The Old Testament Expounded, Part 2

As we saw in the previous teaching, the OT is divided into 5 sections. We started by looking at the books of Poetry and Wisdom, in depth. Today we look at the 5 first 5 books of the OT, drawing lessons from them. 

B. The Torah

1. Genesis

Genesis has 50 chapters, and has 8 structures in itself. Again, it is important to know these structures, so that one can know where to start when led to study the book of Genesis. 

• Genesis 1-2: Talks of the creation
  
• Genesis 3-5: Talks of the fall of man
  
• Genesis 6-9: Talks of the flood
  
• Genesis 10-11: Talks of the tower of babel
  
• Genesis 12-23: Talks of Abraham
  
• Genesis 24-26: Talks of Isaac
  
• Genesis 27-36: Talks of Jacob
  
• Genesis 37-50: Talks of Joseph.

God is revealed; He is not studied. Many people start from Genesis with an aim of studying God. They miss it even before they get started. When you decide to start studying the Bible to know God, open up your heart for Him to reveal Himself to you. Seek revelation, not information. 

The structures in the book of Genesis will help you to understand the dealings of God with man. When you want to study the  book of genesis, you can pick one of these structures and study either Abraham, Isaac and so on.

As you can see from the above chart, from Adam to Noah, there were 10 generations (1 Chronicles 1:1-4). From Noah to Abraham, there are 10 generations. God is very deliberate in all He does. Numbers in the Bible are not just numbers; they have meanings. Here are a few numbers, with their meanings, as used in the Bible:

• The number 1 stands for unity: God is One
  
• The number 2 stands for to divide, judge, or set apart
  
• The number 3 means to conform to an image of something, to complete it. Forms an image of something
  
• The number 4 means the number of the world
  
• The number 5 means the number of serving, work
  
• The number of 6 is the number of man
  
• The number 7 is the perfect number of God; the number of completion
  
• The number 8 is the number of new beginnings
  
• The number 9 means the number of fruit or harvest
• The number 10 means to be tested, weighed, tried, so that it can be seen whether you are accepted or rejected
  
• The number 100 is the number of fullness
  
• The number 1,000 is the number of maturity.

Here is the meaning of these words also, as used in the chart:

• Theocracy means “God rulership”. As indicated in the chart, this happened between the time of Abraham and David.
  
• Monarchy means “rulership by kings”. As indicated in the chart, this happened between the time of David and Jechoniah.
  
• Hierarchy means “rulership by sons”. This rulership started when Jesus came, where He started ruling as a Son, and this period continues to date. 

God intended for man to live for 1,000 years (1,000 being the number of maturity), then he obtains a perfect body like Jesus’, one that cannot perish or decay. This is why there was always an attempt for man to reach 1,000 years, such as Methuselah (969).

If there is anyone who is very cautious with the word of God is the devil. He knows that when God speaks, it will come to pass. When he heard God say that the seed of the woman shall crush his head (Gen. 3:15), he started seeking to destroy the seed of a woman, henceforth, such as through Sodom and Gomorrah, corrupting the seed of man, or trying to merge the seed of man with that of angels, to corrupt this seed (Gen. 6:1-2). The devil does the opposite of what God says. This is why he entered and corrupted Nimrod, who instead of getting people to fill the earth and spread, got them to get together and try to reach heaven (Gen. 11).

Let's now study the story of Abraham, and draw lessons from it. His story started in Ur, as you can see in the chart below, from point 1a. 

Genesis 11:27-28

This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot.

²⁸ And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah. ³⁰ But Sarai was barren; she had no child. ³¹ And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. ³² So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.

Upon getting to Haran, though they were headed to Canaan, they stopped and dwelt there. If God instructs you to embark on a journey, whether spiritual or physical, do not stop there; proceed till you get to where He intended you go. 

Genesis 12

Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you.

God told Abram to get out of three settings (country, family, father’s house). There was a reason for this.

Mark 6:4

But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house."

When God wants to call you, He will call you out from your own relatives. If God has not sent you, do not bother preach to your relatives, as you are without honour to them. God told Abram to leave his country, family and father’s house because he had no honour while with them.

Abraham went to Egypt before Joseph got there (Gen. 12:10). When he got in trouble with Pharaoh, he went to Canaan (Gen. 13:1-3). While he was here then, there was no beauty here then. This was because the land was not yet ready.

God spoke a blessing upon Abraham, that was fulfilled more 430 years later (Gen. 15:13). God’s word can take years to be manifest; do you have the patience?

God operates through times and seasons (Gen. 18:10). Discern the times and seasons of God, and walk with Him.

God can stop you from sinning, just as He stopped Abimelech from sleeping with Sarah (Gen. 20:6), by getting you through the tempting the situation. It starts with fearing Him. 

The same mountain that God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac is the same mountain Solomon built the temple, Mt. Moriah (Gen. 22:2, 2 Chr. 3:1). There is a significance in this. That is the mountain on which God chose to be worshiped on, both by Abraham and later by the whole nation of Israel. 

Abraham is a picture of God, Sarah that of Israel. The picture of Sarah dying (Gen. 23) was the picture of Israel departing from God. The link between Genesis 23 and 24 is very important. Gen. 24 is where Abraham asks Eleazar to go get Isaac a wife, right after Sarah died. Isaac is a picture of Jesus, while Rebecca is a picture of the church. When Israel rebelled against God (Sarah dying), God sent Jesus to die for the church, to redeem her, which is represented by Isaac acquiring Rebecca, as a wife.

When you want to understand the details of the OT, the 12 sons of Jacob form the core of the OT, starting Gen. 29-30.

Jacob prophesied of Jesus’ coming, being birthed from the lineage of Jesus (Gen. 49:10). That is how deliberate God is, concerning His Word, and speaking it before doing it (Amos 3:7). 

By crossing the hands in blessing Manasseh and Ephraim, Jacob was prophesying that Israel, being the first born, will reject God, and the younger son, the Gentiles, would overtake Israel and take up their blessing and inheritance. This is why Ephraim took the firstborn’s blessings, over Manasseh, who was the rightful firstborn.

Joseph was not given land because:

• ·         Manasseh and Ephraim took up from him, with his blood
  
• ·         Joseph is one of the few people who finished their purpose completely, on earth. His work was done.

2. Exodus

The burning bush is the core of the calling of Moses. The bramble (thorn) bush represented a curse. The fire represented a test. The burning bush meant that the test the children of Israel, who were under a curse, were going through, was not going to destroy them. The tests of life cannot consume you.

Pharaoh was raised to demonstrate God’s power (Ex. 9:16, Ps. 62:11, Rom. 9:13-17). God raised him for His purposes. We may not fully understand the ways of God, but one thing stands: He is just and good. 

The splitting of the Red Sea was one of the most significant events in the Bible. The parting of the Red Sea and the children of Israel walking on dry land, with heaps of water on the side is a shadow of believers dying, and walking to heaven, with demons watching on the side.

Exodus talks of the introduction to the tabernacle. God dwells in a temple, in heaven. The earthly tabernacle was created after the pattern of the heavenly tabernacle.

There is:

• ·         The most holy place, which is surrounded by cherubims. This is where God dwells
  
• ·         The holy place. This is where the golden altar is, where prayers are presented
  
• ·         The court: this is the outer court.

On the earthly temple, there is a veil that separated the holy place from the most holy place. It is from the holy place that sacrifices were offered, that the golden altar incense was found. Priests offered sacrifices from the holy places.

A man is called the temple of God because he is designed in the same pattern as the pattern of God’s dwelling place, in heaven:

• ·         The most holy place: the spirit man
  
• ·         The holy place: the soul
  
• ·         The court: the body

The spirit is where God dwells, as it is the most holy place. In your spirit, you have the blessings, gifting, callings, etc. Just as there was a veil separating the holy place form the most holy place in the earthly and physical temple, there was always a veil separating the spirit from the soul; the veil was broken, so that all the things that are in the spirit can permeate to the soul and be manifested in one’s life. This veil is removed when we turn to Christ (2 Cor. 3:15-16). The soul is the hindrance to the things that are in the spirit from being manifested. The soul is where the prayers are made, and where the 7 lampstands described in Isaiah 11 are found. The soul needs knowledge, counsel, might, wisdom, fear of the Lord etc. The soul needs prayers and the word of God, and the 7 lampstands.

God honours your body, as it is His temple, which is why He warns us against destroying our bodies, or sinning against them. God wanted to step out of the tabernacle He stayed at in heaven, and move in the tabernacle that Moses made. All the while, He was eyeing to dwell with man, and man with Him. This is why God recreated man in Christ Jesus, so that He could dwell in His Spirit man. This is also why God said that a time was coming, and now is the time, when He would no longer dwell in a temple made by man’s hands, but that which He made Himself, through Jesus Christ.

3. Leviticus

This shows us a picture of the holiness of God, and His standards of holiness. Despite being neglected by many, Leviticus and other OT books are written for your learning.

Romans 15:4

For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

One of the things mostly talked about in the book of Leviticus is leprosy. Leprosy was a picture of sin. Lepers were not healed; they were cleansed. Just a sin is not healed, leprosy was not healed. If you want to know how God deals with every sin, study Leviticus 13 and 14. The types of leprosy discussed here are pictures of the types of sin. This is why lepers were always sent to priests, who were not doctors. The priests used to help with the atonement of sins, and the cleansing of lepers, or declaring lepers cleansed.

The other thing mentioned in the book of Leviticus is warning against eating some specific animals. This, too, was done for a reason, as a picture of things to come. 

Leviticus 11:2-3

Speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'These are the animals which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth: ³ 'Among the animals, whatever divides the hoof, having cloven hooves and chewing the cud-that you may eat.

Physically, God was talking about eating, but spiritually it signified listening and receiving words.

“Parting the hooves” means sitting where the Old and New Testament is being broken. It also means a believer who has left his old ways and taken up new ways; leaving the broad way and taking the narrow.

Acts 2:3

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

“Cloven hooves” represents the Spirit of God. This signifies one who has departed the old ways, joined new ways, and is under the Spirit of God. “Chewing cud” represents meditation on God’s Word. The cow was created with the ability to chew cud to teach us a lesson. The revealed Word is received during meditation.

Leviticus 11:4

'Nevertheless these you shall not eat among those that chew the cud or those that have cloven hooves: the camel, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you;

There are some people who meditate, but have not departed from their old ways, joining new ways. Such are dwelling on either the OT or the NT only, or do not have the Spirit of God. These are what are represented by verse 4.

Not mixing clothes as talked about in Leviticus just warns against mixtures, when it comes to spiritual matters.

Leviticus 19:2

Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.

This is the summary of the book of Leviticus, revealing to people the standards of God.

4. Numbers

Everything in the OT is done by the 12 tribes (Num. 1). This is why 12 spies were sent to Canaan (Num. 13:1). The children of Israel had to be numbered (organized), for them to be led to Canaan. If you want to get to and achieve your purpose, you have to be organized.

The 38 years that the children of Israel roamed around in the wilderness is a picture of the 38 years that the man had stayed by the pool of Bethesda. The way God delivered them is the same way Jesus delivered that man.

The book of Numbers sheds more light on God as a God of order. 

5. Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy speaks to the generation that was born in the wilderness, Moses repeating what God taught him in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, to the new generation. The old generation perished in the wilderness, so God had to re-introduce His laws and ways to the new generation, through Moses. Deuteronomy is called the book of obedience, the book of the 2^nd law. When Jesus was tempted by the Devil, he only quoted Deuteronomy (Deut. 8:3, 6:16, 6:13).  

Deuteronomy portrays how specific and serious God is when it comes to obedience, and recounts the journey of the children of Israel, right from the time they left Egypt. 

This is just a summary of the first 5 books, and I pray that you will now desire to know God more through these books, to understand the nature and characteristics of God, judging from the way He dealt the children of Israel. Desire to know God more, and walk with Him. Let Him reveal Himself to you, every day. 

Ps. Next week we will continue looking at the other 3 divisions of the OT, drawing lessons from them. 

Blessings. 

-- Teacher Sammy Nyanjom

(09/11/14 Sunday Service Sermon, Teaching Transformation Ministry.) 

Teacher Samny is a friend of Teaching Transformation Ministry. We are located along the Thika-Ruai Flyover Junction (at the Thika Rd./ Bypass intersection), Next to Eastgate Restaurant.