Vida NT Pentateuco Pablo Hoff Chapter 1 - Genesis

Vida Introducción to Pentateuco

  • This book is the result of courses on the Pentateuch that the author prepared to teach in night schools and extension courses.
  • The author wishes this book to be a great blessing to its readers, stimulating them to seek a deeper knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, and providing them with rich spiritual nourishment for their lives.
  • In order to make the most of these studies, the reader should read the lessons in the book, always consulting what the Bible tells him.

Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Bible and the Pentateuco

A. The Bible

  • The conclusive proof of divine love is found in the fact that God revealed Himself to man and that this revelation was recorded in the Bible.
  • Born in the Orient, and clothed in typically Oriental language, symbolism, and ways of thinking, the Bible nevertheless has a message for all mankind, whatever the race, culture, or ability of the person.
  • It contrasts with the books of other religions in that it does not narrate a divine manifestation to a single man, but a progressive revelation rooted in the long history of a people.
  • God revealed Himself in certain moments of human history.
  • C.O. Gillis: "You cannot understand true religion… without understanding the historical background in which these spiritual truths have come to us."
  • The Bible is a library of 66 books written by some 40 authors over 1,500 years, and yet a single theme develops in it, which unites all the parts, THE REDEMPTION of MAN.
  • The theme is divided as follows:
    • The Old Testament: the preparation of the Redeemer.
    • The Gospels: the manifestation of the Redeemer.
    • The Acts: the proclamation of the message of the Redeemer.
    • The Epistles: the explanation of the work of the Redeemer.
    • The Apocalypse: the consummation of the Redeemer.
  • More than three-quarters of the Bible corresponds to the Old Testament.
  • With the exception of the first eleven chapters of Genesis, the book of Job, and certain parts of the prophets, the Old Testament is dedicated to God's dealings with the chosen race.
  • God chose the Hebrew people with three purposes: to be the repository of his Word; to be the witness of the only true God to the nations; and for the Redeemer to come through him.
  • The Old Testament is divided according to its content:
    • The Pentateuch or law: Genesis to Deuteronomy - 5 books
    • History: Joshua to Esther - 12 books
    • Poetry: Job to Song of Songs - 5 books
    • Prophecy: Isaiah to Malachi - 17 books

B. The Pentateuch

1. Name
  • The name Pentateuch comes from the Greek Version that dates back to the 3rd century BC. It means: "the book in five volumes."
  • The Jews called it "the law" or "the law of Moses", because the legislation of Moses forms an important part of it.
2. Author
  • Although the Pentateuch itself does not clearly state that it was written in its entirety by Moses, other books of the Old Testament cite it as his work.
  • (Jos. 1:7-8; 23:6; 1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 14:6; Ezra 3:2; 6:18; Neh. 8:1; Dan. 9:11-13).
  • Certain very important parts of the Pentateuch are assigned to him (Ex. 17:14; 24:3-7; Deut. 31:24-26).
  • The writers of the New Testament agree exactly with the testimony of those of the Old. They speak of the five books in general as "the law of Moses" (Acts 13:39; 15:5; Heb. 10:28).
  • For them, "reading Moses" is equivalent to reading the Pentateuch (see 2 Cor. 3:15: "When Moses is read, the veil is placed over their hearts").
  • Finally, the words of Jesus himself testify that Moses is the author: "If ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me" (John 5:46; see also Matthew 8:4; 19:8; Mark 7:10; Luke 16:31; 24:27, 44).
  • Moses, more than any other man, had the preparation, experience, and genius that enabled him to write the Pentateuch.
  • Since he was raised in the palace of the pharaohs, he was educated "in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; and was powerful in his words and deeds" (Acts 7:22).
  • He was an eyewitness to the events of the exodus, and the pilgrimage in the desert. He maintained the most intimate communion with God and received special revelations.
  • As a Hebrew, Moses had access to the genealogies and oral and written traditions of his people, and during the long years of Israel's pilgrimage, he had the time necessary to meditate and write.
  • And above all, he had remarkable gifts and an extraordinary genius, of which his role as leader, legislator, and prophet testifies.
3. The documentary theory of Higher Criticism
  • Two centuries ago, scholars of rationalist tendency questioned the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch.
  • They developed the Documentary Theory of Higher Criticism, which considers the first five books of the Bible to be a compilation of documents drafted mostly in the period of Esdras (444 BC).
  • According to them, the oldest document found in the Pentateuch dates from the time of Solomon. They consider Deuteronomy to be a "pious fraud" written by the priests in the reign of Josiah in order to promote a revival; and that Genesis consists mostly of national legends of Israel.
  • Many conservative scholars believe that it is likely that Moses used genealogies and written traditions when writing the book of Genesis (Moses specifically mentions "the book of the generations of Adam", in Genesis 5:1).
  • Guillermo Ross observes that the personal tone we find in Abraham's prayer for Sodom, in the account of the sacrifice to Isaac, and in Joseph's words when he revealed himself to his brothers "is precisely what we would expect, if Moses’ book had been based on some earlier biographical notes".
  • Probably, such valuable memoirs were transmitted from one generation to another from very remote times. We should not be surprised that God may have guided Moses to incorporate such documents into his writings. They would be equally inspired and authentic.
  • It is also remarkable that there are some additions and insignificant touches to archaic words, made to the original work of Moses.
  • It is universally recognized that the account of Moses’ death (Deut. 34) was written by another person (the Talmud, book of the rabbis, assigns it to Joshua). Genesis 36:31 indicates that there was a king in Israel, something that did not exist in the time of Moses. In Genesis 14:14 the ancient city of "Lais" is called "Dan", a name that was given to it after the conquest. This can be attributed to explanatory notes, or changes of archaic geographical names, which were introduced to make the account clearer. Probably, they were added by the copyists of the Scriptures, or by some character (such as the prophet Samuel). However, these touches would not be of much importance nor would they affect the integrity of the text. Thus, both the internal and external evidence that Moses wrote the Pentateuch is overwhelming. Many passages contain phrases, names, and customs from Egypt that indicate that the author had personal knowledge of its culture and geography, something that another writer in Canaan, several centuries after Moses, would hardly have.
  • For example, consider the Egyptian names: Potiphar (gift of the sun god Ra), Zaphnath-paneah (God speaks; he lives), Asenath (belongs to the goddess Neit) and On, ancient name of Heliopolis (Gen. 37:36; 41:45, 50).
  • Let us also note that the author mentions even the wooden and stone vessels that the Egyptians used to store the water they drew from the Nile River.
  • The famous archaeologist W. F. Albright says that in Exodus so many archaic details are found in correct form that it would be unsustainable to attribute them to later inventions.
  • Also, from the references made in relation to certain materials of the tabernacle, we deduce that the author knew the Sinai Peninsula.
  • For example, badger skins refer, according to certain scholars, to the skins of an animal from the Red Sea region; the "aromatic nail", used as an ingredient of incense (Deut. 30:34), was from the shell of a conch from the same region.
  • Evidently the passages were written by someone who knew the route of Israel's pilgrimage, rather than by a writer in Babylonian captivity, or in the restoration, centuries later.
  • Similarly, conservatives point out that Deuteronomy was written in the period of Moses. The author's point of reference in the book is that of a person who has not yet entered Canaan. The way it is written is that of the treaties between the lords and their vassals of the Middle East in the second millennium BC. Therefore, we are surprised that Higher Criticism has dated these books some seven hundred or a thousand years later.
  • Archaeology also confirms that many of the events in the book of Genesis are really historical. For example, the details of the taking of Sodom, described in Genesis 14, correspond with astonishing accuracy to what archaeologists have discovered.
  • (This includes: the names of the four kings, the movement of the peoples, and the route taken by the invaders, called "the royal road". After the year 1,200 BC, the condition of the region changed radically, and this caravan route was no longer used.)
  • The archaeologist Albright declared that some of the details of chapter 14 take us back to the Bronze Age (middle period) (between 2,100 and 1,560 BC).
  • It is not very likely that a writer living centuries later would have known these details.
  • Moreover, in the ruins of Mari (on the Euphrates River) and Nuzu (on a tributary of the Tigris River), clay tablets from the time of the patriarchs have been found. They describe laws and customs, such as those that allowed a man without children to give his inheritance to a faithful slave (Gen.
  • 15:3), and a sterile woman to give her maidservant to her husband to leave offspring (Gen. 16:2).
  • Similarly, the tables contain names equivalent or similar to those of Abraham, Nahor, Benjamin, and many others. Thus, such evidence refutes the theory of Higher Criticism, that the book of Genesis is a collection of myths and legends from the first millennium BC. Archaeology increasingly demonstrates that the Pentateuch presents accurate historical details, and that it was written in the time of Moses. Is there reason to doubt that the great leader of the Exodus was its author?
4. Environment of the biblical world
  • When Abraham arrived in Palestine, it was already an important bridge between the cultural and political centers of that time.
  • To the north was the Hittite empire; to the southwest, Egypt; to the east and south, Babylon; and to the northeast, the Assyrian empire.
  • That is, the Israelites were located in a strategic and not isolated place geographically from the great civilizations.
  • Most historians consider the plain of Shinar, located between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, to be the cradle of the first important civilization, called Sumer.
  • By 2,800 BC, the Sumerians had already built flourishing cities and organized the government into city-states.
  • They had also used metals and perfected a writing system called cuneiform.
  • Around the same time, a brilliant civilization was developing in Egypt.
  • It is probable that when Abraham traveled to Egypt, he saw pyramids that would be more than 500 years old.
  • The region where the first civilization developed is called "the fertile crescent" (because of the shape of the territory it encompasses). It extends in a semi-circular shape between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea, to the south of Palestine. The territory is constantly watered by rains and abundant rivers, such as the Euphrates, Tigris, Nile, and Orontes, which makes productive agriculture possible. In the interior of this region is the Arabian desert, where there is little rain and little population. There, in the fertile crescent, arose the great empires of the Amorites, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, and the Persians. But, most important for us is that there lived the chosen people of God and that Man who would be the Saviour of the world was born.
  • The entire region between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers is called Mesopotamia (meso: between; potamos: river).
  • At first, the plain of Shinar was called "Chaldea", from the city of Babylon to the south to the Persian Gulf; but later the term "Chaldea" was used to designate the entire region of Mesopotamia (the same area was also called Babylonia).
  • It encompassed much of the territory of present-day Iraq, and was probably the site of the Garden of Eden, and the Tower of Babel.
  • The land of Palestine is relatively small. From Dan to Beersheba, the extreme points in the north and south respectively, there is a distance of only about 250 km. The territory is from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea, 90 km wide; and the Sea of Galilee is approximately 50 km from the Mediterranean Sea.
  • The total area of Canaan is equivalent in size to one-seventh of Uruguay or one-third of Panama.
  • But in this small portion of the globe, God revealed himself to the people of Israel, and there the eternal Word dwelt among men and carried out redemption for all mankind.

Chapter 2 - Genesis

1. Name:
  • The name Genesis comes from the Septuagint (Version of the Seventy), an ancient Greek version. It means "principle", "origin" or "birth".
  • The Hebrews called it "In the beginning", since they designated the books of the law according to their first word or phrase.
2. Purpose:
  • a) the book of Genesis is the introduction to the entire Bible. It is the book of principles, since it narrates the principles of creation, of man, of sin, of redemption, and of the chosen race. It has been called "the seedbed of the Bible" because in it are the seeds of all the great doctrines. According to Gillis, without Genesis the Bible "is not only incomplete, but incomprehensible."
  • Although Genesis is closely linked to the other books of the Old Testament, it is even more related in a certain sense to the New Testament.
  • Some themes from Genesis hardly reappear until they are dealt with and interpreted in the New. They include the fall of man, the institution of marriage, the judgment of the flood, the righteousness that God imparts to the believer, the contrast between the son of the promise and the one born of the flesh, and the people of God as foreigners and pilgrims.
  • The book of Revelation, in particular, narrates the fulfillment of great themes begun in Genesis. The "old serpent", which "deceiveth the whole world", is defeated; Babel (Babylon) falls, and the redeemed are led again to paradise and have access to the tree of life.
  • b) Genesis narrates how God established a people for himself. It relates the infancy of humanity, but the author does not intend to present the history of the entire race; he only highlights those characters and events that relate to the plan of redemption through history.
  • It traces the pious lineage, which transmits the promise of 3:15, and discards the collateral lines, not giving them importance. The history of humanity is restricted, more and more, until concentrating the interest on Abraham, father of the chosen people. From there, the entire history of the Old Testament deals, in great part, with the history of Israel. It speaks of other nations, but incidentally and only as it refers to their relations with Israel.
  • In short, we can say that Genesis was written mainly to relate how Jehovah chose a people who would carry out the divine purposes.
  • However, this God is not only of Israel, but of the entire world. He called Abraham, made a covenant with him, and promised to multiply his descendants until he became a nation, whom he would install in Canaan. What was the divine motive in doing all this? That Israel would constitute a source of blessing for "all families of the earth" (12:3).
  • That is, God blessed a people so that, later, this would be the means of universal blessing.
3. Theme:
  • The general theme is "the beginning of all things", but, in the light of the theme of the entire Bible, its theme is: GOD BEGINS REDEMPTION BY CHOOSING A PEOPLE.
4. The content:
  • The book of Genesis encompasses a very long period; from the first origins of things, to the establishment of Israel in Egypt. It is divided into two clearly distinct sections; the primitive history (1-11), which is like "a previous atrium" to the history of redemption, and the patriarchal history (12-50), which evokes the figure of the great ancestors of Israel.
  • The outline of the book is as follows:
  • I-The primitive history 1-11
    • A. The creation (1-2)
    • B. The fall and its consequences (3-4)
    • C. The flood (5-9)
    • D. The dispersion of the nations (10-11)
  • II-The patriarchal history 12-50
    • A. Abraham (12:1-25:18)
    • B. Isaac and Jacob (25:19-36:43)
    • C. José (37-50)
5. Observations:
  • a) The genealogies of the Hebrews are not always complete, since they mention only the names of prominent figures, often omitting people of little importance. For example, Moses seems to be the great-grandson of Levi, according to the genealogy of Exodus 6:16-24, although 430 years intervened (Ex. 12:40).
  • Also, sometimes the term "son" is used to mean "descendant" (Jesus is called "son of David", that is, he was the descendant of King David).
  • So, the events recorded in Genesis 1-11 cannot be dated by adding the years of the genealogies, since there are probably gaps of long periods of time in them.
  • b) It seems that some passages of Genesis are not in chronological order. For example: chapter 11 relates the history of the Tower of Babel, but it is possible that according to its true chronological location it corresponds to chapter 10, since it explains the reason for the dispersion of the peoples. Also, many scholars question the biblical chronology of the incident in which Abraham denied to Abimelech that Sarah was his wife (Gen. 20). It can be assumed that it occurred many years before, since by the time of chapter 20, Sarah would have been ninety years old and it is unlikely that at such an age she was still attractive to the opposite sex.
  • The lack of chronological order detracts nothing from the veracity of the incidents since modern writers use such technique. After telling the general history of an episode, they often relate an incident of interest not included in their description or expand on a part already told to give some additional focus.