Introduction to the Bible

Class Three – The Pentateuch

1)     Opening Prayer – (Advent Two) – BLESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

2)     Questions and review from last time.

The Pentateuch – the First Five Books of the Bible or The Books of Moses

3)     “Without the Pentateuch the rest of the Bible would be largely incomprehensible” (pp 66)

a)     The Pentateuch takes us from:

i)       the dawn of creation,

ii)     through the fall and primeval history,

iii)   the Patriarchs and the establishment of the People of God,

iv)   to Moses, the Exodus and

v)     the formal establishment of Israel as the people through whom God will work to redeem the world

b)    We see in the Pentateuch a number of ‘Covenants’

i)       A covenant is an agreement or treaty between two parties. Many of the covenants (and as the text observes, much of Deuteronomy) resemble such a covenant between a powerful king and a weaker vassal state.

(1)  Typically the King promises protection and other benefits in exchange for the vassals support and obedience.

Major Pentateuch Covenants:

ii)     Adam (Edenic Covenant) – while not explicit, there is an implicit covenant between God and Adam

(1)  Promise of eternal life on condition of perfect obedience vs death for disobedience.

(2)  Noahic Covenant (Genesis 8-9)

(a)  God blesses Noah and his sons and places all plants and animals under man’s authority.

(b) Promises not to destroy humanity again

(c)  Offers the rainbow as a sign of the covenant.

(3)  Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12-17)

(a)  God will make a great nation from Abraham

(b) Circumcision is the sign and seal of the covenant.

(4)  Mosaic Covenant

(a)  Israel made a nation of priests and a holy nation

(b) Receipt of the Promised Land

(c)  The Sabbath given as a sign of the covenant

4)     Genesis

a)     We also see a number of hints and shadows of God’s redemptive plan:

i)       Protoevangelium – Genesis 3:14-16

(1)  Contains the first messianic prophecy

ii)     The sacrificial system throughout the Pentateuch

(1)  Demonstrates God’s righteousness and demand that His people also be righteous

(2)  Demonstrates God’s justice demands punishment for sin

(3)  Demonstrates that works righteousness does not work – man can not effect his own salvation.

b)    Demonstrates God’s power and sovereignty – that all success of His redemptive plan is based on His strength and power.

i)       Barrenness of Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel

ii)     Use of younger sons when the older would have been expected

iii)   Jacob, Joseph, Ephraim, Perez (Judah)

iv)   Use of the comparatively week nation of Israel

c)     Central characters serve as role models who wish to be Christ-like

i)       What do we see in the characters of Abraham, Jacob and Joseph?

ii)     What do we learn from them?

d)    A fundamental purpose of Genesis is to explain the human condition to us and help us understand “Why God did/does what he did/does, not how”.

5)     Exodus

a)     Exodus introduces us to the greatest prophet – Moses

b)    Israel is dramatically rescued from Egypt

c)     Additional typology that foreshadows Christ

i)       Israel coming out of Egypt, as does Jesus

ii)     God taking up residence with the people – His presence having a sanctifying effect upon the people, they will be a ‘holy nation’ as a type of the Holy Spirit in us individually and in the Church.

(1)  God is moving from being distant to being close.

iii)   Moses came from water, Israel comes through the Red Sea, Christ is baptized

iv)   Signs performed by Moses compared to John’s signs in the Gospel

(1)  Water to wine instead of blood

(2)  Death of the first-born in Egypt – death but resurrection to life of God’s first born in Jesus.

v)     Cycle of redemption, fall and recreation of Israel

d)    Receipt of the Law

6)     Leviticus

a)     Continues the story of Israel in the Wilderness

b)    Israel, being a holy people, is taught how to live in the presence of God

i)       Priests are specifically set apart to serve God in the tabernacle

c)     Concept of Holiness vs uncleanness (pp 58)

i)       Levitical laws are designed to separate Israel from others and to impress upon it the need to be holy.

d)    Leviticus helps to set the world view that helps us understand the necessary sacrificial death of Christ and that God is holy.

7)     Numbers

a)     ‘Recurring them is the failure of the people to trust and obey God’ (pp 60).

i)       “We learn from Numbers the need to trust God completely and avoid the temptation to grumble against His provisions or distrust His ability to keep us secure” pp 61

(1)  We see these temptations replayed by Christ in 40 days in the Wilderness.

8)     Deuteronomy

a)     Two speeches or sermons delivered by Moses to the people.

i)       Recounting what God has done and how the people should respond

ii)     We are called to perfect obedience of God’s decrees

iii)   We are warned about false gods

(1)  False gods are anything that supplants ‘God from His rightful position of supreme authority’

Scripture Readings

Exodus 31:12-17

12 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,  13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. 14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. 17It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

Genesis 3:14-19

14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. 16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.