THE BIBLE: ITS PENTATEUCHAL STRUCTURE
THE Bible as a whole has sixty-three books; Samuel, Kings,
and Chronicles being really only one each: our present division of them having
been adopted from the Septuagint. And 63 = 7 X 32. Here we have, then, the
symbol of perfection, and that of divine manifestation intensified,- "God
glorified in His perfectly accomplished work."
It is, as God's testimony
to man, divided into two parts, perfectly distinct, the Old Testament and the
New. ("Testament" and "covenant" are the same word in the original.)
In the
Old Testament, we have the Creator-God, sovereign and almighty. And here
thirty-six books (36 = 3 X 12) exhibit Him in holy and manifest government. In
the New Testament, we have God speaking in the Son, also Son of Man, the
Saviour. And its twenty-seven books (33) show us how He has gloriously
manifested Himself. Eight writers (the new-covenant number) carry us on to new
creation.
ITS PENTATEUCHAL STRUCTURE
THE five books of the Law
- far from being a comparatively modern compilation; are in fact the structural
basis of the whole Bible which consists of just five Pentateuchs, which
correspond, not in number only, but in respective lines of thought. Of these,
the Old Testament has four Pentateuchs, the New Testament, one. They compare as
follows:-
THE LAW | Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,Numbers, Deuteronomy |
THE COVENANT HISTORY | Joshua, Judges/Ruth, Ezra/Nehemiah/Esther, Samuel/Kings, Chronicles |
THE PROPHETS | Isaiah, Jeremiah/Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, The Minor Prophets |
THE WISDOM BOOKS | Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon |
THE NEW TESTAMENT | The Gospels, Acts, Paul's Church Epistles, Non-Pauline Epistles, Revelation |
Too large in character to have this justly exhibited in one table, the
relation of these books to one another must be sought in the analysis of the
individual books themselves, or of the sections to which they belong.
THE OLD TESTAMENT
THE main divisions of the Old Testament are,
then, four in number, each division being a Pentateuch. Four Pentateuchs, or 4
X 5, give us the number of the world and of trial, along with that of exercise
under divine government. The Old Testament is the earthly part of revelation,
addressed to the earthly people of God, though typically, of course, going far
beyond this.
Then it speaks also of the ages of probation and exercise,
especially under the law, times measured and characterized by the forty
centuries of their duration before Christ came.
The divisions are-
THE BOOKS OF THE LAW, in which are enforced God's almighty power and
sovereign rights.
THE COVENANT HISTORY. 2 is the number of legal
covenant, and this characterizes the whole. Thus it is a history of discord,
division, and the enemy's power, though with divine interventions in
deliverances, which stand as types and assurances of the final deliverance to
come.
THE PROPHETS then give us God's voice-the reasoning of divine
holiness with man, that he may be partaker of it, as it is seen in the visions
of the future he shall be, and the glory of God be then fully displayed.
THE PSALM-BOOKS are the books of experience and trial in the world,
- speaking of the lessons he has learned in it, the wisdom which is their
outcome, and the goodness of God which turns sorrow into song.
THE
LAW
The books of the Law have a double character; as literal history
and as spiritual type. Both need to be considered, the literal fact being the
necessary basis of the other; and in both respects the numerical structure is
significant, and the same. We have literally, then; -
Genesis : the ages
of promise, and the birth of Israel.
Exodus : the people redeemed and
taken into covenant with God.
Leviticus : their sanctification in view of
His holiness.
Numbers : their trial in the wilderness.
Deuteronomy :
the moral summing up as wisdom for the land.
Spiritually, the Christian
side; the Law as a whole signifies "the re- establishment of the authority of
God over the (new) creature."
Genesis : (new-)creation life.
Exodus :
redemption and fellowship with God through a Mediator.
Leviticus :
sanctification through the offering of Christ and the work of the Spirit.
Numbers : testing in the divine path through the world.
Deuteronomy : the
ways and end of divine government.
THE dispensational types seem to be
scattered through these books, coming out here and there into unmistakable
prominence, and then disappearing, always linked with, and apparently dependent
upon, the individual ones, which seem to extend throughout each book and the
whole series of books, and to be the thread upon which all else is strung. God
has been pleased thus to show us what to Him His saints individually are, and
to enforce upon us that personal walk with God which we see in that type of the
Church, Enoch.
It will be seen, moreover, that in this way the types are
exhibited, not as fragmentary and hap-hazard as to order, but in perfect
connection with each other and with the whole : a thing which certifies to us
their interpretation, and places it far beyond the possibility of being merely
conjectural, while it puts a wholesome restraint upon the imagination in the
things of God, and assures to our hearts the full inspiration of His entire
Word.
Let it be noted, too, that this typical meaning gives us alone to
see the real importance of many parts of these books, which as simple histories
would seem unworthy of the detail with which they are narrated. What, for
instance, should we make of the lengthy account of the mission to take a bride
for Isaac, if the mere history were all? As it is, although we have only
penetrated into it a little way, what is already seen cheers us, not only with
the precious things we find there, but also with the assurance of abundance to
reward our further search. Thus God would never allow us to shut up His Word as
if we knew it, but bring us to it again and again with fresh and ever-growing
delight and interest. May He grant it to all readers of this, and that by the
truth they may be sanctified.
Excerpted from F. W. Grant's The
Numerical Bible, Volume 1 - The Pentateuch (1890)
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