Old Testament
The Torah
Pentateuch · חֻמָּשׁ · the five books of Moses
The Torah opens the Hebrew Bible and sets the frame for everything that follows: creation, covenant, exodus, law, and the shape of Israel as a people set apart before God.
It is read through in a yearly synagogue cycle, from Bereshit (Genesis 1) on Simchat Torah to the death of Moses on the same feast a year later.
Period
Narrated events span from creation to c. 1200 BCE; composition placed by tradition in the late second millennium BCE, by critical scholarship over the ninth to fifth centuries BCE.
Themes
- ·Creation and blessing
- ·Covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
- ·Exodus, Passover, and liberation
- ·Sinai, law, and holiness
- ·Wilderness, wandering, and preparation for the land
Authorship — traditional
Jewish and Christian tradition attributes the Torah to Moses, writing during Israel's forty years in the wilderness. The Talmud (Bava Batra 14b–15a) says Moses wrote his book and the account of Balaam, with the final eight verses of Deuteronomy (describing Moses' death) written by Joshua — or, in another opinion, dictated by God and written by Moses in tears. Later rabbinical tradition credits Ezra the Scribe (5th c. BCE) with re-establishing and stabilising the text after the exile; the Talmud says that had Moses not preceded him, Ezra would have been worthy to receive the Torah.
Authorship — historical-critical
Modern historical-critical scholarship, following the Documentary Hypothesis of Wellhausen and its later refinements, sees the Torah as an edited weave of earlier sources — Yahwist (J), Elohist (E), Deuteronomist (D), and Priestly (P) — brought together during and after the Babylonian exile, with a final redaction traditionally associated with the circle around Ezra in Persian-era Judah.
The books
Click a book to open it in the reader at chapter 1.
- Genesis50 ch
Narrated from creation to the death of Joseph (c. 1800 BCE); composed / edited between the monarchy and the Persian period.
Origins: creation, fall, flood, and the calling of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. The founding covenants of Israel are given, and the family goes down to Egypt.
- Exodus40 ch
Events set c. 13th c. BCE; composed / edited across the monarchy and exile.
Israel is enslaved, delivered through the Passover and Red Sea, and brought to Sinai where covenant, law, and the tabernacle are given. The book turns Israel from a family into a people.
- Leviticus27 ch
Sinai material of the exodus generation; final priestly editing in the exilic and post-exilic period.
Priestly instruction on sacrifice, purity, and holiness — 'you shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.' Its heart is the Day of Atonement and the Holiness Code (chs. 17–26).
- Numbers36 ch
The forty years in the wilderness; edited into its present form in the exilic era.
Two census lists frame a book about a generation that fails at the edge of the promised land. Complaint, judgment, and stubborn divine faithfulness.
- Deuteronomy34 ch
Set on the plains of Moab; core often linked to Josiah's reform (c. 622 BCE), final form in the exile.
Moses' farewell sermons: a re-telling of the exodus and law for the generation about to enter the land. Its 'love the LORD your God with all your heart' becomes the Shema of Israel.