Testament: Old
  Book:  Genesis
  Author:  Moses - 1400 B.C.
  Chapters:  50
  Category:  Pentateuch


Summary:  Genesis is the title given to the first book of Moses by its Greek translators. The word means "origin" or "beginning"; truly, Genesis is a book of beginnings. It describes the beginning of man and the universe which he inhabits, the beginning of sin, the consequent beginning of an effort at redemption, and the beginning of the Hebrew nation through whom this redemption was to come.
The book of Genesis, together with the early chapters of Exodus, describes the steps which led to the establishment of the theocracy. Two ideas are seen to be predominant in this book— the people of God and the promised land. Genesis has a character which is both special and universal. It embraces the entire world as it speaks of God as the Lord of the whole human race; yet, as an introduction to Jewish history, it makes the universal interest subordinate to the national. Its design is to show how God first revealed himself to the patriarchs of the Hebrew race in order to make of them a people who would serve as his witnesses on the earth. This is the inner principle of unity which pervades the entire book.

Testament: Old
  Book:  Exodus
  Author:  Moses - 1400 B.C.
  Chapters:  40
  Category:  Pentateuch


Summary:  The name means "going out" or departure". While it refers to one of the most important events of the book, the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, other highly significant events are also found here, such as the oppression of the Chosen People in Egypt, the flight and call of Moses, and God’s covenant with the nation Israel at Sinai - an experience climaxed by His giving of the moral law (Ten Commandments) through Moses to the people. A code of secular laws is also included, and the latter part of the book contains an elaborate description of the sacred Ark of the Covenant and its ten (tabernacle), God’s place of dwelling among His people.

Testament: Old
  Book:  Leviticus
  Author:  Moses - 1400 B.C.
  Chapters:  27
  Category:  Pentateuch


Summary:  This book was so named because it treats of laws of service and worship of special importance to the Tribe of Levi. It has been aptly called "the Handbook of the Priests". Many basic precepts of the New Testament are foreshadowed in this book, such as the seriousness of sin in God’s sight, the necessity of atonement for sin, the holiness of God, and the necessity of a mediator between God and man.

Testament: Old
  Book:  Numbers
  Author:  Moses - 1400 B.C.
  Chapters:  36
  Category:  Pentateuch


Summary:  The name of this book originated from the two numberings of the people related in it: the first at Sinai in the second year of the Exodus and another on the plains of Moab opposite Jericho in the 40th year. A better title is the one give by the Hebrew themselves, Bemidhbar ("In the Wilderness"), for it describes the locale of the major events of the book. In all these events, the writer sees the guiding hand of God, sustaining, delivering, and keeping covenant with His people, as He prepares them for entrance into the land promised first to Abraham.

Testament: Old
  Book:  Deuteronomy
  Author:  Moses - 1400 B.C.
  Chapters:  34
  Category:  Pentateuch


Summary:  The final book of the Pentateuch derives its English name from the Greek work deuteronomion, meaning the "second law", or the "law repeated". Deuteronomy is essentially Moses’ farewell address(es) to a new generation in which he summons them to hear the law of God, to be instructed in the application of its principles to the new circumstances awaiting them, and to renew intelligently the covenant God had made with their fathers - a covenant that must be faithfully observed as the condition of God’s blessings upon them in the Promised Land.

Testament: Old
  Book:  Joshua
  Author:  Joshua - 1350 B.C.
  Chapters:  24
  Category:  Historical


Summary:  This book serves as the connecting link between the Pentateuch and the later historical books; it name is derived from the principal character, Joshua. Chapters 1 to 23 describe the conquest of the land and it division among the tribes of Israel. In the final chapters (23-24), Joshua, somewhat after the fashion of Moses, exhorts the people in a series of farewell addresses "to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses," and solemnly challenges them to the renewal of their covenant commitment to God