Noah and the Patriarchs

WILL MAKE OF YOU A GREAT NATION, AND I WILL BLESS YOU AND MAKE YOUR NAME GREAT, SO THAT YOU WILL BE A BLESSING (GENESIS 12:2).

After the fall from Eden, man's wickedness increased until he had become totally depraved. The Lord, grieved that he had made man, sent a great flood to destroy the world. Noah, a righteous man who walked with God, was spared. He and his family were assigned the task of building an ark to save themselves and a pair of each kind of living creature, and Noah was designated as the new father of mankind.

From Noah, the Bible traces a ten-generation lineage to Abraham, father of the Hebrew people. Abraham was promised the land of Canaan as the everlasting possession of his descendants, but it would be many centuries before the promise would be fulfilled.

In their old age, Abraham and his wife Sarah were given a son, Isaac, to inherit the promise. Isaac's son Jacob had twelve sons, from whom would descend the twelve tribes of Israel (subject of the fourth window). Jacob's son Joseph was abducted by his brothers and sold into slavery in Egypt. Ironically, this cruel act would be their salvation, for Joseph would win favor with Pharaoh and rescue his brothers from famine by bringing them to Egypt.