FOR THE GIRL Who Gets Confused in the Pentateuch
“AS FOR YOU, YOU MEANT EVIL AGAINST ME, BUT GOD MEANT IT FOR GOOD, TO BRING IT ABOUT THAT MANY PEOPLE SHOULD BE KEPT ALIVE, AS THEY ARE TODAY.”
GENESIS 50:20
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy are the first five books of Scripture. (They are often referred to as the Pentateuch, because in Greek penta means five and teuchos means scroll.) These books lay the foundation of the Bible, including how God created the world, the circumstances of the Fall, the formation of God’s people, and the law God gave to the Israelites to show them their sin. A lot of action is packed into the Pentateuch, including enough murders, messy families, and miracles to last lifetimes (literally!). In the process, we see humanity’s sinfulness highlighted against the backdrop of God’s perfection.
To give you a brief overview of these books, we will look at the timeline and theme woven throughout Genesis to Deuteronomy.
PENTATEUCH TIMELINE
Read through the following Pentateuch timeline to familiarize yourself with important events. (Note that some of the dates given are loose estimations, not exact.[1] There is a difference in opinion on the precise timing of everything occurring in Scripture. However, most scholars agree on the chronological order represented here!)
Before 4000 BC: By His Word, God created light and darkness, day and night, skies and heavens, earth and seas and plants, sun and moon and stars, birds and fish, and finally land animals and humans. Then, on the seventh day, He rested (Gen. 1:1–2:3).
Before 4000 BC: In the garden of Eden, Satan tempted Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, allowing sin to enter the world. This event was the Fall (Gen. 3:1–7).
Before 2500 BC: After enough wickedness entered the world, God sent a flood to wipe out every living thing, keeping a remnant through Noah and his family on the ark (Gen. 6:9–22).
Before 2100 BC: Humankind tried to create a temple leading to heaven, the Tower of Babel, so God created different languages to confuse the people and spread them out across the world. (Gen. 11:1–9)
2091 BC: God called Abram to leave Ur to establish His people as a nation, promising that He would make Abram a blessing (Gen. 12:1–3).
2081 BC: God made a covenant with Abram, promising him offspring and an heir (Gen. 15:1–6; 12–21).
2066 BC: God kept His covenant to Abram (now Abraham), blessing him and his wife Sarah with a son, Isaac (Gen. 21:1–7).
2054 BC: God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice Isaac (Gen. 22).
2026 BC: Isaac grew up and married Rebekah (Gen. 24).
2006 BC: Rebekah gave birth to twins named Jacob and Esau (Gen. 25:19–28).
1921 BC: Jacob had twelve sons between his wives Leah and Rachel and their two servants, Bilhah and Zilpah (Gen. 35:22–26).
1898 BC: Jacob’s older sons sold the youngest, Joseph, into slavery (Gen. 37:24–28).
1886 BC: Unexpectedly, Joseph became the second-in-command under Egypt’s pharaoh and saves his family from famine by bringing them to Goshen (Gen. 41:37–45; 46:28).
1600 BC: Years after Jacob moved his family to Egypt, the Israelites continued to grow and prosper, contributing to the pharaoh’s decision to oppress them (Exod. 1:8–14).
1525 BC: A Hebrew boy named Moses was born, who would grow up in the pharaoh’s palace (Exod. 2:2–10).
1486 BC: After killing an Egyptian slave master, Moses fled to Midian (Exod. 2:11–15).
1446 BC: God spoke to Moses through a burning bush, calling the man to usher His people out of Egypt (Exod. 3:1–12).
1446 BC: God displayed His power through ten plagues, and the last was the death of every household’s firstborn. However, if families placed the blood of an innocent lamb on their doorposts, they were passed over by the angel of death (Exod. 7–11).
1446 BC: God rescued Israel from Egypt (Exod. 12:33–42).
1446 BC: Moses received the Ten Commandments and the Law from God (Exodus 20).
1445 BC: The tabernacle, a place for God to dwell among His people, was built (Exod. 40).
1445 BC: God commanded Moses to consecrate Aaron and his sons as priests (Lev. 8).
1445 BC: God asked Moses to take a census of every human within Israel (Num. 1:1–3).
1445 BC: God told Moses to send spies into the land of Canaan. Only Joshua and Caleb said they could overtake their enemies (Num. 13:25–33).
1445 BC: Moses interceded for Israel because of their unbelief. God promised their generation would wander for forty years in the desert before He allowed them to take the Promised Land (Num. 14:26–35).
1406 BC: Moses reiterated all of God’s commands to Israel to rededicate them to Him before he died, and Joshua took over.
These are only twenty-six major events to occur in the first five books of Scripture. And there are plenty more! You could call these events a highlight reel, because they point to the overarching emphasis of the Old Testament.
THEMES THROUGHOUT THE PENTATEUCH
Several themes are present throughout each book. Let’s discuss the three most frequently occurring ones from the entire Pentateuch—beginnings, redemption, and holiness.
BEGINNINGS
Genesis means beginnings. Beginnings of what? you ask. Great question! Let’s look at the following passages.
Genesis 1:1–25: With a spoken word, God brought order out of nothing, creating the entire universe.
Genesis 1:26–31: God created humanity—male and female—in His image, orchestrating every atom of life.
Genesis 3: Sin originated from Satan’s deceit and Adam and Eve’s disobedience. Their actions resulted in consequences for the rest of humanity, namely separation from God. It also put everyone under the wrath of God.
Genesis 12:1–3: God promised to make Abram into a great nation, bless him, make his name great, and bless those who blessed him. Through Abram’s family, God would bless the world!
As we can see, Genesis highlights the origins of the universe, man’s sin, and the nation of Israel. The Pentateuch reminds us that God is the Author and Creator of the world. He chose to build a world that He deemed good with people He made in His image. Every person to walk this earth is special because He made them. God’s Word sustains every living being in our universe! Therefore, the created must worship the Creator.
REDEMPTION
Though God created a perfect world, the Fall introduced disobedience and death through sin. Despite our wickedness, though, God chose to redeem us.
Here are some passages that showcase some ways God redeemed people in the Pentateuch.
Genesis 50:15–21: Here we see redemption occur between Joseph and his brothers, the ones who sold him into slavery! Ultimately, Joseph states that while evil things happened to him, God redeemed them for His glory. Romans 8:28 is a perfect description of this reality!
Exodus 6:1–8: After hearing the cries of His people, God told Moses He would deliver the Israelites from the Egyptians. God would keep His Word that He gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Exodus 12:1–28: The final plague that hit Egypt was the death of every firstborn. God provided a way of deliverance from this plague. Each family in Israel had to sacrifice an innocent lamb and paint its blood on the doorposts of their house, and the angel of death would pass over their firstborn. This imagery would become a type (foreshadow) of Christ’s death on the cross!
HOLINESS
If we are honest, Leviticus is where most of us stumble in a Bible reading plan! From laws about mold to specifications about periods, making sense of this book becomes quite a doozy. But every law was for the good of God’s people, Israel.
In Leviticus 11:45, the Lord says, “‘For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.’”
The Lord faithfully brought Israel out of Egypt as He promised. Ultimately, God called Israel to be holy, or set apart, to image the real God instead of the idols of other nations.
The way Israel could pursue holiness was by upholding God’s law. While portions of the Pentateuch include narratives, scholars often categorize the majority of it as law literature. This genre is mainly in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, though it includes a few chapters in Exodus (Exod. 20–23) and Numbers (Num. 5–6, 15, and 28–30). If it’s talking about specific laws regarding weird things like leprous disease or unsolved murders, you can safely bet it’s a book in the law category!
Scholars typically categorize Old Testament law into three different categories—ceremonial, civil, and moral. Ceremonial law required Israel to worship God in a particular way that differed from their Gentile neighbors. For instance, Leviticus 11:1-8 declared Israel was allowed to eat almost anything that had a parted hoof (was cloven-footed) or chewed the cud. But this law makes an exception for camels, rock badgers, hares, and pigs, which were unclean. In Leviticus 11:9-12, God permitted Israel to eat any fish with fins or scales. So they couldn’t include any crab, lobster, or shellfish in their diet.
In addition to ceremonial laws, God also gave Israel civil laws. These were rules that resolved disputes between individuals like our modern-day justice system. For example, Exodus 21:15 called for a child who hit their father or mother would be put to death. Thieves who stole from their neighbor had to return the stolen property with an additional fifth of the overall value. Then, they would have a priest sacrifice an unblemished ram for a guilt offering according to Leviticus 6:1-7. Deuteronomy 21:1-9 outlined how to atone for an unsolved murder, which required the Levite priests of the nearest town would sacrifice a heifer.
Lastly, moral law exposed the heart of one’s actions. The Ten Commandments, for example, were part of Mosaic law. However, the principle of these laws still applies to believers today, for they come from the character of God! These commandments deal with loving God and loving people, which Jesus declared as the greatest law in Matthew 22:36–40.
As you read through law passages, have a heart of gratitude! When Christ came as our sacrificial lamb, He fulfilled every letter of the law. For one, we can now eat bacon. (And all God’s people said amen!) More importantly, we are no longer under the law but under grace in Christ. (Praise the Lord!) Though the law pointed out man’s sin, it could not justify or save. But those who believe in Christ now receive redemption from the curse of sin!
CONCLUSION
The Pentateuch outlines truths so foundational that Hebrew boys used to memorize the whole thing! Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy comes in at a little under 160,000 words. This fact means boys under the age of twelve memorized the equivalent of seven and a half movie scripts!
As you read through these first five books of Scripture, they will inform your understanding of God as the Creator, Savior, and Protector of His people. But perhaps the sweetest truth we learn about God through these five books is that He honors His promises.
Just as He kept His word to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He continues to keep His Word today. Praise the Lord for revealing His holiness, power, and promises to us through His Word!
[1]. Valkanet, Rich, “Bible Timeline,” Bible Hub, accessed November 15, 2021, https://biblehub.com/timeline/.