GEN65 (Continued from [[DEUT467]] Deuteronomy 10:19 stranger COHON 207-8). It is in the Priestly Code that the brotherhood of man may be said to have attained the status of a fundamental conviction. Here it appears in its characteristic form as corollary to monotheistic belief. The Divine process of creation reached its climax in Adam, whom God fashioned in His own likeness, and who became the father of the entire human race [this verse ff.; 5:1 ff). When in consequence of their corruption, his descendants were swept away by the destructive flood, the righteous Noah and his sons were spared to become the progenitors of the new humanity. Shem, Ham and Japhet are presented as the fathers of all the nations of antiquity (Genesis 10:1 ff). Consequently all men of whatever race, color or speech are basically brothers. The priestly genealogist seeks further to establish the bonds of kinship between Israel and the neighboring Semitic peoples, the Aramaeans, the sons of Keturah, the descendants of Ishmael, the offspring of Lot and the Edomites (Genesis 22:20-24; 25:1-18; 36). In addition the covenant relationships of the Patriarchs with a non-Semitic Philistines are stressed (Genesis 21:22-23; 26:26-31).  COHON 207-8