My Journey through the Bible - Genesis through Deuteronomy

In my introductory post, I said that I had started reading the Bible since sophomore year in college and that I am currently finishing up 1 Samuel (now, I am at 1 Kings). As I read along, I have been referencing Andrews Study Bible, a Korean study Bible, and the Conflict of the Ages series in order to help me understand some of the more difficult Bible passages. Since I am far behind on my posts, the next few will consist of my thoughts and findings on all of the books from Genesis to 2 Samuel. We will start with the first five books of the Bible, or the Pentateuch.

The books of Moses often seem to carry a stigma for believers and skeptics alike. They are the books of laws, which carry a connotation of justice and judgment. On surface reading, it is easy to see it that way. All of the books except Genesis contain laws upon laws, which can range from ceremonial laws to moral laws to social justice, frequently interrupted by narrative. They are very exact, and they can be seemingly random, arbitrary and even irrelevant for our time. Also, we see many instances in which God punishes humans for their disobedience. By these moments alone, it is easy to think that God is a harsh God who demands absolute obedience to Him or else He will punish us in the worst way.

However, upon closer reading and inspection, the Pentateuch is about so much more than just laws and justice. This is the part of the Bible where everything is established, and therefore it is most appropriately placed at the beginning. The Pentateuch explains how God created the world (the stage in which the rest of history will play out), how we fell out of alignment with His will (sin and evil enter the world), and the moral standard by which God measures us. The Ten Commandments and the following laws that explain how to live them in the real world (specifically at the time) establish this moral standard which is continually illustrated by examples of people obeying or disobeying God and living out the natural consequences of their decisions. God’s moral standard continues to be upheld by the rest of the Bible, and we see the Ten Commandments and the Laws of Moses being continually referenced in the later books. In fact, Jesus devoted a portion of the Sermon on the Mount explaining the implications behind some of Moses’ laws.

The first five books make everything that follows throughout the Bible all the way to Revelation possible. Most importantly, they tell us that God will provide a way to restore us back to a right relationship with Him. In fact, when you take the entire Pentateuch, along with Joshua as a whole, it becomes a great parable of salvation. Much like how the sanctuary services and sacrifices were typologies of the plan of salvation, the story of Abraham and his descendants as told from Genesis through Joshua is also one great typology of how God delivers us from our sins, molds us to reflect His standard and character, and readies us to carry out His work and, in the end, reign with Him for all eternity.