Further Study

Review Questions

These questions are designed to help you review important material covered in the lecture.

1. How do the narratives and genealogies of Genesis 4:1–5:32 correspond to one another?
2. Describe the threatening events that Moses recorded in Genesis 6:1-8. How did God react to these events?
3. What does the literary structure of Genesis 4:1–6:8 reveal about Moses’ purpose in writing?
4. What connections did Moses draw between violence and hope in the primeval history and in his contemporary world?
5. How did Moses want the Israelites who followed him to respond to the connections between their world and the primeval world?
6. Explain two ways in which the inauguration of the kingdom recalls the world of violence in the primeval history.
7. Describe two ways the New Testament applies this portion of the primeval history to the continuation of the kingdom.
8. Describe two ways the New Testament applies this portion of the primeval history to the consummation of the kingdom.

Application Questions

Application questions are intended for group discussions.

1. Moses contrasted the lives of Cain and Abel. Which character is most like you? Why? What was Moses hoping to accomplish by contrasting various characters?
2. In Genesis 6:3, God reacted to the violence of mankind by saying that he would wait 120 years before judging mankind. What does this tell you about the longsuffering nature of God toward the sinfulness of mankind?
3. Despite the corruption and violence of mankind, a thread of hope can be traced throughout God’s relationship with us. What thread of hope is found in the Primeval History. How should this give you hope today?
4. Explain how the pattern of God’s deliverance remained the same from the Primeval History, to the contemporary world of the Israelites, to the New Testament. How does God’s deliverance in the modern world compare to these earlier stages?
5. How is Christ’ atoning work on the cross prefigured in the violence and hope of Genesis 4:1–6:8?
6. Describe the deliverance at the consummation of the kingdom. How does it make you feel that at the consummation of the kingdom our deliverance will be full and final?
7. What is the most significant insight you have learned from this study? Why?