The Bible In A Year 
Torah – week 3 of 8
Readings for the Week
July 23-28, 2018
Theme of the week: This week we complete the journey into Egypt and begin the journey out of it.
- Monday Genesis chapters 46 & 47
- Tuesday Genesis chapters 48, 49 & 50
- Wednesday Exodus chapters 1 & 2 Today we begin reading one of the most crucial stories in the Bible. This story will continue into next week. Read it as you would any good story – and enjoy!
- Thursday Exodus chapters 3 & 4
- Friday Exodus chapters 5, 6, 7, 8, & 9
- Saturday Exodus chapters 10, 11, 12 & 13
The Bible In A Year – Torah – week 3 of 8
A Framework for Understanding
Moses &Torah
The first five books of the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, are called Torah meaning “law.” Authorship of these books traditionally has been attributed to Moses; that God gave to him the words, or dictated the words to be written down. For this reason, the five books as a collection are sometimes referred to as “the Books of Moses.”
In the five books there is no mention that God asked Moses to write down anything other than the commandments and laws. Also, the fifth book, Deuteronomy, ends with an account of Moses’ death and the mourning of the people. Be that as it may, these inconsistencies have been noted for a very long time, but the traditional view of the authorship continues to have great popularity.
The five books contain the stories, laws and value system that gave birth to Jewish identity, tradition and religion as well as our own Christian religion. Jesus was a Jew, who was thoroughly steeped in the teaching and stories contained in Torah. Jesus’ interpretation of the commandments and laws attributed to Moses are essential to our understanding of God. Hence, we properly claim to be heirs of the Judeo-Christian Tradition.
The book of Genesis and the first half of Exodus are completely narrative. From the middle of Exodus to the end of Deuteronomy the narrative is mixed with passages of law giving, instructions and census taking. Some may be tempted to skip parts, or skim over them. However, it is important to read the books in their entirety – there are interesting things to learn throughout!