Making Sense of the Old Testament - Article Example

Running Head: MAKING SENSE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT (Name) (Institution) Introduction According to Gerald (1968) “The Pentateuch, or Torah, is the charter document of Israel's covenant faith, the foundation of Scripture and the key to understanding the biblical story Since the themes that are first struck in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy resonate throughout the Bible”. According to Malick (2005) “These books contain a chronological and theological progression” In the Pentateuch the lines between an individual book and the other marks a change in the direction of the materials. Gerald (1968) noted that “the stories of the patriarchs end at the end of Genesis (Genesis 50:1), while the story of the Israel’s people s”. He further noted that “in (Exodus1:1) the separation between Exodus and Leviticus indicates the change from the construction of the tabernacle in (Exodus 35-40) to the induction of worship (Leviticus 1-10). Numbers starts with preparation for leaving Sinai. Finally Deuteronomy begins the speech of Moses (Deuteronomy 1:1)” Themes There are many themes that are discussed through out the Pentateuch, for instance Malick (2005) indicates that “God as the creator is the first theme that is highlighted in the first two chapters in Genesis i.e. (Genesis 1-2). The theme on the beginning of sin follows there after (Genesis 3:1). Increase of the sin, world population, and finally the ruling of God over the world is discussed in (Genesis 4-11)” Malick (2005) further highlights that “The themes on faith, promise, election, covenant, and divine intervention are discussed from Genesis (12–50)”.He further noted that (Exodus 1-18) talks of divine deliverance while(Exodus 19-24) discusses the theme of Covenant and law. The themes on worship and social ethics are highlighted in (Exodus 25:1- Numbers 10:10). (Numbers 10-21) brings in the theme of leaderships of a disobedient people through the wilderness, while arrangements for going to Jordan and conquering Canaan are the last two themes that are discussed (Numbers 22:1-Deuteronomy 34:1)” Differing understanding Major problems of the Old Testament are the authorship and dating of the Pentateuch According to Gordon (2003) “the different sources for the Pentateuch is not a problem, the issue is the lack of consistency” He also noted that “the reason as to which the question of date and authorship of the Pentateuch is difficult to answer is that the books themselves are unspecified”. As a result many theories and modifications of older theories have arisen in the twentieth century in attempt to solve these mysteries. The themes and authorship of the Pentateuch have being understood differently by different readers for instance, “the oldest model of Pentateuchal study presumes the Mosaic authorship of almost the whole of the text ranging from Genesis to Deuteronomy” .According to Gerald (1968) “Moses was the main author of almost all the books as well as the receiver of all the laws discussed from Exodus to Numbers, Moses was viewed as the preacher of Deuteronomy”. For instance (Deuteronomy 31:24) states that Moses wrote “the words of this law in a book, to the very end” So generations of readers from pre-Christian times to the 19th century concluded that Moses was the author of the Pentateuch. However, all the studies that have been undertaken shows that “part of the problem lies in the fact that at no point in the Pentateuch is it stipulated that Moses is the author, certain portions are said to be by Moses, but not the total writing”. On the other hand, there is good evidence that Moses could not have been the author, for example (Gerald, 1968) shows that “In Gen. 14:14, Abram is believed to have led a crowd of men in to the city of Dan, but this is contradicted elsewhere in the Pentateuch where it is stated that this city did not exist until the time of the Judges (Judg. 18:29), the time of judges is believed to have come long after Moses' time”. According to (Gerald, 1968) the invasion by the Gileadites in Havvothjair happened in the time of the Judges (Judg. 10:3-4), although this appears in the Pentateuch (Num. 32:41; Dent. 3:14)”. Gerald (1968) further noted that “ it had been suggested that whoever wrote certain parts of the Pentateuch was in Palestine, yet Palestine happens to be a territory which had not been entered during Moses’ time (Gen. 50:10, Num. 35:14)”. He further indicates that “(Deut. 1:1, 5, 3:8, 4:46) talks of places which are situated ‘beyond the Jordan’, which can be interpreted to mean the east side of the Jordan thus outside Palestine”. (Gerald, 1968) insisted that “such a report could only be voiced by someone on the western side of the Jordan River, since Moses did not enter that land (Deut. 34)”. According to Gordon (1996) “laws consist of only a small percentage of the Pentateuch, even though the Pentateuch is often referred to as ‘Torah’ or ‘law’, thus leaving a room for doubt”. He further pointed out that these laws, for example, “the Sinai-pericope and Deuteronomy make up to 68.5%of the total text of the Pentateuch”. Various scholars also have variations understanding the aim of the law as presented in the Pentateuch, “many assume that these laws were meant to guide Moses on how to live his life, since the Sinai covenant shows how well Moses carried out his calling” .However some insists that “those laws were put in Pentateuch not only to show how Moses lived under those laws but also to serve as guidance on how the daily reader should live as well”. According to Leveen (2002) “Numbers makes memory’s dependability and limitations, a major focal point of concern, nevertheless, in Pentateuch two opposing views surface showing that Biblical memory is a stabilizing force which united the people in a discordant association with God under pastoral leadership. However memory’s imprecision is highlighted as a serious menace to the continuing life of the nation”. Leveen (2002) continues to say that “these diverse conceptions can be observed in two different periscopes (Numbers 10 and 11)”. In his analysis he points out that “the effects of the combination of these separate materials results in a more complex understanding of memory’s’ limitations and its usefulness”. According to Gerald (1968) “most readers are very inquisitive about who the narrator of the Pentateuch is, but the text never leads us to think about the narrator as an object of our focus unlike the case of texts of the prophets”. This make it hard to understand Pentateuch since the life history of the author, his background, his motives, his reaction do help in shedding some light to the reader. Gordon (1996) feels that “differing conceptions of the Pentateuch has brought about difficulties in understanding the bible especially the first five books since it is very clear that there is an extent of repetitions, contradictions and relic thus one is left wondering how best to explain those variations”. Gordon (1996) further shows that “in (Gen. 15:5) Abraham is promised many offspring, a thing that has been repeated in (Gen. 17:2). In Gen. (12:11-20) Sarah pretends to be the Abraham’s sister yet this same story appears slightly different in (Gen. 20:1-18), the same story is repeated with Isaac and Rebecca as central actors in (Gen. 26:6-11)”. References Christopher, Living as the People of God (Leicester:Inter varsity Press,1983) Drane, John, Introducing the Old testament (Oxford:Lion Publishing,1987) Gerald A. Old Testament Life and Literature :analysis of Pentateuch, 1968. Accessed from on 5th Jan, 2008 Gordon W. Exploring the Old Testament: The Pentateuch, London 2003 accessed from Ibid. Pentateuchal Studies Today, October 1996 .Accessed on 5th Jan, 2008 from Kitchen ,Kenneth A.,On the Realiability of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eedmans, 2003). Leveen B. Variations on a Theme: Differing Conceptions of Memory in the Book of Numbers :Vol. 27, No. 2, 201-221 (2002) Malick D. Introduction to Pentateuch. Accessed on 5th Jan,2008 from Smith R.Holman Bible Dictionary.Accessed on 5th Jan, 2008 from Read More