Meanwhile, the patriarchs emphasize that God specially selected the ancestors of the Israelites, gave them a covenant, and continued to preserve them as pure lineage. The preservation of the lineage of the nation of Israel, which has been narrowed down to Adam-Noah-Sem-Abraham-Isac-Jacob, shows that God continued to prepare and make a covenant in advance of his chosen nation in history. This fact, in turn, was evidence that history, as God's promise, proceeds for human salvation in His sovereignty.
Meanwhile, the patriarchs emphasize that God specially selected the ancestors of the Israelites, gave them a covenant, and continued to preserve them as pure lineage. The preservation of the lineage of the nation of Israel, which has been narrowed down to Adam-Noah-Sem-Abraham-Isac-Jacob, shows that God continued to prepare and make a covenant in advance of his chosen nation in history. This fact, in turn, was evidence that history, as God's promise, proceeds for human salvation in His sovereignty.
1. The important men wh appear during this stage are Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Job.
2. In the Creation Stage, God dealt with the entire earth in general. For example, Genesis 1 - 11 deals with the world of men as a whole. Now, however, in the Patriarchal Stage, the floodlight will give way to the spotlight. Our attention is now drawn from the world to a nation(Israel), then to a tribe in that nation(Judah), then to a family within that tribe (Jesse), and finally to an individual within the family (Jesus Christ).
3. This stage spans a period of some 350 years.
4. Here a city is destroyed on the plains (Sodom; Gen 19) and a boy is spared on a mountain (Isaac; Ges 22).
5. Here a son (Jacob) deceives his father (Isaac; Gen. 27) and is later himself deceived by his own sons (brothers of Joseph; Gen. 37).
6. Here we read of the first barren wife (Sarah; Gen.16) and the first mother to die in childbirth (Rachel; Gen 35).
7. This stage records how God's friend (Abraham) speaks to him concerning a city (Sodom; Gen 18), and how God's enemy (Satan) speaks to him concerning a saint(Job; Job 1-2).
8. Jerusalem (a type of the heavenly) and Egypt (a type of the worldly) are first mentioned in this stage (Gen.12-14).
9. Here we first learn of a king called Melchizedek (Gen 14) and a cave named Machpelah (Gen 23).
10. Here the first of three great biblical covenants is introduced.
a. The Abrahamic covenant, promising a goodly land (Gen 15).
b. The Davidic covenant, promising a glorious king (2 Sam 7).
c. The new covenant, promising a godly people (Jer 31).