Thoughts about the Pentateuch

I'm going to dive right into this one without a preamble...

The Pentateuch *might* be a large chiastic structure:

Genesis
.....Exodus
..........Leviticus
.....Numbers
Deuteronomy

In a chiasm, the middle part is the central focus, the first and last parts correspond to each other, and the second and second-to-last parts correspond to each other. So we have Leviticus at the center, and the correspondences between Genesis and Deuteronomy, and between Exodus and Numbers. If this is true, the content in Deuteronomy ought to parallel the content in Genesis, and the content in Numbers ought to parallel the content in Exodus. Now, I'm not fully convinced that this really works, but I've been a little surprised to find that there actually are a number of parallels:

1) Genesis ends with Jacob blessing his sons (in the form of a poem), each one by name; and then Jacob's death is recounted. Deuteronomy ends with Moses blessing the tribes of Israel (in the form of a poem), each one by name; and then Moses' death is recounted.

2) Genesis begins with the creation of Adam and Eve in Eden, and the command to obey God, followed by their rebellion against Him (by eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil - making them judges), and their subsequent expulsion from Eden. Deuteronomy begins with the command to enter the Promised Land - the second Eden, which even includes the land around the Euphrates just as the first Eden did - and the command to obey Moses (as the mediator standing in the place of God toward Israel), followed by their rebellion against Moses (and God) by making their own judgment about the feasibility of occupying the Promised Land, and their subsequent expulsion from the Promised Land and the penalty of wandering in the wilderness.

3) The bulk of Genesis is all about the covenant God makes with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The bulk of Deuteronomy is all about the covenant God makes with Moses and the whole people of Israel.

4) Exodus kicks off with the increase of the people of Israel, followed by God's command to "let my people go" because "Israel is my firstborn". After many plagues, the Passover occurs in which the firstborn of Egypt are slain. Following this Israel leaves Egypt and is protected by the pillar of cloud and fire. With much fanfare the cross the Red Sea and leave all of Egypt behind them. Then the people complain that they don't have food, so God sends quail and manna. After that Moses' father-in-law Jethro meets them and advises Moses to appoint elders to help him. This is the first half of Exodus. Now consider Numbers. It starts with a numbering of the people, followed by God's command that the firstborn are His. After a few chapters that don't seem to correspond to anything in Exodus, the Passover is celebrated, and then the pillar of cloud and fire protected and guided the people. After much fanfare (with two silver trumpets) Israel leaves Sinai behind. Immediately the people complain about the food (and a description of the manna they've been eating is given which is very similar to that given in Exodus), so God sends quail (with a plague this time). In between the complaining and the quail-plague, God advises Moses to appoint elders to help him.

5) The second half of Exodus is itself a chiasm. First you have the detailing of the Law and how to construct the Tabernacle and everything that goes with it. Then you have the Golden Calf incident in which Israel sins and the Levites kill a bunch of the guilty Israelites. Then you have the reiteration of the Law and the building of the Tabernacle. In Numbers there is a also a chiasm, although much more loosely defined than in Exodus. In Numbers the first part of the chiasm discusses various laws (similar to those in Exodus). Then you have the incident with Balaam and Baal worship at Beth-Peor, and Phineas (a Levite) and the chiefs of Israel kill a bunch of the guilty Israelites. Then there is a further discussion of laws and of how to set up the nation of Israel once it enters the Promised Land (parallel to setting up the Tabernacle).

6) In a broader sense, Exodus is about the travels from Egypt to Sinai and the giving of the Law and setting up the Tabernacle. Numbers is about the travels from Sinai to Canaan and the giving of the Law and setting up the nation of Israel.

7) In the same broad sense, Genesis is about Eden, how it was ours, how it was lost, and how it will be restored (in the future). Deuteronomy is about the Promised Land, how it should have been Israel's, how it was "lost" (they failed to occupy it), and how it will be restored (in the future, in Joshua). Oh, and another interesting point is that just as in Joshua (which means "God saves") the promises are fulfilled, the Promises are fulfilled in Jesus (which means "God saves"). ("Joshua" and "Jesus" are really the same name, but one is the Hebrew form and the other is the Greek form - just like "John" and "Johann" are the same except that one is English and the other is German). After the Promised Land has been occupied, we have (all too human) Judges. After Jesus redeems and renews the heavens and the earth, He will set up judges (in the sense that Paul says "we will judge angels", and in the sense that David says "you have put all things under [man's] feet", and in the sense that God gave dominion to Adam, then to Noah). Unlike the history of imperfect Israel which clamored for a king from among themselves and to replace God as their King, God will continue to be our King in the new heavens and the new earth. (This, by the way, is the ordering in the Jewish Bible - Ruth does not come between Judges and Samuel.) The rest is history - because Jesus has not yet come and because the new heavens and earth have not yet been established, Israel cannot permanently succeed. The results are 1) the history that proves the point in Kings/Chronicles, 2) the prophetic warnings, 3) the unraveling of the entire thing in the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, and finally 4) the partial redemption of God's people and the rebuilding of the temple. What happens next? 5) Israel, kingless, waits for her King. But "the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple" - this is the promise in the last book of the Old Testament, in Malachi, the last prophet.

Ok, enough for now. But I would like to suggest that perhaps we should call Deuteronomy ("the second law") Deuterogeny ("the second beginning"). And we could change Numbers to Eisodus to mirrow Exodus and the fact that Numbers is about Israel being about to enter the Promised Land. I don't have any clever suggestions for renaming Leviticus, but just wait! ;-) Maybe we could call it "Holiness"? And on one last note, I think it's interesting that Adam and Eve thought God didn't want them to be like Him although they wanted it for themselves, so they ate the forbidden fruit. But in Leviticus God says that we're supposed to be holy just like Him - our problem is that God wanted/wants us to be like Him but we end up being unlike Him, so the effect of the first sin by the first Adam has to be undone by the final atonement by the final Adam (Jesus).