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PERIOD II.

FROM THE DELUGE TO THE DEATH OF JOSEPH.

B.C. 2347-B.C. 1635.

712 years.

Containing the History of Noah after the Flood;- The Building of Babel-The Dispersion of Mankind-The Call of Abram-The Destruction of Sodom-The Offering of IsaacThe History of Job-of Esau and Jacob-Of Jacob's sons-of Joseph-and the death of Jacob and of Joseph.

4. History of Noah after the Flood.

Genesis viii.; ix. 8-27; x. 21; xi. 10-14.

God 'remembered Noah,3 and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged. The fountains also of the great deep3 were stopped, and the 'rain from heaven was restrained. The waters

then continued to abate one-hundred-and-fifty days, when the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. Noah sent forth a raven and a dove, that he might learn if the waters were abated; the raven did not return, but the dove returned. Seven days after he sent forth the dove again, and she returned with an olive leaf in her mouth. forth the dove again seven days after, but she returned no more.

Noah sent

God commanded Noah to leave the ark.3 "And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him; every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark. And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and 'offered burnt offerings2 on the altar. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." God 'promised never again to destroy the earth by a flood; and as a token of his promise he set his bow in the cloud. He said, "And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember my covenant,3 which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh."

After the flood Noah planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine and was drunken. His son Ham3 mocked him. When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his younger son had done unto him, and he foretold that the descendants of Ham should be servants to the descendants of Shem3 and Japheth,3 whom he blessed because they were 'dutiful. One of Shem's descendants was Eber, or 'Heber, from whom the Hebrews were probably named." Shem is called "the father of all the children of Eber"; so that it would appear the Hebrews descended through Shem, the son of Noah.

GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

Ararat-'cursed;' amountainous district lying near the centre of Armenia; (Les. 5.) in the N. E. portion of the mountain range there are two peaks, the highest of which is said to be 17,000 feet above the level of the sea. It was probably on one of the lower slopes of this mountain that Noah and his family, and the living creatures which had been preserved during the deluge, quitted the ark. The Armenians at the present day have several religious establishments in the neighbourhood of the mountain of the ark.

Hebrews-this term is generally used to denote the people who were descended from Abraham. It is derived either from Heber, an ancestor of Abraham, or from Eber, "from the other side," that is, of the Euphrates.

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