Pentatuech Study 3

The third address in a series on the Pentateuch.



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The Pentateuch: its meaning, message and application

Week 3 – Introduction to the Pentateuch and Genesis 1-11

I. Introduction to the Pentateuch
a. Authorship
i. Fundamental Mosaic authorship with possible minor Hebrew revisions (Gen. 14:14; 36:31; Deut. 34)
1. Proven by Moses as the lawgiver in the OT
2. The NT testimony (Mt. 19:8; Mk. 10:5; Luke 24:27)
3. Literary evaluation of the text itself
ii. “…under divine inspiration, there may have been later minor additions and even revisions. Substantially and essentially, however, it is the product of Moses.” - Young
b. Composition
i. Things taken from oral sources
ii. Things taken from written sources
1. Book of the Covenant (Gen. 24:7)
2. Book of the Wars of the Lord (Num.21:14)
3. Book of the Law
c. Date
i. Sometime around 1440 BC
ii. Must have been sometime between the call of Moses (Ex. 3:1 – 4:31) and the death of Moses (Deut. 34:5)
iii. Written to the second-generation Israelites as they were about to enter the land of Canaan to encourage them to follow God’s calling and trust in His promises
II. Introduction to Genesis
a. Purpose – to encourage the second-generation Israelites to see and long for the kingdom paradigm enough to head into the promised land
i. Original meaning: Israel should leave Egypt behind and move toward the land of promise because God is full of grace and keeps His promises as He did in the past
ii. New Testament meaning/application: The new Israel (the Church) should leave this world behind and move toward the new world because God is full of grace and has fulfilled His promises in Christ.
b. Hermeneutical principle – Framework of grace and covenant faithfulness along with the kingdom paradigm governs our understanding of the law
c. Outline
i. Gen. 1-11:9 – Primeval history
ii. Gen. 11:10 – 37:1 – Early Patriarchal Times
iii. Gen. 37:2 – 50:26 – Joseph’s Times
III. Genesis 1-11
a. The kingdom pattern established in Eden (Gen. 1-2)
i. Creation (generation) of the kingdom of God
b. The perished and promised kingdom (Gen. 3)
i. Fall (degeneration) of the kingdom of God
a. The promise fulfilled through the godly line in Noah (Gen. 4-11)
i. Election of a people to work out His promises
ii. Re-creation and promise through judgment (a new start)
iii. The two lines, one godly (promised) the other ungodly