However, Satan found a way for Adam and Eve to sin. One day, the serpent told Eve that if she could eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge her eyes would be opened, knowing good from evil. Eve was tempted, and ate the fruit and gave it to Adam to eat also. As soon as they ate the fruit, Adam and Eve realized they were naked and sewed fig leaves to cover themselves. When God called them, they hid themselves in the trees. God saw that they had eaten the fruit and was very angry. Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden and punished. God told Adam that he would work hard to be able to eat, and Eve would have to suffer the pain of childbirth.

Adam and Eve left the garden with the knowledge of what is good and what is evil. Adam and Eve had many children, the first three are known as Cain, Abel and Seth. Adam lived for 930 years.

Abel and Cain had sibling rivalry ever since God favoured Abel’s gifts to His altar more than his brother’s, which had ended in tragedy.

When the Lord saw what Cain had done, He cursed him such that the earth would never be fruitful for Cain. Cain became a “fugitive and vagabond” on the earth. But the Lord also placed a mark on Cain to prevent anyone from killing him. The Lord made a decree that anyone who killed Cain would see vengeance done to him seven times over.

Cain went to live in Nod, east of Eden. Cain fathered a son with his wife. His name was Enoch. Cain built a city which he called Enoch after his son.

Abel and Cain would have sired many sons and daughters and raised a happy and prosperous communities of peoples on Earth had they settled their disputes peacefully.

God decided to start a new earth together with Noah and his family since the wickedness of man had covered earth. When Noah was about 600 years old, the Lord told Noah to build an ark in preparation for a great flood that would destroy earth and all living things. Noah obeyed the Lord without hesitation, even though building an ark would require much time and labor. Noah and the ark became the most famous flood story in all literature!

The ark was big enough to accommodate himself, his wife, his three sons and their wives, as well as seven pairs of clean animals, one pair of unclean animals and seven pairs of every bird, (one male and one female), on the earth. After 40 days of rain, the flood did not subside for 150 days, wiping out every living thing on earth. The ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat as the earth began to dry out. After Noah and his family were able to disembark from the ark, Noah immediately built an altar and gave burnt offerings, from a clean animal, as a sacrifice to God. God was so pleased with Noah that He made a covenant with him never to destroy all living creatures again.

Noah was a righteous and blameless man who lived to be 950 years old. God favored him because he loved and obeyed God although everyone around him was falling into sin. His life is a good example for all generations. He was truly a hero of faith. You can read about Noah and the Ark in Genesis 6: 9-8 and Genesis 19.

Job was a very wealthy, good and blameless man. He lived in Uz with his wife, seven sons, and three daughters. He had wealth and blessings of every kind imaginable. He was said to be the greatest man in the East. But just like his riches, his love for God was immense.

God mentioned Job’s unwavering faith to Satan. But Satan was not convinced. He felt Job only worshipped God because he was affluent and had a good life. So, God told Satan he could take everything from Job. Satan did so to test Job’s faith. He took almost everything Job the righteous man of God had – his children, properties, and even his health. He still had his wife. Job struggled to understand his situation. His wife told him to curse God and die. Job’s friends felt that Job must have done something to deserve what was happening. But despite everything that happened and the advice given to Job from everyone, Job never blamed God. Job continued to worship God more and remained faithful.

“Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head. He fell on the ground and worshipped, and he said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.’ In all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” (Job 1:20-22)

Because of Job’s unwavering faith, God blessed him with twice what he had before. God restored Job’s health and gave him seven more sons and three more daughters, after which he had 20 children in all. After his misfortunes, Job the righteous man of God continued to praise God and made use of his riches well. Job lived for 140 years and died of old age.

Named at birth as Abram, Abraham is the son of Terah, the ninth descendant of Shem. Abraham had two brothers, Nahor, and Haran. Abram was born in Ur (capital of the ancient kingdom of Sumer).

He married Sarai and they lived with his father Terah. From Ur, Abram and his family moved to Haran, about 600 miles to the northwest. There, at the age of 75, he received his calling from God. God said to Abraham the Hebrew Patriarch, “Leave your country, your relatives, and your father’s home, and go to a land that I am going to show you. I will give you many descendants, and they will become many nations. I will bless you and make your name famous, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, but I will curse those who curse you. And through you I will bless all the nations.” (Genesis 12:1-3)

He then left Haran with his wife, Sarai and his nephew Lot, to the land of Canaan. There, God appeared before Abram and promised him a son through his wife, Sarai, who was barren. This promise seemed impossible due to their old age, but because of Abram’s faith, he believed God. However, lack of faith and patience pushed Sarai to give their servant girl, Hagar, to Abram who bore him a son, Ishmael. At the age of 99, God appeared again before Abram and confirmed his promise of the covenant. Therefore, Abram walked blamelessly before God and God renewed His covenant with him. So Abram, (Noble Father), became Abraham the Hebrew Patriarch, (Father of many nations), and Sarai, (Princess), became Sarah, (Mother of Nations). Sarah became pregnant, as God had promised, and bore Abraham a son. Abraham named him Isaac.

God sent them on a long and dramatic journey, giving Abraham instruction and guidance. There were many important events that happened in Abraham’s life, but one in particular tested his faith in God. God commanded Abraham to bring his beloved son Isaac to Mt. Moriah and offer him as a burnt offering to prove his faith. He willingly obeyed the order of God. At the last moment before Abraham sacrificed his son as instructed by God, God commanded him to stop and not to kill Isaac. And instead, gave him a ram for the sacrifice. Abraham’s strong devotion and faith pleased God so much that He richly blessed Abraham. He lived a good long life, married again after Sarah’s death to Keturah, and died at the age of 175.

Meanwhile, the merchants sold Joseph as a slave to a wealthy and high-ranking Egyptian named Potiphar. Despite such adversity, God blessed Joseph, as he was appointed head of Potiphar’s household. Joseph was strong and handsome, and after some time, Potiphar’s wife became attracted to him. She tried to seduce him on numerous occasions, but Joseph rejected her all the time because of his loyalty to God and Potiphar. When her efforts failed, she accused Joseph of seducing her, making Potiphar angry enough to have him imprisoned. While in prison, Joseph interpreted the dreams of two of his fellow prisoners, a cupbearer and a baker, which came true. One of the men who was later released was asked by Joseph the Dreamer to remember him once back in Pharaoh’s service. After two years, Pharaoh himself had a series of disturbing dreams, and Joseph was referred to Pharaoh by the reinstated cupbearer. Joseph was brought before Pharaoh and interpreted his dream, where seven sickly cows consumed seven healthy cows, and seven sickly ears of grain consumed seven lush ears of grain. Joseph predicted that there would be seven years of bountiful harvests followed by seven years of famine in Egypt, and advised the pharaoh to begin storing grain for the coming famine. This earned Joseph favor from Pharaoh, and so then Joseph was made ruler of Egypt, second to only to Pharaoh.

The famine that Joseph predicted also affected his father Jacob’s family, and this brought his brothers to Egypt. Upon discovering that his brothers were in Egypt, after they had years earlier sold him to the merchants, Joseph was much older and not easily recognized by his brothers. Joseph accused them of being spies and sought to have them bring his younger brother Benjamin to him, which seemed an impossible request, especially to Reuben. Joseph locked up Simeon and ordered his brothers to bring Benjamin to him in exchange for Simeon’s freedom. Despite Jacob’s reluctance, the brothers brought Benjamin to Joseph the Dreamer and only after a series of events did he reveal himself to his brothers. He forgave them and brought the entire family to Egypt.

Joseph died at the age of 110. His last request to his brethren was for his bones to be taken with them to the land the Lord had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when the Israelites left Egypt. It is stated in Exodus that Moses carried Joseph’s bones all the way to Israel.

Judah the Praised One married a Canaanite woman, daughter of Shua, with whom he had three sons: Er, Onan and Shelah. Judah’s son Er married Tamar, but God killed him because he was wicked in His eyes, leaving Tamar childless. As per tradition, Tamar became the wife of Judah’s son Onan, who was also killed by God because he refused to impregnate Tamar. Although Judah promised his youngest son Shelah to Tamar, Judah did not uphold his end of the bargain, resulting in Tamar pretending to be a prostitute and deceiving Judah into sleeping with her. She subsequently became pregnant with twins, Perez and Zerah.

The ancestry of both King David and Joseph, the husband of Mary, is traced back to Judah and Abraham. Judah the Praised One was also the head of the tribe of Judah, one of the 12 tribes of Israel and a region was named after him. Israel was divided into two kingdoms, Judah and Israel.

According to the Book of Exodus, Moses the Great Prophet was the son of Amram and Jochebed of the tribe of Levi, and the sibling of Aaron and Miriam. He was born in Egypt around the month of February/March in 1391 BC. During this time, the Israelites (Hebrews) were slaves in Egypt. The increasing number of the children of Israel posed a threat to Pharaoh, as he feared they might ally themselves with Egypt’s enemies. Pharaoh commanded his people to have every newborn Hebrew boy thrown in the Nile River. Amram and Jochebed were unwilling to obey the order of the Pharaoh and hid Moses the Great Prophet for three months. But Moses could not remain hidden for much longer. Jochebed took their son and put him in a papyrus basket, made of reeds and tar, and placed it in the tall grass at the edge of the river. Miriam, his sister, stood some distance away and observed the basket. The Pharaoh’s daughter and her servants were bathing nearby when she noticed the basket and sent one of her attendants to see what it contained and found the baby who was crying. Thus, she named him “Moses”, meaning “drawn out of the water”. Miriam who was watching came by and asked if she would like her to get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the child. This is how Jochebed came to nurse the baby, her own son.

According to biblical accounts, Moses grew up with the Egyptian royal family, but this did not stop him from observing how the Hebrew were slaves and forced to do hard labor. Witnessing an Egyptian master beat a Hebrew slave, Moses could not control his anger and violently killed the Egyptian. Everyone seemed to know about it and Pharaoh eventually heard and tried to have Moses put to death for killing an Egyptian. But Moses fled and went to live in the land of Midian. There, he was adopted by Jethro, a Midian Priest, who was impressed by his bravery when he saved his seven daughters from rude shepherds. He later, married Zipporah, one of Jethro’s daughters, who bore him a son named Gershom.

One day, while he was taking care of the sheep and goats of his father-in-law, he led the flock to the desert and came to Mount Horeb, the Holy Mountain. There, he saw a flame coming from the middle of a bush. It was on fire, but it was not burning up, which was strange. Then, Moses the Great Prophet heard a voice coming from the middle of the bush. It is believed that it was God who spoke to him. God instructed Moses to return to Egypt and free the Hebrews from slavery and cruelty. He also gifted Moses with miraculous power, such as, changing a walking stick into a snake, inflicting and healing leprosy, turning water to blood, and many others. Moses followed God’s instructions and went back to Egypt with his brother Aaron.

Moses and Aaron met Pharaoh and told him the wish of God to free the Hebrews. But Pharaoh loathed his request and rejected God’s wish. After Pharaoh had hardened his heart three times against the Lord’s wishes, the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and sent ten plagues over Egypt, affecting only the Egyptians, leaving the Hebrews safe. The tenth plague was the worst, causing the death of the first-born son of each Egyptian family, including the Pharaoh’s son. Pharaoh became upset and said the Hebrews could leave Egypt. Moses the Great Prophet led the Exodus of the Hebrews out of Egypt and across the Red Sea, after which they based themselves at Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments. Moses was 120 years old at the time of his death, within sight of the Promised Land.

Moses sent twelve men from each tribe including Joshua to view the land of Canaan. Joshua and Caleb were the only ones who came back with positive reports about the land. The Israelites talked about stoning Joshua and Caleb because of their testament but God intervened. The other ten men were struck down with the plague because their report caused grumbling among the Israelites. Only Caleb and Joshua the Wise were spared.

The Israelites won a number of battles under the extraordinary leadership of Joshua. One of those battles was against the Amalekites. Although he struggled, he was victorious. The Israelites were leaving a lot of carnage throughout the country. Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth and Kirjath-jearim decided to make peace with the Israelites, but do so dishonestly. Joshua made peace with them. When the King of Jerusalem heard, he allied himself with the five Amorite kings, as well as the Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachea and Eyton kings to attack the Gibeonites. The Gibeon people beseeched Joshua the Wise to help them. This he did and his very strong faith in God manifested itself in the miraculous event which took place in that fight. Joshua asked God for the sun to stand still in Gibeon and the moon in the valley of Ajalon in order to finish the battle and they obeyed. This phenomenon was never repeated as decreed by God.

Another significant event was against the mighty force of Jericho when Jericho’s mighty fortress fell at the last blast of the trumpets and a loud shout from the Israelites. The entire land of Israel was at peace after his victories for the Lord.

God gave Joshua the gift of leadership to take the Israelites to the Promised Land. It was confirmed by the time they crossed the Jordan River. By the time of his death, Joshua encouraged the people to choose God above everything else. Joshua died at 110 years old.

Elijah told King Ahab that a great drought would come upon the land, and it happed as Elijah had predicted for the next few years. God instructed Elijah to take refuge at the brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan River. God sent ravens to bring food for Elijah. But when the brook dried up, God told Elijah to go to a city, Zarephath, where he would meet a widow who will give him food. When Elijah met the widow, she had only a small amount of flour which she intended to be the last meal for herself and her son. Elijah directed the widow to do as she intended, but first make him a small loaf of bread and then make one for herself and her son. The widow obeyed and God blessed her, as the oil and flour did not run out during the time Elijah was there. But surprisingly the woman’s son died. Elijah prayed to God to bring the boy back to life. God heard Elijah’s prayers and miraculously brought the boy back to life.

Most people today only know about Elijah and his chariot of fire, but during his time Elijah was the prophet who encouraged the Jews to go back to God and stop worshiping Baal

During that time of the drought, King Ahab’s queen Jezebel was killing God’s prophets. In the third year of the drought, Elijah was told to present himself to King Ahab and God would send rain on the land. God brought forth another great miracle when Elijah dared the prophets of false gods. He would show the people that idols don’t have power. They went to Mt. Carmel.

The prophets of the false god sacrificed a bull and cried their hearts out from morning to night, but their god did not answer. So when it was Elijah’s turn, he put a bull alongside of soaked wood with drenched thoroughly with four jars of water three times. Elijah prayed and called on the Lord, and a great fire fell from heaven, burning the offering, wood, and stones. Even the water dried up. The people saw the power of the one, true God Almighty and turned back to Him. Elijah then prayed, and rain fell on Israel. The false prophets were taken to the Kishon Valley and killed there.

Baal’s priests challenged God Almighty and as a result courted His wrath; God worked his miracles through his prophet Elijah. It’s amazing to find out many more things he did as he is not only known as Elijah and his chariot of fire.

This made queen Jezebel furious and she promised to kill Elijah. Afraid for his life, Elijah He fled until he came to Beersheba and left his servant there. Then, he journeyed for a day into the desert. He was sleeping when an angel of God appeared and gave him food and water.

Strengthened, Elijah traveled for 40 days and 40 nights to Mt. Horeb. God ordered him to anoint his new chosen prophet, Elisha, his successor. Elisha and Elijah were walking when chariots and horses separated them and Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind.

Here we finally read about Elijah and his chariot of fire which God had sent to fetch his faithful servant and it is astounding! If God were to do it today, people would no doubt turn to God for forgiveness and become faithful.

Elijah carried with him unbending faith and loyalty to God despite man’s wrong faith during that time. God used him as an instrument for miracles and change. Elijah was at times brave and influential, while at other times he was afraid and hesitant. However, God was patient with him. If we follow Elijah’s example, and just listen to God’s call in our lives and walk in obedience with Him, we will find victory and reward.