On the fifth day of Christmas … five golden rings. This day’s gift in the song can stand for the “Pentateuch” of the Bible, which in Greek means “five books.” This is the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Their Hebrew name is “Torah” which is often translated as “Law” and more adequately means “Instruction.” Taken as a whole, the Pentateuch tells the story of God’s people from Creation to the death of Moses, God’s prophet.
The Old Testament is a collection of books that document the history, institutions, culture, and faith of ancient Israel. The Pentateuch lays the firm foundation for the rest of the Old Testament by chronicling the origin of ancient Israel. This origin is rooted in God’s work of calling Israel to be His people, God making them His special nation through which the Messiah would come, God granting them access to Him and His mercy through worship, and God governing them through rulers that He appointed. The Pentateuch is still alive and relevant today.
The dates that the Israelites wandered in the wilderness after their release from slavery and exodus from Egypt can be fixed with fairly certain accuracy. According to 1 Kings 6:1 (ESV), “In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the Lord.” Since King Solomon began building the temple in 966 BC, that means the Israelite exodus out of Egypt happened in the year 1446 BC. So, the Israelites wandered from 1446 to 1406 BC, which is likely when Moses wrote the Pentateuch.
The book of Genesis tells of beginnings; of light and darkness, of the heavens and the earth, of seas and skies, of land and vegetation, of sun, moon and stars, of animals, and of human beings made in the image of God (Genesis 1:1 - 2:3). Genesis also speaks of God’s blessings and curses, of the fall of mankind into sin and the promise for our redemption (Genesis 3). It gives account of The Great Flood that wiped out all life on earth, except for Noah and his family, and the animals God saved on the Ark. After the flood waters receded, God gave Noah and his family the rainbow as a sign of His promise to never flood the earth like that again (Genesis 6-9).
Genesis is a book filled with relationships; between God and nature, God and man, and man and man. It clearly teaches that God is the One True God, sovereign over all that exists. Genesis is a foundation of understanding for the rest of the Bible, especially when it comes to God’s Covenants with His people. God pledges His love and faithfulness to the Israelites and calls them to love and faithfulness to Him. The oldest example of faith in God was when God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars, even though he and his barren wife were advanced in age, “And [Abraham] believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6 ESV).
The book of Exodus speaks of many foundations: God’s name, His attributes, His redemption, His Law, and how He is to be worshipped, among others. The book starts with the Israelites in Egypt as slaves. God calls Moses to confront Pharaoh to set God’s people free (Exodus 3). Pharaoh’s heart is hardened and God unleashes ten plagues on Egypt; turning water to blood, frogs, gnats, flies, death of Egyptian livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and finally the death of the firstborns during Passover (Exodus 7-12). Finally, Pharaoh released the Israelites from slavery and sent them out of Egypt (Exodus 12).
As the Israelites escaped towards the Red Sea, Pharaoh changed his mind and pursued them. God parted the Red Sea for His people to cross on dry ground and then drowned all of Pharaoh’s army in it (Exodus 14). The Israelites then made their way through the desert, repeatedly grumbling against Moses and putting God to the test. Yet, God provided them with water (even from a rock) and food (manna and quail) every day; even their clothes did not wear out. After about three months, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments as well as other laws recorded in the Pentateuch. God also told Moses and the elders how to build the Tabernacle where they would worship Him.
Moses spent a long time on top of Mount Sinai and the Israelites grew weary and made an idol of a golden calf to worship. In anger, Moses broke the tablets from the Lord and destroyed the idol. He had 3,000 Israelites killed for their sins. God still had love and forgiveness in His heart for His people.
The book of Leviticus is mostly about the appointment of the priesthood to the Levites through Aaron’s lineage (Moses’ brother) and established the statutes and laws that priests were to follow in order to teach the people about God and atone for the people’s sins through their sacrifices. Leviticus tells us that the priesthood was instituted because of sin, in order for the people to disclose their sins to the priests and to make atonement for them to God through the priests.
The book of Numbers speaks of the many disobediences of the Israelites against God and the plagues that God sent among them to turn them back to Him. Numbers tells the story of Israel’s journey from Mount Sinai through the desert over the course of forty years. Because of their many sins against God, the Israelites who left slavery in Egypt would not reach the promised land; only their children would enjoy the fulfillment of God’s promise there. Not even Moses would reach the promised land because of his lack of faith at times in the wilderness. That entire generation perished in the wilderness.
The book of Deuteronomy is full of the loving relationship from the Lord to His people. The word “Deuteronomy” means “repetition of the law” and the book is a call of commitment to the Lord in worship and obedience. Deuteronomy contrasts the matter-of-fact narratives of the books of Leviticus and Numbers in that Moses expressed the laws in a more warm and personal form to God’s people. In this book, Moses passed on the leadership role of the Israelites to Joshua before his death. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy as authoritative many times to His disciples and the Pharisees and Sadducees during His ministry.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Philip Frank
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”The Twelve Days of Christmas” song image in the corner is by Xavier Romero-Frias and used under Creative Commons license BY-SA 3.0.
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