The Dawning of Redemption E-Book

Ian J. Vaillancourt

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

An Accessible Introduction to the Pentateuch and Why It Matters for the Rest of the Biblical Story When starting a new Bible-reading plan, many readers begin enthusiastically in Genesis but then lose momentum when they encounter the Old Testament laws and genealogies. But the Pentateuch—the first five books of the Bible—has much to offer today's Christian; it is the foundation for understanding the rest of the Bible, pointing forward to the coming Savior, Jesus Christ, in profound ways.  In this accessible ebook, Ian J. Vaillancourt offers readers a helpful introduction to the Pentateuch as the essential first act in the Bible's grand story of redemption. The chapters cover the whole of Genesis through Deuteronomy, examining themes such as creation, salvation, genealogies, and biblical covenants. Each chapter concludes with discussion questions, making this ebook a useful resource for individuals or groups who are looking to dive deeper into biblical study. - Ideal for the Thoughtful Christian: Written for those looking for tools on how to read the Bible as Christocentric, such as Bible students and laypeople looking to dive deeper into God's word - Gospel Oriented: Written in light of gospel fulfillment in Christ and current applications for the church - For Individual or Group Study: Each chapter ends in discussion questions, perfect for individuals or groups who are looking to dive deeper into biblical study

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“The Pentateuch seems forbidding and alien to many believers. But Ian Vaillancourt has written a user-friendly introduction to the theology of the Pentateuch that will enable readers to get a big picture of the theology of the first five books of the Bible. He also shows in each chapter how the Pentateuch points forward to and is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Readers will see more clearly how the entire Bible fits together in this fine work.”

Thomas R. Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

“You can’t make sense of a musical if you don’t hear the opening songs; you can’t make sense of a book if you don’t read the opening chapters; you can’t make sense of a trial if you don’t listen to the opening arguments; and in much the same way, you won’t ever make sense of the Bible if you don’t understand the themes of its opening books, the Pentateuch. What my friend Ian does so well in The Dawning of Redemption is introduce the major themes that begin at the beginning and extend all the way to the end. If you’ll read it, you won’t better understand just those five books, but also the sixty-one that follow. You’ll better understand the Pentateuch, to be sure, but also the entire Bible.”

Tim Challies, author, Seasons of Sorrow: The Pain of Loss and the Comfort of God

“An engaging, accessible entry into the five books that launch the story of the Bible. The Dawning of Redemption is sure to mobilize many in the church to dust off ‘Moses’s book’ and see in its pages the opening act of a beautiful story of redemption.”

Andrew Abernethy, Professor of Old Testament, Wheaton College; author, Savoring Scripture

“This wonderful introduction to the first five books of the Bible—the book of Moses—is popular-level, easy to read, and extremely helpful in putting the storyline together so that modern-day readers can appreciate material that seems otherwise irrelevant by today’s standards. I wholeheartedly recommend this little volume to anyone interested in the Bible, whether as beginner or serious student. Readers will be assisted in understanding how these early parts of the Bible point forward to the coming of a redeemer, Jesus Christ.”

Peter J. Gentry, Senior Professor of Old Testament, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Distinguished Visiting Professor of Old Testament and Senior Research Fellow of the Text and Canon Institute, Phoenix Seminary

“Affirming the Pentateuch as Moses’s book and as God’s living word, Vaillancourt shows how the Bible’s initial portrait of redemption foreshadows Christ’s person and saving work. The Dawning of Redemption overviews nine stages in the Bible’s opening story and at every point celebrates Christ as the climax of history, the substance of all shadows, and the bestower of restoration blessings. Vaillancourt rightly recognizes that the Pentateuch is Christian Scripture, and he clearly and faithfully invites new readers into the message of the Bible’s first five books.”

Jason S. DeRouchie, Research Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Theology, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; Content Developer and Global Trainer, Hands to the Plow Ministries

The Dawning of Redemption

The Dawning of Redemption

The Story of the Pentateuch and the Hope of the Gospel

Ian J. Vaillancourt

The Dawning of Redemption: The Story of the Pentateuch and the Hope of the Gospel

Copyright © 2022 by Ian James Vaillancourt

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover Image: Moses Drawing Water from the Rock by Francois Perrier (1590–1650), Wikimedia Commons

Cover Design: Jeff Miller, Faceout Studios

First printing 2022

Printed in the United States of America

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated into any other language.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-8122-9 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-8125-0 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-8123-6 Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-8124-3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Vaillancourt, Ian J., author.

Title: The dawning of redemption : the story of the Pentateuch and the Hope of the Gospel / Ian J. Vaillancourt.

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022006066 (print) | LCCN 2022006067 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433581229 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781433581236 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433581243 (mobipocket) | ISBN 9781433581250 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Bible. Pentateuch--Commentaries. | Redemption—Biblical teaching.

Classification: LCC BS1225.53 .V3355 2022 (print) | LCC BS1225.53 (ebook) | DDC 222/.107—dc23/eng/20220615

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022006066

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022006067

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2022-10-13 04:48:19 PM

To

Caleb James Vaillancourt

and

Emily Karis Vaillancourt

As you continue to diligently seek the Lord, Mom and I pray that our great Redeemer and his glorious gospel would be your greatest life passions.

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Getting Oriented to Moses’s Book of Redemption

1  Creation: The Theater of Redemption

2  Eden: The Promise of Redemption

3  Genealogy: The Lineage of Redemption

4  Covenant: The Guarantee of Redemption

5  Exodus: Redemption Accomplished (and Foreshadowed)

6  Torah: Living as the Redeemed

7  Tabernacle, Priesthood, and Sacrifice: Provisions for the Redeemed

8  Unbelief: Delay for the Redeemed

9  Blessings and Curses: Warning the Redeemed

Conclusion: Take Up and Read!

Bibliography

General Index

Scripture Index

Preface

As a way of getting readers on the same page, we are going to ask and answer four questions before we dive into the word of God. Here they are:

1. What does the word Pentateuch mean?

2. What does YHWH mean, and why does this vowel-free word appear so often in this book?

3. What does torah mean, and why does this italicized word appear so often in this book?

4. Which Bible version does this book primarily employ?

We’ll briefly answer each of these questions in turn.

First, what does the word Pentateuch mean? Do not be embarrassed if you have never heard the word Pentateuch. If you have not, I’m glad you picked this book up, and I hope you read on. Simply put, Pentateuch is a fancy word of Greek origin that refers to the first five books of the Old Testament—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. It’s as simple as that: the Pentateuch is the first five books of the Old Testament.

Second, what does YHWH mean? The personal name for God in the Old Testament is often spelled YHWH and pronounced Yahweh. Although most English Bibles use the title “the Lord” for this Hebrew word, in this book we will use YHWH, except when I am quoting from an English Bible. This will give readers practice: we can make the switch from “the Lord” to “YHWH” in our minds as we encounter Old Testament citations, and hopefully this new habit will spill over to our personal reading of the Old Testament.

Third, what does torah mean? Torah is a Hebrew word that is usually translated “law” in English Bibles. Since this word does not have an exact English equivalent, I will explain the word in the book and use torah or instruction instead of law, except when I am quoting from an English Bible. So when you encounter the word “law” in a direct citation of the Old Testament, I encourage you to supply “torah” or “instruction.” This will help you remember that this Hebrew word means much more than our English word law usually calls to mind.

Fourth, which Bible version does this book primarily employ? Although there are many excellent English translations of the Bible, the essentially literal nature of the ESV is a bit more suited to a study like this one because it will help us notice details in God’s word.

Acknowledgments

This book could not have been written apart from the impact of many teachers, students, editors, friends, and family. When I first described the concept of this book to the editorial team at Crossway, I pointed to the authors who have especially shaped my understanding of the Pentateuch: John H. Sailhamer, Bruce K. Waltke, Stephen G. Dempster, Peter J. Gentry, Graeme Goldsworthy, Sidney Greidanus, T. Desmond Alexander, and L. Michael Morales. My desire was to write a short and understandable book that incorporated insights from these godly and insightful Old Testament scholars. Since beginning this project, I now joyfully add Sandra L. Richter as one who has had a particular shaping influence. Many of the strengths of this book are indebted to these scholars. Any shortcomings are, of course, my own.

This book also took shape through the Pentateuch course I teach at Heritage Theological Seminary in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. The discipline of preparing this course helped to crystalize my thinking on this section of Scripture. Questions from my extremely insightful students over the years have sharpened my thinking in more ways than they know.

This book was also influenced by several discussions with Todd Augustine, director of acquisitions at Crossway. It has been a joy to work with an editor who is passionate about God’s word and who is a relentless encourager of the authors under his care. When the editorial committee at Crossway approved my book proposal and offered me a publishing contract, Todd was not content to email me; he took the time to call so he could share the exciting news more personally. In the editing phase of production, Lydia Brownback helped with little tweaks to wording and lots of encouragement to the author, and these have resulted in a much stronger final manuscript. I am thankful to work with editors and a publisher who view their work as a ministry and who seek to glorify God in it.

As I was writing the initial chapters of this book, several friends took time to read them and provide feedback. These include Jacob and Roseanne Tomc, Brian Vautour, Andrew Hall, Nate and Jillian Amiri, Andrea Thom, and Natalie Vaillancourt. Their helpful feedback at the early stage of writing helped to refine those chapters, and also my approach to the rest of the book. Thank you! In addition, Jacob and Roseanne Tomc, Brian Vautour, Andrew Hall, Greg and Laura Vaillancourt, and Natalie Vaillancourt also read and gave feedback on the full manuscript when an initial draft was completed. My work is much stronger because of their insights. Once again, any shortcomings are my own.

Finally, I continue to praise God for the wonderful family he has blessed me with. Natalie and I are truly a team; the fabric of our lives has been woven together by the Lord, and everything either of us accomplishes is also the product of the other. Apart from the support and love of Natalie, the book you hold in your hands would not exist. I am also thankful for the wonderful teenaged kids we get to love and influence together—Caleb James and Emily Karis are greater blessings than we could have ever imagined. It is to them that this book is dedicated.

Ian J. Vaillancourt

Ancaster, Ontario

Spring 2022

Introduction

Getting Oriented to Moses’s Book of Redemption

The theater lights are dim, and everyone’s attention is fixed on the screen. Those watching are comfortable in their seats and so wrapped up in the story that popcorn sits uneaten on every lap. This is why no one really notices when, fifteen minutes into the action, we tiptoe in. We find a few seats in the back corner and begin to piece the story together. Twenty minutes pass, then thirty, then a full hour, and by the time the theater lights come back on, we have a nagging feeling that we are missing something. Sure, we sort of figured out the story’s high points, but without its essential first part, we could not enjoy the movie the same way as everyone else.

This is a book about the essential first act of the Bible’s story. We’ll learn that if we are Christians who want to understand the gospel better, the Pentateuch is a great place to start. Although this might sound counterintuitive, it’s true. As we go deeper in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, a black-and-white grasp of the Bible’s message will increasingly give way to a vision of the gospel in resplendent color. These foundational books are the entry point into the biblical story that continues through the Old and New Testaments and gloriously concludes in the book of Revelation. Without the Pentateuch, there would be no first act in the grand drama. Apart from this portion of Scripture, we would have no basis for understanding how the world came into existence, our place in relation to the broader world, the reason we are inclined to sin against God and other people, the yearning in our hearts for something more, and the promise of God to intervene on our behalf. And these truths are found in the first three chapters of the Pentateuch.

As the Pentateuch continues, we encounter a God who makes glorious promises of salvation (e.g., Gen. 3:15), who judges those who reject him (e.g., Gen. 6), who guarantees salvation for his people by making covenants (e.g., Gen. 15), who is faithful even when his people are faithless (e.g., Gen. 16), who chooses to work through undeserving and imperfect people (e.g., Gen. 38), and who always works for the ultimate good of his people (e.g., Gen. 50:20). And these truths are found in the first book of the Pentateuch. Over four more books, the Pentateuch reveals more about God and his ways, builds on the biblical story, and sets us up for everything that follows.

Reading the Pentateuch can also be challenging because a lot of its content may seem unfit for contemporary application. In the Pentateuch we read of long lifespans, we find lengthy genealogies, and we encounter an extended description of how to build a tent dwelling for Israel’s God. Although some of the instructions for community living are immediately applicable to our situation (e.g., “You shall not murder,” Ex. 20:13), others seem so far removed from our day that we may ask ourselves why we need to read about them (e.g., laws about a goring ox in Ex. 21:28–32). If we are reading the Pentateuch because of an overriding conviction that Christians should be shaped by the entire Bible, perhaps it is tempting to be disengaged as we read these sections, or worse, to read with a sense of smug superiority over the characters in the drama. Neither of these options seems very edifying.

As the Pentateuch continues, the questions also continue. What are we to make of priests and animal sacrifices (the book of Leviticus)? What about the hesitance of a desert-dwelling nation to engage in a God-ordained holy war (the book of Numbers)? Although the book of Deuteronomy contains some immediately practical content, what are we to make of its instructions about the kind of king to set over Israel (Deut. 17:14–20), or its warnings about being cast out of the land of promise (Deut. 28:15–69)? Do any of these things have bearing on our twenty-first-century lives?

The best preparation to dig deeply in any section of the Bible is to gain a sense of the big picture. That is the purpose of this book: to give a big-picture sense of the story so readers will be equipped to dig into its details on their own. The Bible—from Genesis to Revelation—tells the story of a God who created the world with humanity as its crowning climax, of a people who chose to rebel against their Creator, and of a God who responded with a promise to rescue his creation. Since the stories of creation and the fall into sin are told in the first three chapters of Genesis, we can say that the rest of the Bible—from Genesis 3:15 to the end of Revelation—tells the story of God’s rescue of rebels. The technical term for this rescue is redemption, and a little later in this introduction I will explain this word in more detail.

So the Bible tells the story of God’s rescue of rebels—his redemption of sinners. In this book on the Pentateuch, we are going to help our understanding along by seeing this portion of Scripture as the first act in the Bible’s grand story of redemption. Instead of focusing on minute details as a commentary would, we are going to get a sense of the whole—of the dawning of redemption as it unfolds in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. We will do this by unpacking nine key elements in the Pentateuch’s storyline of redemption. As we understand these central concepts, we will be better equipped to read the details of these books on our own because we will be able to relate them to the larger story.

Before we dive into the nine themes of redemption, we will spend the rest of this introduction getting better oriented to the Pentateuch. We will think about the Pentateuch as a beautifully written historical document that is, first and foremost, the precious word of God. We will also think about the Pentateuch as authored by Moses, who wrote five books and one book at the same time. Next, we will gain a better understanding of the word redemption before we lay out a road map for the rest of this book. Finally, the introduction will conclude the same way every chapter will: by looking forward from the Pentateuch to Christ and by providing some discussion questions so you or your group can think through the material a little more.

The Pentateuch Is the Precious Word of God

Let’s begin by imagining Moses: an eighty-year-old man from a nation of slaves had entered the most powerful throne room of his day. He was there with his spokesman brother to confront Pharaoh, the leader who had enslaved the Jews. Over the course of Moses’s bold demands and ten horrendous plagues sent by his God, the Israelites were set free. Then when Pharaoh had second thoughts and pursued them with his army, YHWH caused the Red Sea to divide so that his people could pass through on dry land before those same walls of water engulfed their pursuers. What a scene! As we picture it, we might even feel as though we are missing out, as though our experience of God would be stronger if only we had been there to witness even some of these events.

Although I agree that it would have been awesome to witness these events as they unfolded, we need to correct a false assumption that is easy to make: we are not less blessed than the people who witnessed them firsthand. Our vision of God is not compromised because approximately thirty-five hundred years have elapsed since these events or because they come to us in a book instead of firsthand seeing and hearing. In fact—and this may surprise some readers—we have something better than having been there: we have the Pentateuch.1 We have the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. What I am suggesting is this: the leather-bound Bible on our nightstand, the Bible app on our phone, or the inexpensive newsprint Bible we read over lunch at the office is even better than having been there. Having the Bible is better than being a firsthand eyewitness to the events recorded in the Bible. Being an eyewitness to these events would have been incredible, but if we had to choose, it would be better to have the Bible than an eyewitness experience. Why? Although the Bible is historically accurate and beautifully written, it is first and foremost the precious word of God. Let’s unpack that a little more.

Evangelical Christians rightly value the Bible as historically accurate. For this reason, scholars have served Christians well by painting a picture of life in the ancient world.2 Archaeologists have excavated the ruins of ancient cities and given us a better sense of the world that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob inhabited. Ancient scrolls—not just of biblical texts, but from Israel’s neighbors—have given us a better picture of the belief system of the Egyptians and the Canaanites, the Amalekites and the Jebusites, and many other ancient peoples. Since the Bible is historically accurate, a study of the history of Israel and her neighbors can provide insights on the biblical text. The Bible is history.

Evangelical Christians also rightly value the Bible as well-written literature. Since the biblical books were written and assembled with care, the way the material is presented is worth studying. For this reason, scholars have served Christians well as they have described the literary forms of the biblical books.3 Studies of characterization and literary conventions have provided great insights into the biblical stories. The Bible is literature.

Evangelical Christians also rightly value the Bible as the precious word of God. Although human authors were used, and although their personalities, writing styles, and research are evident in the biblical books, the Bible is “living and active” and “breathed out by God” (2 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 4:12). This means that the Bible is the God-inspired interpretation of the events that it records. As such, the Bible is the revelation of what God was doing in the midst of these historical events. The Bible focuses our attention on God—who he is and how he relates to his creation. More than merely recording what happened in history, and more than merely giving us a beautiful piece of literature, the Bible reveals God. It is theology. The Bible is the precious word of God.

This also means that the Bible is selective in what it records and focused on its primary objective: to make people “wise for salvation” (2 Tim. 3:15). As a selectively written book, it does not tell us everything about everything, nor does it intend to: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deut. 29:29). The Bible does not tell us whether snakes had legs before the fall into sin or what Moses had for breakfast before he confronted Pharaoh. This means that it will leave many questions unanswered. But the Bible is the precious revelation about the most important answers to life’s most important questions. In particular, the Bible reveals God in a way that will lead us to an eternal, glorious, all-satisfying relationship with him.

Do you see why we can claim that we have something better than having been there? In the Pentateuch we have the Holy Spirit–inspired, living and active, God-breathed interpretation of the events as they occurred in history, with a focus on who God is and how we can be in right relationship with him. In these important ways, we have something that the firsthand eyewitnesses did not have!

The Pentateuch Is the Book of Moses

Since the Pentateuch is a precious treasure, what can we learn about its human author and its makeup? At this stage we can notice what the Bible itself asserts: Moses wrote the Pentateuch, and he wrote a unified book.

Moses Was the Greatest Old Testament Prophet

In the context of the horrible slavery of God’s people, in Exodus 2 we meet a baby named Moses. Although Egypt’s leader had ordered the Israelite children to be thrown into the Nile River to drown, Moses’s mother placed him in a waterworthy basket of reeds and set him off on the water. Although every mother would be horrified by this scene, the Hebrew word used for that little basket is significant: it was a teva.Teva is a Hebrew word used to describe only two things in the entire Old Testament, and both of them were seaworthy vessels. The first was Noah’s ark, and the second was this basket made for baby Moses.

While this is not plain when we read the Bible in English translations, for the first (Hebrew) readers of the book of Exodus, this word link would have been noticeable and clear. It would have served as a signal that Moses was going to be special. Just as YHWH had raised up and protected Noah from the raging waters by means of an ark, could it be that YHWH was about to do the same with this baby named Moses? The miraculous rescue of Moses by Pharaoh’s daughter and the irony that Moses’s mom was paid to nurse him only confirm our suspicions: he was going to be special. In fact, readers who know the end of the story will spot another irony: the one who would ultimately conquer Pharaoh and Egypt was earlier rescued from infanticide by the daughter of Pharaoh. So for the first forty years of Moses’s life, he was raised in the house of Pharaoh, with all of its benefits. These would have included an elite education, which would have equipped Moses for a writing project he would take up many years later—the Pentateuch!4

The rest of Moses’s life can be summarized more briefly. When he was forty he murdered an Egyptian man whose body he hid in the sand. When he was confronted about this by an Israelite, he realized that he would be found out, so he was forced to flee for his life. As D. L. Moody put it, “Moses spent forty years thinking he was somebody; forty years learning he was nobody; and forty years discovering what God can do with a nobody.”5 Over this second set of forty years—of learning in the wilderness that he was a nobody—Moses married a priest’s daughter, had children, encountered YHWH in the burning bush, received a call by YHWH to go back to Egypt in order to bring Israel out, obeyed that call, confronted Pharaoh with ten plagues, and led Israel out of Egypt. Then over the third set of forty years, Moses received the instruction (Hebrew, torah) of YHWH on Mount Sinai, oversaw the construction of a tent in which YHWH would dwell among his people, frequently met with YHWH in this “tent of meeting,” led a stubborn people, prepared those people to enter the promised land after a forty-year hiatus in the wilderness, wrote the Pentateuch, and died on a mountain in view of (but outside) the promised land.

After recording Moses’s death, the book of Deuteronomy concludes with three verses of reflection (as you read this quote, remember that this English translation supplies the title “the Lord” for the Hebrew name YHWH):6

There has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel. (Deut. 34:10–12)

This was a look back from some distance. Along with the account of Moses’s death earlier in the same chapter, this material was added under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by an unnamed author. And the point is this: none of the other Old Testament prophets had measured up to Moses. YHWH knew Moses face-to-face. Moses accomplished greater signs and wonders and mighty power and great deeds. If the bulk of the Pentateuch was written by Moses—excluding, for example, his death notice and this word about his superiority as a prophet—this means we should read it with great interest. Not only is the Pentateuch the product of a great man of God; it is also the product of Moses, the greatest prophet in the entire Old Testament.

Moses Was Author of This Book

J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is my favorite work of fiction. As we examine its contents, we can notice that it is one book and three books and six books all at the same time. Are you confused yet? The Fellowship of the Rings includes books 1 and 2 of the larger story, and it was first published in 1954. The Two Towers followed later the same year, making up books 3 and 4 of the larger story. Finally, The Return of the King was released in 1955, and it concluded the series with books 5 and 6. The Lord of the Rings is six books. It is three books. And it is one book. Each of the six books forms an essential part of the story, but each also relates to the one coherent larger story.

Even those who are casually familiar with the Bible may be aware that it identifies Moses as the author of its first five books. For example, Jesus referred to “Moses and all the Prophets” (Luke 24:27; cf. 16:31). To understand what he meant, we need to recognize that the Hebrew Old Testament has a different order of books from our English translations. In line with our English translations, the first section of the Hebrew Old Testament is made up of the first five books—what Jews call “the Torah,” and what most Christians call “the Pentateuch.” Unlike our English translations, the second section of the Hebrew Old Testament is called “the Prophets,” and is made up of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve (Minor Prophets). This means that when Jesus referred to “Moses and the Prophets,” he was speaking about the first two-thirds of the Old Testament. For our purposes, we can notice that Jesus was claiming Moses as the author of the Bible’s first five books.

There is another important way the rest of the Bible refers to the Pentateuch. On the one hand, these books are “Moses,” or “Torah,” but on the other hand, I invite you to read the following passages and see if you can spot another, related title:

And they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their divisions, for the service of God at Jerusalem, as it is written in the Book of Moses. (Ezra 6:18)

On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people. And in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God. (Neh. 13:1)

But he did not put their children to death, according to what is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where the Lord commanded, “Fathers shall not die because of their children, nor children die because of their fathers, but each one shall die for his own sin.” (2 Chron. 25:4)

And they set aside the burnt offerings that they might distribute them according to the groupings of the fathers’ houses of the lay people, to offer to the Lord, as it is written in the Book of Moses. And so they did with the bulls. (2 Chron. 35:12)

And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”? (Mark 12:26)

Did you see it? In each case, the Bible—including Jesus in the Gospel of Mark—refers to the Pentateuch as “the Book of Moses.” And did you notice that the word “Book” is singular? There is a very real sense that the Pentateuch consists of five distinct books with their own unique features. But there is also a sense in which the Pentateuch is a book, a coherent work with a single storyline.7

Think of the way the story of Genesis ends where the book of Exodus picks up, and also the way the larger storyline and themes of each book build on the developing narrative. The Pentateuch is “the book of Moses.” Like The Lord of the Rings, it is meant to be read as a coherent whole.

As our book on the Pentateuch unfolds, we are going to practice this as we read each part in relation to the larger story. Just to whet our appetite, think for a moment about creation. Although debates about Genesis 1 and 2 abound, John Sailhamer has cautioned that instead of first asking “How do these chapters relate to the theory of evolution?” we should primarily ask, “What is the significance of these chapters as the introduction to the Pentateuch?”8 This is a different question than most people bring to these chapters, but it is the most important question we can ask if we are going to interpret them as they were meant to be read—in relation to the rest of the story.9 We will have to wait until chapter 1 of this book to unpack Sailhamer’s answer, but for now we can conclude that since the Pentateuch is meant to be approached as a book, each part should be read in light of the whole.

The Pentateuch Is the Book of Redemption

We have seen that the Pentateuch is the precious word of God, written by the greatest prophet in the entire Old Testament, and that it is made up of five books with one unified story. We have also noticed that the bulk of the biblical story—from Genesis 3:15 to the end of Revelation—is a record of God’s work of redemption. Since the Pentateuch is the first act in this epic of redemption, and since each of our nine chapters will focus on a theme from the Pentateuch in relation to this larger story, it is important that we understand what the word redemption means. For some readers, redemption may seem vaguely familiar but difficult to define with precision. For others, it may look like a fancy word that is completely unfamiliar. If we lived in Bible times, however, everyone would have understood this word because it was commonly used in regular life.

In the ancient world, redemption was not associated first with religion. In the context of the ordinary, redemption referred to “the rescue of an individual from a difficult obligation by means of a monetary payment.”10 It should not surprise us that ours is not the only age in which people sometimes “get in over their heads” and can’t make payments they had committed to or uphold their end of an obligation they had promised to carry out. In the twenty-first-century Western world, this can result in a bank foreclosing on a person’s mortgage or even jail time for a person who fails to follow through on an obligation. In the ancient world, getting in this bind could have resulted in various outcomes, including the loss of property or indentured servitude (i.e., an agreement that binds one person to be the servant of another). And the only hope for such an impoverished person was redemption.

To avoid getting bogged down by listing every situation in which this word could be used, we name just a few here. In the Old Testament we find examples of the closest family member stepping in to redeem a person in desperate circumstances (e.g., Ruth 3:12–13). We see the redemption of land and houses (e.g., Lev. 25:25), the redemption of people whose financial obligations led them to sell themselves into indentured servitude (e.g., Lev. 25:47–55), and the redemption of a wife whose husband had died and left her without the means of supporting herself financially (e.g., Deut. 25:5–10, Ruth).11

If the everyday meaning of redemption in the ancient world involved the rescue of a person out of a situation over which they were powerless, it is fitting that the biblical authors also used this word to describe the way God works for his people. And the exodus from Egypt is the favored Old Testament paradigm for this type of redemption. Since we are going to spend an entire chapter on this awesome event, for now we can simply observe that in the book of Exodus, God redeemed Israel from their slavery in Egypt in order to make them his special people (see Ex. 6:6–7). The entire nation of God’s people were helpless slaves, and YHWH came to redeem them out of slavery and to himself—it was a physical and a spiritual rescue. Then in the New Testament, the word redemption is used to describe God’s work of delivering his people from spiritual bondage and to himself. This was accomplished by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.12

The everyday meaning of redemption in the ancient world involved the rescue of the desperate. In the Old Testament this type of redemption was the responsibility of one’s closest relative. Therefore, it makes wonderful sense that the biblical authors presented God’s work of salvation from Genesis to Revelation as a grand story of redemption. Sandra L. Richter has put it beautifully: