Page 4 - Pentateuch

scripture cannot be broken” refers to the Old Testament (John 10:35). These writings are “God-breathed”
(2 Tim. 3:16). God spoke to the prophets (Heb. 1:1-2) through the Holy Spirit (1 Pet. 1:10-11). They did not
speak of their own wills, but by the Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21).

Inspiration implies accuracy in all parts of the Old Testament. The New Testament considers Adam and Eve
as real people (Matt. 19:4-5; 1 Tim. 2:13-14). The same can be said of the flood (Matt. 24:38-39) and the
murder of Abel (Luke 11:51). This is the material Jesus used to instruct the disciples after his death. “How
foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have
to suffer these things and enter his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to
them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 24:25-27; cf. 24:44-47). The Old
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Testament, including the Pentateuch, is especially about God bringing his Messiah to earth.

The author of the Pentateuch was Moses. He is frequently commanded by God to write down instructions
(Exod. 17:14; 24:4; 34:27; Num. 33:1-2). He “wrote down this law and gave it to the priests” (Deut. 31:9,
26). Joshua made a copy of “the law of Moses” (Josh. 8:31-32). David, on his deathbed, charged Solomon to
follow God’s laws “as written in the Law of Moses (1 Kings 2:3). Other references include: 2 Kings 21:8; Ezra
6:18; Neh. 13:1; Dan. 9:11-13; Mal. 4:4. Jesus referred to Moses as the writer of the law (Matt. 19:8; John
5:46-47; 7:19). Similar references can be found in Acts. 3:22 and Rom. 10:5.

The Pentateuch was written sometime around 1445 B.C. at the time of the exodus from Egypt. The writer
of Kings records the date Solomon began to build the temple (the fourth year of Solomon’s reign), some
480 years “after the Israelites had come out of Egypt” (6:1-2). While we cannot pinpoint the exact year in
history, the temple was begun around 966 B.C., placing the exodus during the reign of the Egyptian ruler
Amenhotep II (1447 – 1421).

[“Thutmose III] was on the throne long enough… to have been reigning at
the time of Moses’ flight from Egypt, and to pass away not long before
Moses’ call by the burning bush, thirty or forty years later. In character, he
was ambitious and energetic, launching no less than seventeen military
campaigns in nineteen years and engaging in numerous building projects
for which he used a large slave-labor task force. His son, Amenhotep
II…seems to have suffered some serious reverse in his military resources for
he was unable to carry out any invasions or extensive military operations
after his fifth year (1445 B.C.) …This relative feebleness of his war effort (by
comparison with his father) would well accord with a catastrophic loss of
the flower of his chariotry in the waters of the Red Sea during their vain
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pursuit of the fleeing Israelites. Fig. 2: Thutmose III

Abraham had been told that his descendants would be “enslaved and mistreated
for four hundred years” and would return to the land of Canaan “in the fourth generation” (Gen. 15:13, 16).
Apparently, a generation in Abraham’s time was calculated at 100 years. Exodus gives the length more
precisely at 430 years (12:40), leaving room for some ten generations at the more normal calculation. From
the original 70 people who went to Egypt in the days of Joseph (Gen. 46:26-27), ten generations could very
well produce a population of over 600,000 fighting men (Num. 2;32) and possibly over two million people,
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including families.

2 Dennis J. Mock, Old Testament Survey (Atlanta: 1989), p. 28.
3 Gleason L. Archer, A Survey of Old Testament Introduction (Chicago: Moody Press,
1976), 228-229.
4 Ibid, 223.
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