When Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden for disobeying God’s Word, all of mankind, Adam’s progeny, from that moment on was cursed with sin and death. But all was not lost. God had a plan for the redemption of the human race, and the Scriptures say that he planned it even before the foundation of this world.—1 Pet. 1:20
However, during the period of sin and death, the world became very corrupt and full of sin and evilness continually. Angels came down and married women creating a hybrid race of giants. Genesis 6:6,7 says, “It repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; forit repenteth me that I have made them.” We see in verse 8, though, that a man named Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. We read that Noah and his family were saved by obeying God in building an Ark to protect them from the flood. We read in 2 Peter 3:6, the “world that then was” and every living thing was destroyed by that flood. When the flood waters receded, Noah and his family left the ark, and from this time a new age began, the Patriarchal Age.
Why was it called this? The word patriarch literally means “chief father,” or head of a family. The patriarchs were favored ones that the Lord God dealt with individually to bring about his plans and purposes. As for Noah and his family, they became the second progenitors to multiply and replenish the Earth.—Gen 9:1,19
Along with Noah, other patriachs include Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These three are recognized as the forefathers of the nation of Israel. Jacob’s death brought an end to this Patriarchal Age.
It was a very unique period of history when the Creator of this universe not only dealt with these individuals but made a covenant and an oath to Abraham to make of him a great nation (Israel), and through him and his “seed” bless all the families of the earth. Abraham’s seed would be both spiritual, “stars of heaven” or Christ and his church, and earthly, “sand of theseashore” or Israel and all mankind. (Gen. 22:18) What a wonderful Heavenly Father!