The Bible Book

40

ONLY NOAH WAS LEFT,

AND THOSE WHO WERE

WITH HIM IN THE ARK

GENESIS 7:23, THE FLOOD

A

t the end of the first

chapter of Genesis, God

surveys His creation.

“God saw what he had made,”

Genesis tells us, “and it was very

good” (1:31). By the sixth chapter,

the mood has darkened. “God saw

how corrupt the earth had become,

for all the people of the earth had

corrupted their ways” (6:12). His

heart “filled with pain,” He resolves

to “wipe mankind ... from the face

of the earth—men and animals,

and creatures that move along the

ground, and birds of the air—for I

am grieved that I have made them.”

IN BRIEF

PA S SAGE

Genesis 6:1–8:14

THEME

Obedience and

trust in God

SETTING

Primeval period The

floodwaters sent by God to

cover the Earth; Mount Ararat,

Mesopotamia.

KEY FIGURE

Noah Son of Lamech, who is

a descendant of Seth, the

third son of Adam and Eve.

A righteous man, Noah

becomes father to Shem at

500 years old, and then to

Japheth and Ham.

Genesis establishes

humans as stewards

of the Earth.

But he preserves Noah

and the animals to begin

a new life after the Flood.

God makes a covenant

with Noah that he will not

destroy the earth again.

God tells Noah all

creatures are given

into his hands.

Humanity must

now care for the

Earth and

behave well.

But after several

generations, humanity has

grown corrupt.

Human stewardship is

affirmed in Psalm 8.

God resolves to remake

the world.

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