OT1- Pentateuch
(Redemption Anticipated) § Different people wrote the Bible
The Pentateuch is:
1) Covenantal scripture
2) Biblical covenant
3) “Ancient Near East”
4) “the five scrolls”
The Old Testament is the redemptive
purpose of God throughout history
revealed and fulfilled in Jesus Christ. It
is the unfolding of fulfillment of God’s
promises.
What is COVENANT?
It is important to know first the meaning
of “sovereign” and “vassal”. This make
up the biblical covenant.
Sovereign means strong.
Vassal means weak.
§ The covenant comprises of the
sovereign protecting the vassal,
but the vassal shall serve the
sovereign and remain faithful to
it.
§ Genesis 1:1 is the beginning of
the covenant.
§ Abraham entered in the
Covenant of Grace when he was
90 years old.
ISSUES:
1) Authorship
2) Purpose
3) Reliability
On authorship
1) Traditional: Moses (accepts
Moses as the author of the
Pentateuch)
2) Non-Traditional: Not Moses
(progressive approach)
(Example: the priests wrote
Leviticus)
§ The Israelites are the recipients
of the Pentateuch before entering
the Promise Land. The Lord
instructed Moses to write
Pentateuch in order to remind the
people why they were entering
the Promise Land.
§ Take away Christ, no Christianity.
§ We cannot know God’s will
entirely, only a glimpse of it.
(Deut. 29:29)
§ See Scripture through the lens of
the Covenant and God’s people.
§ Christ fulfills “I will be your God
and you will be my people.”
PURPOSE OF OT: To remind the
people of God about their covenantal
relationship with YHWH and what is
expected from them.
RELIABILITY OF OT: Very reliable, but
not if we reject the above two.
GENESIS
• ABRAM: “AB” (father) “RAM”
(exalted/high), ABRAHAM “AB”
(father), “RAHAM” (many)
§ The Bible does not prove that
God exists; it presumes that God
exists.
§ Romans 1: the whole creation
attests that God exists.
§ “EVERYTHING JUST
APPEARED” is the biggest
fallacy of atheism.
§ God speaks to us using “baby
talk” via the Bible.
 § finitum non capax infinitum
(Latin: the finite cannot
comprehend the infinite)
§ Pre-incarnate appearances of
Christ can be found in the Old
Testament (Christ in flesh).
Incarnation is retrieved from the
words “in” and “carnal” which
means flesh. Jesus Christ is fully
divine and fully human but pre-
incarnate appearances DO NOT
equate to salvation (Luke 4:24)
CREATION believers perceive a
concept of “Imago Dei” (Image of God).
This is a fact that you are given
dominion over creation, creativity and
relationship but these are often
marred/distorted because of sin.
EVOLUTION believers do not perceive
any concept of creation and therefore,
all is for nothing and you shouldn’t care.
§ There is only one God and He is
YHWH. The Father is God, The
Word/Son is God, and the Holy
Spirit is God. They can never be
interchangeable.
§ Everything in the OT points to
Christ whether directly, indirectly
or implied.
§ We cannot know God’s will
entirely, only a glimpse of it.
§ OT anticipates our redemption
and it is the unfolding of
fulfillment of God’s promises. It is
the redemptive purpose of God
through history revealed and
fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
§ We are able to relate to others
and our God our Creator.
§ Our primary duty is to obey and
worship God.
§ Shamar: “keep”
§ Add, subtract and deny
Scripture.
FOUR TYPES OF CREATIONISM:
§ YE (Young Earth): The earth is
5,000 years old and is expected
to be made in literally just 24
hours.
§ Gap Theory: The skip between
Gen 1:1 and Gen 1:2; might
include the pre-Adamic race and
it is theorized that Gen 1:3 is
recreation.
§ Old Earth: Unlike YE, Old Earth is
countless aeons.
§ Time Relative: Time is not
constant.
THE ACCOUNT OF CREATION & THE
ANE MYTHS
§ The Enuma Elish: Apsu, Tiamat
and Mummu (creation account of
the Babylonians)
§ The Epic of Gilgamesh
THE TOLEDOTH (Genesis is 8
accounts) – The generations
§ God
§ Adam
§ Noah and sons, Shem
§ Abraham
§ Isaac
§ Jacob
§ Joseph
THREE (3) APPROACHES TO
UNDERSTAND THE MEANING:
1) Traditional Approach (the
approach of the church until
1800’s, also called The Biblical
Approach). It accepts that the
Bible is God’s word through and
through. Deals with “What is God
saying?”
§ Drama (Narrative)
§ Doctrine (Teaching)
§ Doxology (Praise)
§ Discipleship (Obedience)
2) Liberal Approach (1800’s) does
not accept that the Bible is God’s
word but rather, man-made and
a study to be dissected by a vast
majority of Bible scholars.
3) Neo-orthodox Approach
proclaims that the Bible
“sometimes” will contain God’s
word. Includes “bible-cutting”.
§ Sola scriptura (Latin: “by
Scripture alone”)
§ Tota scriptura (Latin: “the whole
of Scripture”)
§ Solo scriptura (Latin: “The Bible
by itself”)
§ The Church recognizes that the
Bible alone is the highest and
inerrant authority, in matters of
life and faith.
§ There are two covenants in the
Bible: The Covenant of
Redemption and the Covenant of
Grace.
§ The Covenant of Redemption has
The Trinity as parties. The Father
chooses, The Son dies and The
Holy Spirit applies the salvation.
§ We read the Bible literally but we
should never take it in a
literalistic approach.
§ Anthropomorphic: described or
thought of as having a human
form or human attributes.
§ There are two ways how God is
referred to in the Bible: 1) Elohim
and 2) YHWH, which is also read
as Adonai by Jews.
§ El means “God”. Elohim means
“Gods” but it is only in singular
form in the Bible.
§ Primeval generally means
unrecorded history.
§ East in the OT means “away from
the Lord”.
§ Federal Headship is where
descendants either get blessed
or cursed depending on Adam.
Because Christ is now the head,
we are thoroughly graced and
blessed.
THE IDENTITY OF THE SONS OF GOD
(Theories)
1. Fallen Angels cohabited with
daughters of men and produced
the Nephilim (“mighty ones”)
2. Godly lineage of Seth merging
with the ungodly women (Cainite
women)
3. “Sons of God” are the mighty
rulers of the day. A title of
authority abused because they
confiscate women left and right.
The daughters of men can have
come from the ungodly line of
Lamech.
EXODUS
Why Pentateuch?
The purpose of the Pentateuch is to
remind the Israelites where they came
from, why they are here and how they
came to be.
586BC Judah falls exile to Babylon
1450BC (roughly) Moses and the
Exodus/Deuteronomy
See Scripture through
a. Covenantal approach
b. Christ-centered
 § Pharaoh means “great/grand
house”, “household of the king”,
“dynasty”.
§ Moses was a representation of
God and by disobeying, Moses
misrepresented Him.
Some Egyptian people that can possibly
hold of importance in the Exodus:
§ Thutmose III – exile of Moses
§ Amenhotep II – Pharaoh of the
Exodus
§ Hatsepsut – expected to be the
one who retrieved Moses from
the river
Moses’ arguments (why he shouldn’t
go):
1. Who am I to lead them out of
Egypt?
2. Who are you [to God] and who
are you for me to listen to your
voice?
3. I cannot speak.
4. Send someone else instead.
There is somehow a connection
between God against the Egyptian
Gods during the plague.
§ In Genesis 1, it is said that God
made everything.
§ In Exodus, the Egyptians worship
everything.
By the plagues, God wants to show the
Egyptians that He is greater than all
these things (battle between the God of
Israel & God of the Egyptians).
§ The 10 Plagues are either
supernatural or not. God is still
the one behind everything behind
the supernatural event. He is still
the one controlling everything.
Satan cannot move unless God
had ordained it (Book of Job).
§ The 10 Commandments are
made up of two parts: 1) Love
God and 2) Love your neighbor
(considering our neighbor ahead
of ourselves). It is in two tablets
which serve as two copies (a
contract).
LEVITICUS
§ The building of the tabernacle
where God dwells in a tent to live
among His people (end of
Exodus). But in Leviticus, God
says, “don’t come near the
tabernacle too much because
you are sinful.”
§ The depiction of sacrifices show
that sinning is very graphic in the
eyes of God and not a laughing
matter. Only blood/sacrifice to
satisfy the wrath of God, and for
you to come in the presence of
God. The incense shields the
sinner from God.
§ The Ark of the Covenant consists
of 2 tablets (law), 1 jar of manna
(provision) and 1 rod (leadership).
You sin by rejecting these three.
The Ark also includes the
seraphims/cherubims that are
repsentatives of God’s judgment.
This depicts that God looks
down on sin.
§ The Day of Atonement is the only
day that the ark is sprinkled with
blood and sin cannot be seen
anymore.
The three categories of the law:
1. Civil Laws govern the running of
the nation Israel.
2. Ceremonial Laws deal with how
people should interact with God.
3. Moral Laws show the immutable
morality of God and how we
respond.
§ The law does not take away sin,
rather, it curbs your sin. To curb
means to limit/restrain/temper.
The law is not perfect but it is the
law.
NUMBERS
§ In the Book of Numbers (Greek:
“arithmoi”, Torah: “in the
desert/wilderness”). It contains
the census for fighting men 20
years and above as well as 12
spies for every tribe. It also
contains the census of rebellion
and punishments (the second
census), Joshua’s
commissioning (ch. 27) and the
bronze serpent.
§ The bronze serpent was
produced when the Lord plunges
fiery serpents upon the Israelites.
When they finally repented, He
commanded for the bronze
serpent to be produced for their
healing just by looking up at it.
This points to Christ lifting up all
men to Himself (Jn. 3)
§ The tribe of Levi has no particular
real estate because they are the
line of Aaron (the lineage of
priests).
DEUTERONOMY
§ It is the fifth book derived from
deuteronomion meaning the
“second law”, “repeat of the
law”, the neglected book.
§ It provides a template for the rest
of the OT. It is the summary of
their journey from Exodus. It also
serves as a commemoration and
remembrance.
§ Here, it shows what the Lord has
done and what you’ve done in
response to His goodness. It is a
reminder that the Lord takes sin
seriously but He has been
generous to a fault.
§ The cities of refuge were
assigned by the Lord for the
people who committed
accidental murder for protection.
It protects the rights of the
accidental murder, gives time for
investigation and withholds
immediate justice. The accused
is saved as long as the High
Priest is alive. This parallels to
Christ being your city of refuge
and your eternal High Priest. Our
salvation in Him is perfect. He
welcomes all manner of sinners
unlike the earthly city of refuge.