SYNTHESIS: PENTATEUCHAL STUDIES

SYNTHESIS: PENTATEUCHAL STUDIES

A. The Theme of the Pentateuch
“The theme of the Pentateuch is the PARTIAL FULFILLMENT—which implies also the partial non-fulfillment—of the promise to or blessing of the patriarchs. The promise or blessing is both the divine initiative in a world where human initiatives always lead to disaster and a re-affirmation of the primal intentions for man.”

B. The Primal Divine Intention for Man
Where do we find the “primal divine intention for man”? Where is it stated? In:

Gen. 1:26—Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."

Gen. 1:28—And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."

Hence, God’s intention for man is that he is of the image and likeness of God and God has blessed him. The blessing consists in “becoming fruitful” and “multiplying” and “filling the earth” and “having dominion over it.”

C. Man’s Betrayal
But we know from our study of Gen. 2-11 that this divine intention for man was repeatedly betrayed by man. “No matter how drastic man’s sin becomes, destroying what God has made good and bringing the world to the brink of uncreation, God’s grace never fails to deliver man from the consequences of his sin. Even when man responds to a fresh start with the old pattern of sin, God’s commitment to this world remains firm, and sinful man experiences the favor of God as well as his righteous judgment.”

Thus,

In Gen. 2-3—it is the story of the man and the woman—they eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (fall); then, they are sent out of the garden (righteous judgment); but, they are clothed (God’s favor).

In Gen. 4—it is the story of Cain and Abel—Cain murders Abel (sin); then, Cain is cursed and made to be a wanderer and fugitive (righteous judgment); but, he is given a mark (‘ot) of protection (God’s favor).

In Gen. 6-9—it is the story of the sons of God—they do violence (sin); then, the flood occurs (righteous judgment); but, Noah and his family are saved through the ark; a new covenant is negotiated; a rainbow is placed in the sky (all signs of God’s favor).

In Gen. 11—it is the story of people who wish to remain united—but they also wish to go up to heaven by making a tower and so make a name for themselves (sin); then, the tower is destroyed and they are scattered (righteous judgment); but, in Gen. 12, Abram is called by God to start a new beginning (God’s grace).

D. God’s Primal Intention for Man Specified in the Promise to Abram

With Gen. 11, the primal divine intention therefore of “becoming fruitful” and “multiplying” and “filling the earth” and “having dominion over it” now becomes more specific, more concrete, as found in the promise to Abram. The promise is nothing then but the blessing given by God to man in Gen. 1, but only more specific, made concrete to one man, Abram, and whose goal is universal—as universal as Gen. 1. God says to Abram: “And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves.”

E. The Three Elements of the Promise or Blessing

God’s promise or blessing to Abram is a re-affirmation of the divine intention for man. This promise or blessing has three elements: POSTERITY, DIVINE-HUMAN RELATIONSHIP and LAND. The posterity or descendant-element of the promise is dominant in Gen. 12-50, the relationship-element of the promise is dominant in Exodus and Leviticus, the land-element in Numbers and Deuteronomy.

1. Gen. 12-50

We need not have to rehearse the Abraham story, the Jacob story and the Joseph story, but certainly the focus was on posterity. We recall the barrenness of Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and the fraternal rivalries that endangered the life of one or more of the heirs of the promise, and the various famines of Canaan. These threatened the survival of the patriarchal family of their fruitfulness, of their multiplying and increasing; these prevented the rapid growth of the Abrahamic family, but never negating the fulfillment of the promise, the promise of posterity.

Here, the thematic elements of the land and of divine-human relationship take a subsidiary role.

The land that is to be “given” to the Abrahamic family is indeed “shown” to Abraham, and explored (12:5-9; 13:7) and lived in by the patriarchs, but it remains the property of the Canaanites. On the whole, the patriarchal narratives take place outside the promised land almost as much as inside it (Abram goes to Egypt; Jacob goes to Haran; Jacob and Joseph in Egypt). The heirs of the promise at the end of the Book of Genesis are firmly outside the land. The promise is repeatedly affirmed, but except in the slightest degree (one burial plot—23:17-20 and a piece of land for the building of an altar—33:19ff.) it remains no more than a promise.

As for divine-human relationship, it remains variable and provisional. Gen. 17’s covenant is essentially a “covenant to be God to you and to your descendants.” Elsewhere, the relationship is expressed as a “being with” (26:3,28; 28:15,20; 31:5; 35:3; 39:2,21). In brief, the nature of the divine-human relationship has not been set, although it has begun to take effect.

2. Exodus and Leviticus
It is in these books that the promise of God’s relationship with Abraham’s descendants is most clearly brought out. In the Exodus event and the Sinai revelation, it becomes plain what the promise meant by its words, “I will bless you,” “I will make my covenant between me and you,” and “I will be your God.”

In the Book of Exodus, the going out of Egypt, the Exodus event, is initiated by acts that spring from the divine-human relationship. It is the God whose name is “I am who am,” who hears the cry of the Hebrews in Egypt. It is the God whose name is “I am who am” who commissions Moses, who will be with Moses in bringing forth “my people” out of Egypt “to serve God upon the mountain” (3:10ff). Likewise, the divine-human relationship is seen when God reveals himself and says “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob…I will deliver you, and I will take my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am Yahweh your God who brought you out” (6:2-8). Throughout the confrontation with Pharaoh, Israel is described as “my people” who is destined to serve (worship) Yahweh: “Let my people go, that they may serve me.” Even in the transition materials, Exo 16-19, the relationship is questioned and affirmed. See Exo. 17:1-7—“Is Yahweh among us or not?”
In the Sinai event, God says to Israel, “You shall be my own possession among all peoples” (19:5). The people shall be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” to Yahweh. And in the Decalogue, the relationship is expressed by “I am Yahweh you God who brought you out of Egypt, out of bondage” (20:2).

The Book of Leviticus “spells out in detail the means by which the relationship now established is to be maintained. The regulation of ritual worship is its almost exclusive interest; its presuppositions are that men will wish to offer gifts to God, will sin against God, will want to know the will of God for everyday life. That is to say, Leviticus depicts a community exploring its relationship with God.”

The preservation of divine-human relationship is expressed best in Leviticus’s exhortation: “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them…I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people. I am Yahweh you God” (Lev.26:3,12ff.).

The promise of progeny is found only in Chapter one of Exodus, but thereafter the promise is only implicitly alluded to. The promise of land though more prominent, nevertheless appears only in scattered allusions throughout Exodus and Leviticus.

3. Numbers and Deuteronomy
In these books, the patriarchal promise most in evidence is land. Their orientation and movement is towards the land, the promise that is partly fulfilled, but to a large extent unfulfilled. The Book of Numbers depicts this orientation and movement toward the land.

As far as Deuteronomy is concerned, it goes without saying that everything focuses upon the land. Among its most characteristic phrases are “the land/ground/gates/cities/and the like” which Yahweh your/our God gives you” occurs 34 time. Deuteronomy’s common expression, “Yahweh your/our God,” 300 times, emphasizes the permanency of the relationship, the constant reference to “commandments,” “statutes,” “judgments” along with exhortations to “love” God (11 times) and “covenant” (23 times) designate the character of the relationship.

“So even at the point of the imminent fulfillment of the promise of land, the promise as a whole, in all its other elements (progeny/relationship) has not become an inalienable possession of Israel’s, but as much a challenge as a promise, a promise that can threatened and even thwarted by its recipients. Only the fact that it is Yahweh’s promise can create any confidence in its continuing fulfillment.”

F. Summary
In summary, the divine promise or blessing to the patriarchs, while frequently alluded to in each of its form throughout the Pentateuch, presents one or other of its elements more prominently in various books.

But remember that the promise is partly fulfilled. There remains the future where the promise will be all the more fulfilled. It is good to repeat and emphasize what was said in the beginning: that in the face of human initiatives that always lead to disaster, God’s initiative is presented over and over again. The story of the Pentateuch may well be the story of man who often remains sinful and of God who changes his mind and so forgives man and restores him to grace and freedom. For God is “I am who am”—the name of God whose meaning is the God over all other gods who is active and helping, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.