Chapter 4: The Pentateuch: Genesis to Deuteronomy
The Pentateuch
Genesis to Deuteronomy
The thirty-nine books of the Old Testament focus predominantly on the people of Israel—their battles and blessings, their leaders, and, most of all, their responsibility as a nation to obey the Lord and bring the promised Redeemer into the world. The word Pentateuch means “five tools” in Greek, and the term describes the first five books of the Bible, without which we would not fully understand the rest of the Bible.
Genesis: The Lord Forms a Family
Genesis describes the creation of the universe, the creation of the human race, and the beginnings of the Jewish people who gave us Jesus and the Bible. “For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast” (Ps. 33:9). God built Abraham and Sarah’s family as it grew from one son, Isaac, into the twelve tribes of Israel. Four men stand out in Genesis: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Each man had his weaknesses and disappointments, but the Lord used all of them to accomplish His will.
As you read Genesis, you will note that the Lord was not in a hurry. He could have spoken the universe into being with one word, but He took six days. He could have given Abraham and Sarah a son when they were much younger, but He waited twenty-five years. To serve God effectively, we must practice Psalm 37:7—“Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.” Also note that God’s will involved believing women as well as obedient men. God worked in and through families as well as individuals.
Eve disobeyed God and shared the fruit of the tree of life with her husband (Gen. 3), but Adam’s disobedience plunged the entire human race into sin and judgment; for Satan deceived Eve, but Adam sinned with his eyes wide open (see 2 Cor. 11:3; 1 Tim. 2:14). Romans 5 is Paul’s explanation of our fall, and note in that chapter the repetition of the word reign.
Genesis 3:15 is the first mention in Scripture of the coming Redeemer, and verse 21 is the first mention of slaying an animal to provide covering for guilty sinners. The offering of Isaac (Gen. 22) points us to Jesus and the cross, the only begotten Son obeying the will of the Father.
Abraham and Sarah’s pilgrim life is of utmost importance, for the people God blesses and uses have always “walk[ed] by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). To walk by faith means to obey the Lord no matter our feelings, our circumstances, or our consequences. Wherever Abraham and Sarah went, they identified the spot with a tent and an altar. Open your Bible and, beginning at Genesis 12:8, trace Abraham’s pilgrimage and look for the tent and the altar. The tent tells us they were pilgrims and strangers in the land, and the altar testifies to their faith in the living God. Together, they served as a testimony to all the pagan peoples around them. We believers today are pilgrims (1 Pet. 2:11), because we don’t belong to this world system and we live in “tents” (our bodies—2 Cor. 5:1, 4) until we receive our eternal home in heaven.
Exodus: The Lord Builds a Nation
Exodus is Greek for “road out,” and the book by that name tells us how the Lord delivered the Jewish people from the bondage of Egypt and formed them into a nation. Moses and his brother Aaron led the people. The judgments the Lord sent against Egypt revealed their gods’ and goddesses’ inability to protect Pharaoh and his people. At Mt. Sinai, the Lord gave Moses the laws that governed the nation. The Jews had been slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years (Acts 7:6), and Moses didn’t have an easy time turning a nation of slaves into the people of God. More than once, the people wanted to rebel and return to Egypt, where they at least had security and were cared for by their Egyptian masters. The Lord wanted them to be free and to walk by faith, but they had a difficult time learning their lessons.
Events and imagery that help us better understand the Redeemer and the redemption that He purchased on the cross saturate the Pentateuch. The Passover (Feast of Unleavened Bread) is one of the most important (Exod. 11—13). The lamb in the Passover meal, of course, represents the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:29, 36; Isa. 53:7; Acts 8:32, 1 Pet. 1:19). I especially like the sequence in Exodus 12: “a lamb” (v. 3), “the lamb” (v. 4), “your lamb” (v. 5). Another sequence enriches me. Isaac asked Abraham his father, “Where is the lamb …?” (Gen. 22:7), and John the Baptist gave the answer: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). One day, we shall join the heavenly choir and praise Jesus, saying, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain …” (Rev. 5:12). As you read God’s Word, note these interesting sequences.
The Jewish nation did not understand the meaning of freedom. At Mt. Sinai, Moses presented to the nation the laws God gave them so that in obeying them they would mature and enjoy true freedom. The British theologian P. T. Forsyth wrote in Positive Preaching and the Modern Mind, “The first duty of every soul is to find not its freedom but its Master.” Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). True freedom is not doing whatever we want to do but doing whatever the Lord wants us to do. To be bound by the freedom of God’s law and God’s love is to be freed from the bondage of sin and selfishness.
Leviticus: The Lord Sets a Standard: “Be Holy as I Am Holy”
Leviticus records the ministry of the Levites, the family Levi founded and who served first at the tabernacle and then in the temple built by Solomon. The emphasis in Leviticus is on holiness and obedience to the laws God established at Sinai. Both Exodus and Leviticus focus on personal holiness: “For I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy” (Lev. 11:44; see also 11:4–45; 19:2; 20:7, 26; Deut. 14:2). The apostle Peter applied this commandment to all Christians (1 Pet. 1:15–16).
Leviticus 13 and 14, two of the longest chapters in the book, deal with leprosy, a disease that was to the ancient world what cancer is to our modern world. Why did the Spirit of God devote so much space to a disease that today is not a menace? Because in Scripture, leprosy is a picture of sin, and the cleansing of the leper is a picture of salvation. Note how often the word unclean is used in these two chapters. It means “ceremonially unclean,” unfit to be in the camp. Like sin, leprosy is “deeper than the skin” (13:3), it spreads (vv. 6–8), it defiles and destroys fellowship (vv. 45–46), and it is fit for the fire (v. 55), but the leper can be cleansed and so may lost sinners! “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean,” a leper said to Jesus; and He replied, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Jesus touched him! The man was instantly healed (see Matt. 8:1–4)!
Leviticus chapter 14 describes the ceremony that restored the leper to fellowship in the camp. The leper did not go to the priest; the priest went to the leper outside the camp. Note the parallel with Jesus: “for the Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Two birds were used in the cleansing ceremony in Leviticus. Priests shed one bird’s blood inside a clay jar, and the other was dipped into that blood and freed to fly away. A lamb was slain and the blood applied to the right ear, thumb, and big toe of the leper. Studying the books of the Old Testament prepares us for our studies of the New Testament books.
One of the delights of Old Testament Bible study is discovering how the New Testament writers quoted the Old Testament and shed light on prophecies, promises, and events. When Israel walked by faith and obeyed God, they enjoyed His blessings and testified to the idolatrous nations around them; but whenever they disobeyed, they were defeated and lost God’s blessing. Instead of trusting the Lord for their needs, they asked Him to give them a king, and that was the beginning of trouble. Their first king was Saul, a giant in physical stature but stunted in spiritual understanding. He was followed by David, whose faith in God brought victory and peace to the land. Alas, some of David’s sons ignored their father’s example and broke God’s commandments and their father’s heart. His son Solomon brought prosperity to the nation, but his son Rehoboam listened to his young friends instead of the experienced elders and divided the nation. More than just to predict future events, the Lord raised up prophets to proclaim God’s truth and call the people from their idols and back to the Lord. Many of their kings disobeyed, and when they did, the nation as a whole suffered. Ultimately, the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom (Israel) and Babylon conquered the southern kingdom (Judah).
We must remember that Israel is the Lord’s chosen people, set apart to accomplish His purposes on earth, especially the writing of the Scriptures and giving birth to the promised Messiah. Whenever the people rebelled against the Lord and deliberately sinned, they not only grieved their Lord but they also jeopardized their divinely given ministries on earth. From the time of Abraham and Sarah until Jesus finished His work on earth and ascended to heaven, there was always a faithful Jewish remnant. Today, a remnant of believing Jews and Gentiles that faithfully serves the Lord remains (Rom. 11:5).
Numbers: The Lord Disciplines His People for Their Unbelief
The book of Numbers contains many statistics, as the name suggests. It records complaints as the twelve tribes marched through the wilderness to the Promised Land. If the Israelites had focused on their future blessings instead of looking back on their so-called “security” in Egypt, they would have obeyed Moses and been filled with joy. It has well been said that the “good old days” are a combination of a bad memory and a good imagination. In the book of Leviticus, the Lord manifests long-suffering toward His people and remains always faithful to His grumbling, unbelieving people. Occasionally, He chastened them, and they repented, but they were inclined to maximize life in Egypt and minimize the Lord’s blessings.
Numbers, which I mentioned is well-named, also contains the census of the people as they approached the Promised Land and got equipped for battle. But all was not well because the people tended to complain and criticize Moses and Aaron and blame them for their trials. The Lord was testing the people and teaching them how to live by faith. I have often said that a faith that can’t be tested can’t be trusted.
When they arrived at Kadesh Barnea, the doorway into Canaan, instead of trusting God for guidance and victory, the people sent twelve men to “spy out the land” that God had prepared for them. The men came back, and ten of them shared a tale of woe that discouraged everybody—except Moses, Aaron, two spies, Caleb and Joshua. The people would have stoned Moses had the Lord not intervened. Instead of entering Canaan by faith and claiming their God-given inheritance, the people wandered in the wilderness until that entire unbelieving generation had died—except for the four men I mentioned. It took eleven days to travel from Mount Horeb (Sinai) to Kadesh Barnea (Deut. 1:2), but the people’s unbelief and rebellion turned it into forty years!
What does all this mean to us today? For one thing, it encourages us to walk by faith and trust the Lord to see us through. If we are walking by faith, obeying His commandments always leads to His enablements. How does the Lord increase our faith? He teaches us from His Word (Rom. 10:17) and tests us with difficult circumstances. Again, a faith that can’t be tested can’t be trusted, and the Israelites resisted being tested. There were giants in Canaan, so big that the Israelites were only grasshoppers! “How often the Israelites provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert! Yes, again and again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel” (Ps. 78:40–41).
Every Christian, church, and parachurch ministry must be tested if they are to glorify the Lord by claiming by faith the inheritance He has planned for them. I have pastored three churches, two of which experienced building programs, and I have also served on the staffs of two parachurch ministries. In all five of these ministries, God tested us in various ways. How easy it seemed for some people to complain to God and fear moving ahead by faith. But the leadership and enough of the others involved were convinced that God would give us His help. They prayed and believed, and God blessed and gave us victory. In my first pastorate, an elderly couple were great encouragers to my wife and me. They told me one day, “Every church comes to a Kadesh Barnea place in its ministry and is tested to step out by faith and go forward. If they stand still, they will go backward and miss the blessings God wants them to have.” I took that to heart and God saw us through. “And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4).
Deuteronomy: The Lord Gives His Nation a New Beginning
It’s unfortunate that some of our gifted Christian poets and songwriters have used Canaan, the Promised Land, as a type or picture of heaven because, while turning people’s eyes toward heaven is essential, heaven is not what the Promised Land stands for in the Christian life. It’s obvious that we are not going to fight wars and kill people in heaven as Israel did in Canaan, or make mistakes as Joshua did, or deliberately disobey the Lord as Achan did. The book of Hebrews makes it clear that the Promised Land is a type of the spiritual inheritance believers have by faith today as they walk with God and obey His will. God’s children have a spiritual inheritance today from which they may draw as they live the Christian life and do the Father’s will. Except for Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, the Jews who were delivered from Egypt all died during their journey after the nation refused to enter Canaan in Kadesh Barnea.
Deuteronomy means “second law.” At Sinai, the law had been given to the generation delivered from Egypt, but that generation died off during the nation’s march to Canaan. The new generation would conquer the enemy and take possession of the Promised Land, and they needed to understand God’s law. Moses reviewed the history of the forty years’ march of the nation and announced the law to the new generation before they entered the land (Deut. 1:1–8). After God’s people had entered the land and captured some cities, Joshua led them in renewing their covenant with the Lord (Josh. 8:30–35). Now the nation of pilgrims would become a nation of settlers, but they would not succeed unless they obeyed God’s law. Alas, they did not always honor the Lord and obey His law, and the Lord had to discipline them. Over the centuries, many of their people—including priests and kings—turned to idols and imitated the godless nations around them. But there are professed Christians today who love the world and drift back into the old life (Phil. 3:17–21), so let’s begin with our own needs today.
Moses gave God’s truth to the new generation of Israelites as they prepared to enter the Promised Land and claim their inheritance. They would be pilgrims no more but would become settlers, and Moses told them plainly how to behave. He briefly reviewed the history of their pilgrimage from Egypt to Canaan and what the Lord had done for them. He also warned them not to imitate the nations around them, a warning they refused to heed. The Israelites began to imitate the idolatrous nations around them. They asked for a king. They worshipped idols. They neglected their spiritual responsibilities. They forgot how the Lord had blessed them, and they failed to worship Him as the law demanded.
It was important that Israel maintain faith in the Lord and obedience to the Lord, for Israel was to provide the nations of the world with the Word of God and the Savior, Jesus Christ. “Salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22). The devil used idolatry, immorality, and intermarriage with the pagans to defile the nation, but a faithful believing remnant always remained dedicated to the Lord, just as there is today. We must learn from the past if we are to be obedient in the present and prepared for the future. The Lord has a wonderful future planned for His people if they will trust Him and obey Him.
The Scottish preacher Alexander Whyte defined the victorious Christian life as “a series of new beginnings.” We all have our weaknesses and failures, but we can always make a new beginning as we feed on the Word of God, pray, and seek to serve the Lord. Satan reminds us of our defeats because he wants us to be discouraged, but our Father wants to encourage us to repent and return. “Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22–23). No matter how much we may have failed yesterday, we can confess our sins, be forgiven, and start afresh (1 John 1:9).
It’s worth noting that Jesus quoted three times from Deuteronomy when the devil tempted Him (Matt. 4:1–11). Matthew 4:4 is from Deuteronomy 8:3, Matthew 4:7 is from Deuteronomy 6:16, and Matthew 4:10 is from Deuteronomy 6:13. These quotations not only reveal our Lord’s knowledge of Scripture, but they also show His insight into the meaning of Scripture. How many of us would know those verses from Deuteronomy and apply them as He did? The Pentateuch contains a rich mine of spiritual truth, and may the Holy Spirit help us dig deeper!
Four words pretty much summarize Deuteronomy’s message: hear (used twenty-four times), learn, keep, and do. Together they describe obedience (see 11:13–14; 4:40; 12:28; and 29:9). Churches today need to understand the importance of teaching the younger generation what the Christian life and the church are all about. The older saints must challenge the new generations to learn from them and to prepare themselves to take the places of the veterans when God calls them home. Older pastors and teachers must mentor the younger pastors and teachers and encourage them to serve. Each local church is one generation short of extinction, so let’s follow Moses’ example and equip the younger generation for places of leadership (see Ps. 48:12–14; 71:17–18; and 78:1–8).
ADVENTURE ASSIGNMENT #4
Genesis 49 records Jacob’s last words as he spoke to his sons before his death. Read it several times and ponder how you would have felt if you had been the child this father was speaking to. What does Jacob teach us about human nature? What images in the chapter point to Jesus?