I'm excited to study Ancient Egypt in-depth to give context to the life of Moses and the lives of the Israelites in the Book of Exodus, before we study the Book of Genesis which was authored by Moses. However, I have a question about the reasoning for using that sequence (Egypt and Exodus, then Genesis/Creation). I think the Notes say that Moses wrote the Book of Genesis to "encourage" the Israelites during the exodus/as they sought the Promised Land. The statement just sounded awkward to me. It sounds like it was a human decision instead of Holy Spirit-inspired. After all that time in Egypt I could see that they would need to be reminded of their orgins, their special identity, etc. but is there something specific in Scripture that says Moses wrote these 5 Books because he desired to "encourage" them?

Thanks for any clarification,
Beth Ann

Hi,
Well, we certainly don't know exactly why God told Moses to write it at the time that He did. However, we do certainly believe that the writing, regardless of when it fell in history, was Holy-Spirit inspired. I don't know of anything in Scripture that says this is the *why*, but some scholars do think it is a likely reason. And, for our purposes, really brings life to our study of Egypt.

If you prefer to study it in the alternate order, that's fine. Many have done so and had no trouble.

Hope this helps,

I"m glad you asked that Beth Ann. I had never heard or thought of that before, so I was wondering also where that came from. It does make sense though. I guess I would have just worded it that GOD wanted to encourage them, not Moses. KWIM?

Ann

I am way behind on this question. I read it when it was posted and kind of kept it in the back of my mind.

Today in week 3, we were reading in Exodus 17 about the battle with the Amalek's. At the end of that passage you find verse 14.

quote:

Then the LORD said to Moses, "(A)Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua, that (B)I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven."

I suspect that might be part of the reasoning behind the encouragement part. It certainly seems to indicate that Exodus was written before other of the 5 books.

However, my husband would be quick to remind us of the first question in the Westminster Larger Catechism and its answer.

quote:

Question 1: What is the chief and highest end of man?

Answer: Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.

So he'd say that's why.

I think it might simply be a wording thing. Pastor John Loftness, who wrote our Bible track for Year 1, says it that way. I personally have never taken issue with is because, "Man supposes, but God disposes." (See Genesis 50:20; Proverbs 16:1, 9; 19:21; and 21:1) In other words, many Bible passages and books are written in historical contexts for historical or situational reasons (as with Paul writing to the Galatians or Romans, for instance, to encourage or exhort them...) but the fact that a biblical author wrote to a certain group at a certain time doesn't make the work less inspired by the Holy Spirit or less applicable to us today.

Pastor John's position is that it would be easy to see why Israel would lose heart in the wilderness, wandering for forty years. Clearly, the content of Genesis was in Israel's oral tradition long before it was the book of Genesis, but there are no records of it being a book before the Israelites departed from Egypt. For instance, it doesn't say, "Write down the generations from Adam to Noah in a book..." as it does, for instance, in Exodus 17, or Deut. 27:8 or 31:19.

HTH!