Exploring the Old Testament: A Guide to the Pentateuch

✍ Scribed by Gordon J. Wenham

• Publisher: IVP Academic
• Year: 2016
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 227
• Series: Exploring the Bible Series
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Exploring the Old Testament: A Guide to the Pentateuch offers a clear overview of the "five books of Moses," as well as an introduction to the historical and textual questions that modern scholarship has posed and the answers it has proposed. This critically informed, textually sensitive introduction to the Pentateuch introduces students to
the basic features of the Pentateuch
the social world of the Bible
the latest scholarship on the composition of the Pentateuch
literary techniques and forms
theme, composition and rhetorical function of the Pentateuch
In this textbook you will find double-column formatting for ease of use, annotated bibliographies for further reading, sidebar explorations of select historical and textual topics in greater detail, a glossary of terms, and relevant charts and maps.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Short Title Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Illustrations
Key to Panels
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Abbreviations
1 What Is the Pentateuch? Basic Features
Name
Genre
Biography of Moses
National History
Torah or Law
Why Five Books?
When Did the Pentateuch Become Part of the Bible?
Further Reading
2 Genesis 1—11
Ancient Near Eastern Parallels to Genesis 1—11
Genesis' Transformation of Oriental Origin Stories
The Organization of Genesis 1—11
The New Testament Use of Genesis 1—11
Further Reading
3 Genesis 12—50
The Genre of Genesis 12—50
11: 27—25:11: The Story of Abraham
25:12—18: Genealogy of Ishmael
25:19—35:29: The Story of Jacob and Esau
36:1—37:1: Genealogy of Esau
37:2—50:26: The Story of Joseph and His Brothers
The New Testament Use of Genesis 12—50
Further Reading
4 Exodus
Structure
Slavery in Egypt and Liberation
The Law-giving
The Tabernacle
The New Testament and the Book of Exodus
Further Reading
5 Leviticus
Structure
The Problems of Reading Leviticus
Visualization
Significance
Interpretation
1:1—7:38: Laws on Sacrifice
8:1—10:20: Institution of the Priesthood
11:1—16:34: Uncleanness and Its Treatment
17:1—27:34: Prescriptions for Practical Holiness
The New Testament and Leviticus
Further Reading
6 Numbers
Structure
The Contents of Numbers
Numbers and the New Testament
Further Reading
7 Deuteronomy
Structure
Deuteronomy and the New Testament
Further Reading
8 Theme of the Pentateuch
Martin Noth on the Themes of the Pentateuch
Gerhard von Rad and the Pentateuch
David Clines on the Theme of the Pentateuch
Reassessment
Further Reading
9 Composition of the Pentateuch
The Traditional Ascription of the Pentateuch to Moses
The Documentary Hypothesis
The Identification of the Sources
Twentieth-century Adjustments to the Documentary Hypothesis
The Collapse of the Consensus since 1975
The Trend towards Unitary Readings
The Dating of the Sources
Further Reading
10 Rhetoric of the Pentateuch
Guarded Optimism - a Twelfth-century Setting
Celebration and Protest - a Tenth-century Setting
Reassurance to the Dispirited - a Seventh-century setting
Hope in Difficult Times - A Fifth-century Setting
Further Reading
11 Epilogue
Glossary
Index
About the Author
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