THE PENTATEUCH
GENESIS
The word "genesis" signifies "generation" or "origin" and comes from the Greek translation of Genesis 2:4. It is an appropriate title for the first book of the Bible, which contains the record of the origin of the universe, the human race, family life, nations, sin redemption, etc. The first 11 chapters, which deal with primeval or pre-Patriarchal times, present the antecedents of Hebrew history from Adam to Abraham. The remaining chapters (12 - 50) are concerned with God’s dealings with the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Jacob’s son Joseph, all "fathers" of the people whom God has chosen to carry out His plan for the redemption of mankind. The book closes with these "Chosen People" in Egypt.
EXODUS
The name means "going out" or departure". While it refers to one of the most important events of the book, the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, other highly significant events are also found here, such as the oppression of the Chosen People in Egypt, the flight and call of Moses, and God’s covenant with the nation Israel at Sinai - an experience climaxed by His giving of the moral law (Ten Commandments) through Moses to the people. A code of secular laws is also included, and the latter part of the book contains an elaborate description of the sacred Ark of the Covenant and its ten (tabernacle), God’s place of dwelling among His people.
LEVITICUS
This book was so named because it treats of laws of service and worship of special importance to the Tribe of Levi. It has been aptly called "the Handbook of the Priests". Many basic precepts of the New Testament are foreshadowed in this book, such as the seriousness of sin in God’s sight, the necessity of atonement for sin, the holiness of God, and the necessity of a mediator between God and man.
NUMBERS
The name of this book originated from the two numberings of the people related in it: the first at Sinai in the second year of the Exodus and another on the plains of Moab opposite Jericho in the 40th year. A better title is the one give by the Hebrew themselves, Bemidhbar ("In the Wilderness"), for it describes the locale of the major events of the book. In all these events, the writer sees the guiding hand of God, sustaining, delivering, and keeping covenant with His people, as He prepares them for entrance into the land promised first to Abraham (Gen. 12:1ff).
DEUTERONOMY
The final book of the Pentateuch derives its English name from the Greek work deuteronomion, meaning the "second law", or the "law repeated". Deuteronomy is essentially Moses’ farewell address(es) to a new generation in which he summons them to hear the law of God, to be instructed in the application of its principles to the new circumstances awaiting them, and to renew intelligently the covenant God had made with their fathers - a covenant that must be faithfully observed as the condition of God’s blessings upon them in the Promised Land.
