O.P., [New York City Press,
2002].
9. The Ancient Near East, edited by William H. McNeill and Jean W.
Sedlar, [Oxford University Press, 1968].
10. Many Religions--One Covenant, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, [Ignatius
Press,1999].
11. Catechism of the Catholic Church,[Liguori Publications, 1992].
12. Genesis, vol. 1: The Anchor Bible Commentary, E.A. Speiser, [Doubleday,
1962].
13. Our Oriental Heritage, William Durant, [MJF Books, 1963].
14. The Pentateuch as Narrative, John Sailhamer, [Zondervan Publishing, 1992.
15. "The River Runs Dry", pages 52-56, [Biblical Archaeology Review, July/August,
1996].
16. "Noah's Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries About the Event That Changed
History", William Ryan and Walter Pitman, 1999.