Sidney, the model of three historical eras you outlined isn't supported by the Bible text, IMO, (ignoring for the moment history and science).
You posted: The time from Adam to Moses is an age with no covenant between God and man. Certain "laws" governed at that time. Man had no access to God at all and had no way to address any grievance or expect any mercy. <i/>
Doesn't the Bible mention Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Melchizedek, among others, as having relationships and "access" to God during this period?
And then: From Moses until Jesus Christ the Old Covenant was the law for mankind and the Israelites were the emissaries for God to the world. Mankind had a limited access to God through the Levitical priesthood and the sacrifices and the Temple. <i/>
As I read it, the convenant initiated in Moses time dealt w/ the relationship between God and one specific people. The rest of humanity aren't depicted as entering into that covenant or as being involved in it at all. There are hints in at least one of the prophets that other peoples have or had relationships of their own with God though little is said about this. Sorry I can't remember the citation here - I seem to think its probably Isaiah. In addition, the book of Jonah seems designed to teach a lesson that other peoples can have a relationship with God, even the Assyrians, the enemies of the ancient Israelites.
Well, anyway, I think you might want to give that model of the three historical eras a little more thought. |
