A BROAD OUTLINE OF THE TORAH / PENTATEUCH
GENESIS
1-11 Primeval History
12-50 Ancestral Stories
12-25 Abraham
25-36 Jacob
37-50 Joseph
EXODUS
1-14/15 The Oppression and Exodus from the Land of Egypt
14/15-19 The Wilderness Wanderings (Murmuring Stories)
20-40 At Sinai -- The Legal Codes
20:1-21 - The Ten Commandments
20:22-23:33 - The Book of the Covenant
24-31 - The Plans for the Tabernacle
[32-34 - The Golden Calf and Renewal of the Covenant]
35-40 - The Building of the Tabernacle
LEVITICUS
1-10 The Laws of Priesthood
1-6:7 - Sacrifices
6:8-7:36 - Rights and Duties of Priests
8-10 - Consecration of Priests
11-27 The Laws of Clean and Unclean
11-20 - Various types of cleanness and uncleanness
21-22 - Special laws of cleanness for priests
23-27 - Other laws of cleanness
NUMBERS
1-9 - At Sinai: The Census and Dedication of the Tabernacle
10-21:20 - Wilderness Wanderings (Murmuring Stories)
21:21-36:13 - Conquests and Preparations for Entry into the Land of Canaan
DEUTERONOMY
1-4
5-11
12-28
29-34
Historical Retrospective
The 10 Commandments and a Sermon on the First Commandment
The Statutes and the Ordinances
Miscellaneous Texts and the Death of Moses
The Torah/Pentateuch is organized as a series of "book-ends," with Genesis and Deuteronomy
serving as introduction and conclusion to a central part. The central part is, likewise, made of
stories surrounding the central section of the time Israel stays at Sinai. The Sinai section has as
its central part the rules concerning Tabernacle worship and activities. Thus the Book of
Leviticus is central, both physically and thematically, to what happens in the Torah/Pentateuch.