what are the first five books of the bible called together? who wrote them how do we know who wrote them? What is written about in those first five books?
names of the first five books
There are a number of different names commonly used to designate the first five books of the Old Testament. they are sometimes called the pentateuch. this name comes from two Greek words that mean the “five volumes”. These five books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) are also called the Law. the Hebrew name for them is torah, the Hebrew word for “law.” They are also called the Law of Moses or the Five Books of Moses.
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who wrote the pentateuch?
the human author of the pentateuch was moses. there is no introduction to the pentateuch that tells us this directly. however, the following evidence clearly shows us that Moses is the author.
- evidence from the rest of the pentateuch: in several verses of the books of the pentateuch we are told that moses wrote what god commanded him to write. look up these passages – [exodus 24:4] [exodus 34:27] [numbers 33:1-2] [deuteronomy 31:9].
- evidence from the rest of the old testament: other books of the old testament in addition to the pentateuch speak of Moses being the author of the pentateuch. see these passages – [joshua 8:31] [2 kings 14:6] [nehemiah 8:1]. there are many more such passages in the old testament that clearly speak to mosaic authorship of the first five books of the old testament.
- new testament evidence, especially the testimony of jesus: see these passages – [ matt 19:7-8] [ mat 8:4] [ luk 24:27 & 44] [john 5:47] [acts 3:22].
It is evident from these passages and many more that Jesus and the New Testament writers credited Moses with writing the Pentateuch. We have pointed to this evidence for the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch because of the opinions expressed by some. They say that Moses did not write these books. they say these books are just oral traditions written centuries after moses. they claim they were written by several men whose words do not always agree. The testimony of Jesus, however, is enough. He credits Moses with human authorship and speaks of them as having God’s authority.
the content of the pentateuch
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the pentateuch covers the period of time from creation to the death of moses just before the conquest of the promised land under joshua. that means that in the pentateuch moses writes about events spanning thousands of years. here is a brief summary of what is covered in these five books of moses:
Genesis begins with a creation account. Adam and Eve are created and given the responsibility of caring for the world around them. by their sin they lose their holiness. God promises a savior. people become so wicked that god destroys all but one family in a flood. Noah and his family are saved. God chooses to carry out his plans of redemption through Abraham. genesis chaps. 12-50 records the events in the lives of the patriarchs: abraham, isaac, and jacob. Through this family line, God promised the “seed” through which all the people of the earth would be blessed. The story of one of Jacob’s sons, Joseph, is told in chaps. 37-50.
exodus chaps. Verses 1-19 speak of the sons of Israel (Jacob) going from Egypt to Mount Sinai. exodus 19 to numbers 10 speaks of the camp of the children of israel on mount sinai, where the law was given. numbers 10-21 speak of the wilderness wanderings of the children of israel, a period of about 38 years. in numbers 22 to deuteronomy 34 the children of israel are encamped before entering canaan. Moses gives a long farewell address in the book of deuteronomy. In the entire Pentateuch there are two main elements that show through the entire content. the first is history. We do not mean that it is just a history of the ancient world or that it is a history of Israel. rather it is above all a history of salvation, a history of the kingdom of God. The second element that shines through all the contents is the law. the law is so prominent in the pentateuch that the five books are often simply called the law. the giving of the law is a large part of the exodus; Leviticus is entirely composed of laws; numbers have laws mixed with historical accounts; deuteronomy has laws as much of moses’ long speech in the book. we could say that the pentateuch is a book of five volumes formed by history and law. (The gospel always appears in the story portions.)
the names of each of the five books
genesis: means “beginning”. the book talks about the beginning of many things: the universe, man, sin, the promise of the savior, etc.
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exodus – means “an exit”, because it speaks of the exit of israel from egypt.
Leviticus – means “relating to the Levites”. The book is so named because it records many laws that applied to the Levites, the tribe named after Levi, the priestly tribe.
numbers – the book is called numbers because it relates the number of people included in the tribes of israel.
deuteronomy – means “second law”. It is called that because Moses in this book establishes the law of God for the second time.
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