Page 213 - Foundations

th
man until the 11 chapter of Leviticus when the Law was delivered to Moses. However, it is possible
for Noah to have discovered the distinction between clean and unclean animals through observation
of which animals came to the ark by sevens, and which ones by twos.

Genesis 7:2-3
You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals
that are not clean two, a male and his female; also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female,
to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth.

The way in which this commandment was presented to Noah seems to imply that the distinction
between clean and unclean was already known. I do not believe it was by chance that Abel offered
sheep of the flock to Yahweh upon the altar, rather than some unclean animal such as a pig. My
purpose in sharing these things is to point out that there are things Yahweh communicated to early
man of which no Biblical passage informs us. Four centuries before Yahweh delivered the covenant
of the Law to Moses in the wilderness, it is recorded that God spoke to Isaac in the following manner:

Genesis 26:4-5
And I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these
lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed
Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.

Abraham’s life is recorded for us in the book of Genesis, a book which has no record of Yahweh
delivering “commandments,” “statutes,” and “laws” to mankind. What were these commandments,
statutes, and laws? In what way did they differ from the commandments Yahweh delivered to Moses?
The apostle Paul informs us that Abraham did not enter into a covenant of Law. His covenant with
God was one of promise.

Galatians 3:16-18
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as
referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ. What I am saying is this: the
Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously
ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer
based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.

Although God and Abraham did not enter into a covenant of Law, we are informed that Yahweh made
known to Abraham certain of His statutes, commandments, and laws. We must conclude, therefore,
that there were many things communicated to man by God for which we have no specific Biblical
record. Of particular interest to our present study is the foreknowledge of the ministry of salvation
and reconciliation that Yahweh appointed to His only begotten Son. That God communicated specific
details of the salvific work of Christ can be deduced from the actions of the earliest descendants of
Adam who offered sacrifices to God. These sacrifices foreshadowed the future perfect sacrifice of the
Son of God.

Hebrews 11:4
By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony