OLD TESTAMENT SURVEY - 3

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FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP

OLD TESTAMENT SURVEY - 3

Psalm 19:97  O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day. 

The first five books of the Old Testament are known by several names:  The Pentateuch (Greek for “five books”), The Torah (Hebrew for “the Law”); The Law of Moses; and just, The Law. Their authorship is generally attributed to Moshe (Moses) with a very brief portion (Deuteronomy 34) attributed to Joshua.

The Scriptures of the Torah did not come with titles.  The names by which we know them today (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) were not associated with the books until the writing of the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Tanak, circa 300 BC, in Alexandria, Egypt).  The Septuagint assigned titles to depict the general theme of each book. 

1.    Genesis          – “Origin”           - the beginning

2.    Exodus           – “Going out”     - the record of Israel going out of Egypt

3.    Leviticus         – “Levites”         - the administration of the law by the tribe of Levi

4.    Numbers        – “Numbering”   - the census of Israel

5.   Deuteronomy – “Second Law” - the retelling of the Law

The Hebrew names for them are simply a reference to the first word(s) of the Hebrew text in each book.

5.    Bereshith  -  “in the beginning”   - Genesis

6.    Shemoth   -  “names”                 -  Exodus

7.    Wayyiqra  -  “and He called”      - Leviticus

8.    Bemidbar  - “in the wilderness”  - Numbers

5.   Debarim    -  “words”                  - Deuteronomy

GENESIS:

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth.

There is no way to accurately date this event.  There are two primary schools of thought on this event because of a difference in the way the next verse is interpreted.

Genesis 1:2 And the earth was (came to be) formless and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of Elohim was moving on the face of the waters.

One school of thought says this is the condition in which Elohim originally created the heavens and the earth.  From this understanding comes the “6,000-year-old Earth” theory.

The other school of thought (which I hold to) focuses on the words “formless and void” (Hebrew: tohu and bohu) in verse 2.  These words, when found used together in the Old Testament, always spoke of the condition of a divine judgment resulting in annihilation or total devastation.  Consequently, this would dictate the condition in which we find the earth surrounded by waters would be after a divine judgment by flood.

If this is an accurate understanding of the verse, then an undetermined amount of time could have transpired between verse 1 and verse 2.  That could have been moments, centuries or even millennia.  The apostle Peter appears to be referring specifically to this event in his second epistle.

2 Peter 3:5 For they deliberately suppress this fact, that by the word of Elohim heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water. 

6 Through these things the world existing at that time was destroyed when it was deluged with water. (NET)

The book of Yeshayahu (Isaiah) declares that when IAUE created the heavens and the earth, He did NOT create it “tohu;” and that He created it to be inhabited. 

Isaiah 45:18  For thus saith IAUE that created the heavens; Elohim himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain (tohu), he formed it to be inhabited: I am IAUE; and there is none else.

Jeremiah also refers to this “tohu” and “bohu” condition of the earth.

Jeremiah 4:23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form (tohu), and void (bohu); and the heavens, and they had no light.

24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.

25 I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.

26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of IAUE, and by his fierce anger.

27 For thus hath IAUE said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.

28 For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.

IAUE judged the world that then was by flood. He blotted out the light and left the earth covered by the flood waters, left in darkness for a time of mourning.  What was the very first thing IAUE did in Genesis after showing us this post-judgment picture of the earth?

Genesis 1:3 And Elohim said, Let there be light: and there was light.

He restored the light that He had withdrawn from the world that then was.  The time of mourning was over.  Elohim was going to do something different…something better this time; just like He did with the Old and New Covenants.  The writer of Hebrews said the New Covenant was a better covenant based on better promises (Hebrews 8:6).

The remainder of Genesis 1 would consequently be seen as a re-creation, restoration and command to replenish the earth.  It is here, with the fashioning of man in Elohim's own image that we may begin to provide a suggested date of circa 4000 BC for the beginning of human history.  One biblical historian asserts that Adam was created on April 1, 3975 BC.  That would place us in year 5992.  According to the Hebrew calendar, we are currently in year 5777.

The book of Genesis has 50 chapters.  They may be summarized as follows:

Genesis 1-11:  The beginning.  Creation until circa 2000 BC.  In these first eleven chapters we see:

-  the creation of Adam and Eve
-  the sin in the Garden of Eden
-  Cain's murder of Abel
-  the generations of Cain (which founded the social systems called "the world" in the 

   New Testament) 

-  the birth of Seth (to replace the bloodline of righteous Abel)
-  the proliferation of great wickedness upon the earth
-  Noah's ark and the great flood
-  The tower of Babylon and the separation of man by language

Genesis 12-50:  The foundation of the Hebrew race and the Abrahamic Covenant.  Circa 2000 BC - 1600 BC.

-  Elohim begins his relationship with Abram
-  Abram and his family leaves Ur of the Chaldeans
-  The parting of ways of Abram and Lot
-  The initiation of the Covenant - Elohim changes Abram's name to Abraham
-  The birth and life of Ishmael
-  The birth and life of Yitshaq (Isaac)
-  The birth and life of Yaqob (Jacob) and Esaw (Esau)
-  The birth and life of the Patriarchs (the sons of Yaqob, whose name was changed

    to Yisrael)
-  The Patriarchs selling Yoseph (Joseph) into slavery to Egypt
-  The rise of Yoseph to the right hand of Pharaoh
-  The move of the Patriarchs into Mitsrayim (Egypt)
-  The death of Yoseph

When one reads the book of Genesis, one of the first things noticed is how long the lifespans were.  It is difficult to grasp the correlation of the ages of notable characters in this book by simply reading the verses that say how many years they lived.  Let’s look at some examples that may be of interest.

-  Adam lived 930 years.  He died when Lamech, the father of Noah, was 56 years old. 

-  Noah was born 126 years after Adam died.

-  Seth, Adam’s third son, lived 912 years.  He died just 14 years before Noah was born.

-  Noah lived to be 950 years old.  He was 600 when he entered the ark; and he lived 

   another 350 years after the flood. 

-  Abram (Abraham) was born just two years after Noah died.     

-  When Abraham paid tithes to Melchisedek, he was paying tithes to Shem, the son of 

   Noah, the oldest man alive and the last person on earth that was alive before the

   flood. 

-  Isaac was 50 years old when Shem died.  Jacob and Esau were born just 10 years

   later.

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Kingdom heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the performance of the will of IAUE.

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