Module 1 Assignments

We believe that it is evident in reading the Pentateuch that its broad stretches of narrative, spanning the time from Creation to the covenant at Sinai and, further, to the conquest of Canaan, cannot conveniently be broken down into the 'books' of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Dueteronomy as we now have them in our bibles. There is an appreciable loss of sense when we view the Genesis narratives without following them all the way to Sinai and the conquest. There is an even greater loss when we attempt to read the exodus, wilderness, and conquest narratives apart from those in Genesis. By reading the narratives in Exodus in isolation from those in Genesis, for example, we can easily overlook the author's attempts to link God's work of Creation in the beginning with his work of covenant at Sinai. We fail to see the tabernacle as the author's view of a return to the Garden of Eden, or the crossing of the Red Sea as a retelling of God's great work of judgement and redemption in the Flood. Moreover, if we read the collections of laws in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronmy apart from their context within the overall pentateuchal narrative, we can easily fail to appreciate the many and varied links between these laws and their narrative framework.