Introduction to the Pentateuch
Overview of the Books of Moses
Pentateuch – lit. “five-volumed.” From Greekd pente, “five,” and teuchos, “scroll.”
Although originally one volume, divided into five when translated into Greek
(LXX around 250 B.C.).
Foundation of the Old Testament, upon which the rest of the OT, and the Bible are
built. The Jesus refer to this section as “The Book of the Law,” or just “the Law.”
Another word for this group of books is “Torah,” with means “instruction,
teaching, or doctrine.”
SECTIONS #4
(1) CREATION/FALL (Genesis 1-11) From the Garden through Noah’s flood, and
re-birth
(2) PATRIARCHS – or “ruling fathers” (Abraham to Joseph Gen. 12-50) God
begins His plan for providing a Redeemer through Abraham.
(3) EXODUS from Egypt – (Exodus 1-18) Moses called and leads Jews from
slavery in Egypt
(4) LAW at Sinai – (Exodus 19 – Numbers 10) God gives Moses the Law
containing sacrificial system, government, and moral code.
(5) Call to WORSHIP – (Leviticus) God gives Israel the specifics of how to
worship Him as a nation that represents Him to the world.
(6) WILDERNESS Wanderings – (Numbers 11-36) The history of Israel’s
formation and learning to follow God through the 40 year wilderness
experience.
(6) Moses’ Final SERMON – (Deuteronomy) Moses applies the History, and
lessons learned in the wilderness to Israel’s future.
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MAJOR THEMES
Creation
 Exodus (Exodus 7-12)
Fall of man (Genesis 3)
 Law Given (Exodus 19-24)
Flood (Genesis 6-9)
 Wilderness Training (Numbers
Languages – Babel (Genesis
13-14)
11:1-9)
 Moses’ final Sermon
Call of Abraham
Deuteronomy (Second Law)
Egypt (Genesis 46-50)
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MAJOR PLACES
The main events of the Old Testament occur around the Middle East territory. This
area has been called the hinge of the world because this is the area that God started
humanity in, and it is where He placed His blessed nation.
1) Eden
2) Ararat
3) Ur
4) Move to Canaan
5) Egypt (300 years)
6) Wilderness – Sinai (40 years)
MAJOR PEOPLE
Finally, God’s use of promises and places was to provide a way for people. These
major people can be connected with each major place.
1) Adam & Eve
2) Noah
3) Terah – Father of Abraham
4) Abraham & Sarah (Isaac, Jacob & Joseph)
5) Joseph
6) Moses
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GENESIS THEMES
Genesis is arranged around the 11 divisions of the Hebrew word Tôledôt which is
in the repeated phrase: these are the generations of. The word means generations,
histories, or simply descendants. The book gives the beginnings and moves from
general-to-specific. Chapter 1 begins with the creation of the universe, then moves
from what happened to the perfect plan of creation, to God’s choice of a person to
bring his Messiah through.
1. Creation (1:1–2:3)
2. Tôledôt of the heavens and the earth (2:4–4:26)
3. Tôledôt of Adam (5:1–6:8)
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4. Tôledôt of Noah (6:9–9:29)
5. Tôledôt of Shem, Ham, and Japheth (10:1–11:9)
6. Tôledôt of Shem (11:10–26)
7. Tôledôt of Terah (11:27–25:11)
8. Tôledôt of Ishmael (25:12–18)
9. Tôledôt of Isaac (25:19–35:29)
10.Tôledôt of Esau, the father of Edom (twice) (36:1–8; 36:9–37:1)
11.Tôledôt of Jacob (37:2–50:26)
Assuming, therefore, that the word is the heading of a section and means basically
“this is what became of_____,” we may observe that the development in each
section follows a narrowing process. The writer concerns himself with where the
ways begin to part. After the new beginnings with Noah, the writer supplies the
tôledôt of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. But immediately afterward, the tôledôt of Shem
is selected. The next tôledôt is that of Terah, one out of Shem. This account is
concerned with the life of Abraham. The line then narrows to the son of Abraham,
Isaac, but the tôledôt of Ishmael is given first in a tidying up process of the line not
chosen. The same development holds true of the next generation: before the tôledôt
of Jacob is developed, Esau is dealt with.1
General
Specific
1
Creation of universe
Creation of people
(purpose of creation)
1-2
Creation of universe
Creation of Garden
2
Creation of humanity
Creation of man &
wife
2
Creation of orchard
Creation of Tree of
Knowledge of Good &
Evil
350
Promise of a Savior 3:15
Abel-Seth-NoahShem-Abram-IsaacJacob-Joseph
So while the book moves from general-to-specific, it also moves from blessing to
cursing. With each tôledôt section comes an deterioration from blessing to cursing
until Genesis 12:1-2, from which point the trend moves to the promise of blessing.
Creation lays the foundation of the book with God’s blessing mentioned seven
1
Ross, A. P. (1998). Creation and blessing : A guide to the study and exposition of Genesis (73). Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker Books.
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times in the creation account. Chapter 2 introduces the creation of man with the
pronouncement that it is not good for the man to be alone (2:18).
Blessings
Curses
And God saw that [it] was good
1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25. and God
saw that it was very good. 1:31
The earth was formless and
empty, and darkness covered the
deep waters 1:2
God blessed the seventh day 2:2
It is not good for the man to be
alone…. 2:18
Humanity: He will strike your Satan: you will strike his heel.
head. 3:15
3:15
But Noah found favor with the
Lord. So Noah did everything
exactly as God had commanded
him. 6:8, 22; 7:5
So the Lord was sorry he had ever
made them and put them on the
earth. It broke his heart. 6:5-7,
11-13
Then God blessed Noah and his Then he [Noah] cursed Canaan,
sons 9:1, 8-17
the son of Ham…9:25
May the Lord, the God of Shem, May Canaan be his servant! 9:26
be blessed 9:26
The Lord had said to Abram…I
will bless you and make you
famous, and you will be a
blessing to others. 12:1-3
Come, let’s go down and confuse
the
people
with
different
languages. Then they won’t be
able to understand each other.
11:7
For Abraham will certainly
become a great and mighty
nation, and all the nations of the
earth will be blessed through him.
18:17-19
I have heard a great outcry from
Sodom and Gomorrah, because
their sin is so flagrant. 18:20; We
are about to destroy this city
completely. The outcry against
this place is so great it has
reached the Lord, and he has sent
us to destroy it. 19:13
Abram blessed 12 & 14
Lot & family cursed 13, 19
Isaac, son of laughter 21:1-7
Hagar and Ishmael sent away
21:8-20
Jacob – the older will serve the Esau – He showed contempt for
younger 25:23; 28:10-22
his rights as the firstborn 25:34
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Joseph favored by father, hated Judah cursed in his choice of a
by brothers & blessed by God. 37; Canaanite wife. Gen 38
39:5-6, 21-23
While Abraham moves toward the blessing through obedience, the later
descendents do not measure up to Abraham. The family, as a consequence, at the
end of the book is not in the land of blessing but in Egypt, waiting for the blessing
from God. Kidner expresses this development by stating that “man had travelled
far from Eden to a coffin, and the chosen family far from Canaan to Egypt”
(Genesis, p. 224).2 However, the Pentateuch ends with the ways to pursue God’s
Blessings and the ways to pursue God’s Curses.
CREATION/FALL/FLOOD (Adam, Eve, Noah)
God begins Israel’s lesson on significance with
the Creation account. The primary purpose of
this is to show them their place in God’s masterplan. People, out of all of creation, are made in
God’s image and likeness (Gen 1:27-28) with
God’s unique mandate to reproduce others who
express the image of God. The Flood section
begins with the fall (Gen. 3) where mankind struggles to trust God and chooses
instead to follow his own self-centered, relational destructive mission.
The text says that The Lord God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden. Many
scholars say that the orchard (garden) was planted within Eden. Moses notes that it
was east, presumably east of the Promised Land. The Garden was developed by
God after creation. The language indicates that God planted the orchard, or that
where God spoke the universe into existence, this chapter speaks of Him forming
people by hand and planting this Garden/Orchard by hand.
COVENANT (Abraham) 2,000 B.C.
While humankind makes every effort to destroy
their godly image, God moves to provide the
cure for fallenness through the choice of
Abraham (Gen. 12:1-5). The first major move of
Scripture is when God moved Abraham from
Babylon (Ur – just north of the Persian Gulf),
through Haran (where Abraham’s father died),
to Bethel. This process is the journey of faith to move a person from self-reliance
to a restored image of God as leader and provider.
2
Ibid (74).
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CHARACTER Joseph
God tells Abraham that He will give him the
land (Shechem Gen. 12:4-10), but his
descendents will first be in Egypt for 400 years
(Gen 15:12-17). The next major move in the
Old Testament is Joseph move, with the entire
nation, to Egypt. There God tests and refines
Joseph, just as he will do with Israel in the wilderness.
CONSTITUTION - Moses 1,500 B.C.
Then, 400 years later, God raises up Moses to
lead the descendents of Abraham out of slavery
in Egypt, and to found the Jewish nation. They
spent 40 years wandering in the Wilderness.
Moses tells us (Exodus 13:17-22) the reason for
taking Israel through the Wilderness. This was a time of moving Israel from a slave
mentality to a nation under God’s Constitution.
CONQUEST/COWARD – Joshua/Judges
Following Moses’ sermon on the blessings and curses for
obedience to God’s Constitution, or disobedience, now they
go into the Promised Land. Joshua’s theme is found
throughout the book: All that you have commanded us we
will do, and wherever you send us we will go (Joshua 1:1618). Following the incredible success of the people in taking
the land, the book ends with the same promise (Josh. 24:1421).
The theme of Judges is found twice in the book (Judges
17:6; 21:25) In those days there was no king in Israel; every
man did what was right in his own eyes. The nation went back into a slavery mindset when they refused to risk based on faith in God’s promises. The advances they
made in the faith-filled days of Joshua were lost in the time of slipping back into
the idolatry of the people they did not remove from the land.
CONSOLIDATION - Kings
The next major event is the formation of the
Kingdom of Israel at its pinnacle under Kings
David and Solomon. The story begins with
Ruth, a Moabite woman outside the covenant,
but who God redeems through the righteous
Boaz. The faithlessness of the Judges is
confronted in the faith of the most unlikely.
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Jonathan, the king’s son, shows confidence in God, even to set aside his right to be
king for God’s king. David shows faith as a boy in confronting the Philistine giant.
This is God’s king that will unify Israel and show the world what God can do
through the weak, but trusting people.
CAPTIVITY - Prophets
Then the nation goes into decline because of
their rebellion against the Law of God. The
kingdom splits into the Northern and Southern
Kingdom. The Divided Kingdoms decline, with
the Northern Kingdom defeated and taken into captivity into Assyria, and 300
years later, the Southern Kingdom is conquered by Babylon and taken into
captivity there.
CLEANSING – Captives Returned
Finally, the Old Covenant ends, just as it began,
with God calling the nation back out of
Babylon, to return to the Land God called them
to. When Israel returned to God’s land they had
been cured of idolatry, they served one God.
They were restored to the land to rebuild, and to
wait. The Covenant ends with the promise of a future (Malachi 4)…then
silence…for 300 years.
PURPOSE #9
The first five books of the Bible were written by Moses to the newly forming
nation of Israel. His purpose was to GIVE THEM THEIR HISTORY TO
PREPARE THEM FOR THEIR FUTURE. He begins with their history (Genesis
- Exodus), to show them their place in history, present, and future. He made a
record of the Law (worship, government and moral Leviticus - Numbers), and ends
with his final address, in an attempt to keep them on track, and keep them focused
on their purpose and future (Deuteronomy).
BOOK-BY-BOOK
#10Genesis (BEGINNINGS/Foundations) Moses wrote the Genesis section to give
Israel their unique place and purpose among all the other nations.
Book: Genesis
Theme: Beginnings
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Information: Whenever you look at this picture, you’ll see that
big N right in the middle of the word Genesis, which will remind
you that Genesis is the book of Beginnings (“Big N-ings”). In
fact, the word “Genesis” is Greek for “beginning” or “origin.”
The heavens and the earth, night and day, man and woman, sin
and redemption—it all starts here. Genesis introduces the key events and people
God used to shape the beginnings of both sacred and secular history. Chapters 1–
11 trace four key events—creation, fall, flood, nations—while chapters 12–50 tell
the story of four key people—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
There are two primary sections of Genesis:
Genesis 1-11 (Creation, Fall, Flood, Scattered) Covering 2,000+ years
Genesis 12-50 (Calling, Land, Faith, Sent) Covering 250 years
The book begins with creation and the Garden, and ends with Egypt and a coffin.
This history shows them the importance of following God’s Laws, if for no other
reason than to stand out among the nations.
The key chapter is 12:1-5.
Chapters 1-5 focus on three events that first shape, then shake the world:
1. The Creation
2. The Fall of Man
3. The Flood
Chapter 6 turns the focus from three major events to five major people in Israel’s
history. These people are not symbolic to teach a lesson (as unbelieving historians
would say), but they are real people for Israel, and believers, to relate to and learn
from.
1. Noah
2. Abraham
3. Isaac
4. Jacob
5. Joseph
Genesis is The Book of WHY? The greatest message of this book is in the theme
that it introduces. Ultimately, every issue that Israel would face could be answered
in Genesis. This book gives us the introduction of major theological themes:
Genesis answers the questions of How was the earth formed? How did we get
here? What is our purpose? What is the purpose of the rest of creation? What is
God like? Why am I lonely? What is marriage for? Where did evil come from?
Why am I broken? What is God’s solution to evil? How do I parent successfully?
How do I connect with God? Where did languages come from? What is the
responsibility of government? Will the nations ever be united? And many more.
#11 Exodus (EXIT) Genesis ends with a family and a coffin, and Exodus begins
with slavery and ends with a nation. After 400 years in Egypt, 300 of them as
slaves, it is time to fulfill God’s promise to Abraham. The message of the book is
not just their exit from Egypt, but redemption from slavery. The book is an
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illustration of Israel’s need for a redeemer, and God’s ability to overcome any
enemy. God sets up His plan for building the Tabernacle and the government of
Israel.
Book: Exodus
Theme: Exit
Information: The children of Israel left Egypt in the Exodus.
And in this picture they walk right through the exit, because
that’s the Keyword for the book—Exit. The name Exodus
comes from two Greek words that mean “the way out,” or
“exit.” At the conclusion of Genesis, the Jews were a “chosen
few” living in the favor of the Pharaoh of Egypt. But after
Joseph died, a new king came to the throne of Egypt who felt no obligation to
Joseph’s descendants. As a result, Israel became a nation of slaves in a land not
their own. But Exodus is the story of their deliverance. In the first half (chapters
1–18), God calls Moses to declare judgment upon Pharaoh, to take Israel through
the “exit” from Egypt, and to lead their long trek to the Promised Land. In
chapters 19–40, God begins to educate His people in the responsibilities of holy
living.
#12 Leviticus – (OFFERINGS & FEASTS ) Now that the descendents of Abraham
have been delivered from slavery, they must learn how to live as God’s chosen
people. Leviticus is Moses’ record of God’s ceremonial (sacrifices and worship),
national (government and laws), and moral laws for God’s chosen nation. Leviticus
gives the details of how Israel Becomes God’s Unique People. God’s commands
for believers (Christ followers) are both practical (what it takes to succeed as a
nation, and as a Church of God), and purposeful (regulations that keep Israel and
the Church, God’s representatives among the nations of the world).
Book: Leviticus
Theme: Offerings and Feasts
Information: While the priest balances on his right foot, the
other man gives his “left-foot-a-kiss!” Sounds like
“Leviticus,” doesn’t it? The Levites and priests also balanced
two key leadership roles in the nation of Israel: collecting
offerings and conducting feasts. Led out of bondage in Egypt
by a holy God, Israel had to learn what it means to be His
holy people. Leviticus answers the question, “How can a sinful people worship
and serve a holy God?” Leviticus focuses on the five offerings (some of animals,
others of grain; some required, others voluntary) and seven feasts (national times
of celebration and remembrance) which God established for His people to observe.
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And it outlines regulations concerning priests and worship in the tabernacle,
pointing to God’s provision for sinful humanity: the blood atonement.
#13 Numbers – (Lessons from WANDERS) Now that Israel has received God’s
law being God’s people, they are ready to move into His land. But their faith turns
from God to the people in the land. So instead of obeying God, they rebel and
complain. Even Moses, God’s leader, fails in their rebellion, and sins. So rather
than destroying them, or abandoning them, God sends them into the school of the
Wilderness (which they stretched into a 40 year degree). In Numbers we find Israel
Learning the Lessons of Trust in the Wilderness. God refuses to work with the
unbelieving generation, and lets them die off.
Book: Numbers
Theme: Wanders
Information: In this picture you see some numbers in the
wilderness. That signifies the book of Numbers. What these
numbers are doing reminds us of our Keyword—Wanders.
Numbers begins and ends with an official count of the people of Israel. But
between the two numberings occurs the real story: the wanderings of God’s people
in the wilderness. Twelve spies are sent into the land. Because of the negative
report of 10 of the spies, the fearful people choose to rebel against God despite His
assurances of victory. So, rather than enjoy their Promised Land of milk and
honey, the Israelites spend nearly 40 years wandering in the desert wilderness.
Throughout Numbers the faithfulness of God is contrasted with the fickleness of
His people. Even so, God faithfully leads His people through the agonizing detour
they created for themselves.
#14 Deuteronomy – (SECOND for LAW) Moses delivers a farewell message to
the people. We have just discovered the history of God’s call and plan for Israel
(Genesis - Exodus), how to represent God to the Nations (Leviticus), and learning
the lessons of trust in the wilderness (Numbers). Moses reminds the new nation of
these lessons, and points them toward God’s future. His last words are a reminder
of God’s promise of blessing for following His Law, and of His curses for refusing
to represent Him to the Nations by following His Law. Deuteronomy wraps up the
lessons in the Law and prepares the nation to enter the Promise Land to experience
the blessings of God rather than the curses.
Book: Deuteronomy
Theme: Second Law
Information: Imagine a singing contest. Two sets of law
tablets are singing duets in the competition. One set of law
tablets—the one running on top of the poor man—comes in
second. So you can remember the book of Deuteronomy if you
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think of this picture of a “Duet-Run-On-Me.” Deuteronomy is about the second
time God gave the law through Moses—so the Keyword is Second Law.
Deuteronomy reviews the 40-year period of the nation’s walk with God and
previews their new life soon to begin in Canaan. Taking the form of a series of
sermons, the book addresses the new generation emerging from the wilderness
march. Moses reminds them of the central importance of obedience and stresses
holiness as a way of life.
From The Wilkinson & Boa Bible Handbook (Nashville: Thomas Nelson
Publishing, 2002) p. 3
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