What Books Of The Bible Are In The Torah?

Last updated on: August 20, 2015 at 6:13 pm by Jack Wellman

What Books Of The Bible Are In The Torah? 2015-08-20T18:13:45-05:00 Jack Wellman

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What are the books of the Bible referred to as the Torah?

The Torah is…

To the Jews, the most important document they have is the Torah. The Torah consists of the first five books of the Bible and is sometimes called the Pentateuch, meaning “five vessel book” or “five volume book.” The Torah contains the Mosaic Law, the Ten Commandments, the account of the Exodus, the origins of and the family lineage of the nation Israel which is also includes part of the linage for the Messiah, Jesus Christ. We know with certainty that Moses is the author as it says in Exodus 21:4 “Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said.” The Torah or Pentateuch ends with the death of Moses in Deuteronomy 34.

The Book of Genesis

The Book of Genesis in Hebrew is known as “Bereisheet” and means “in the beginning” and is taken from Genesis 1:1. This is the creation account of the universe, earth, and all plant life, animal life, sea life, and of course the creation of man and woman. This first book of the Bible gives us the beginnings of Judaism’s patriarchs and matriarchs, starting with Adam but also the beginning of the nation of Israel with Abram (later changed to Abraham).

The Book of Exodus

The Book of Exodus is also called the “Shemot” and in Hebrew means “the names.” This book gives us the vivid accounts of the Exodus of the nation of Israel out of their bondage to the Egyptians and the plagues which forced Egypt to release their grip on the people. This book also contains the timeless Ten Commandments and the instance where the Israelites made the golden calf and worshiped it at the very time where God was giving Moses and Israel the Ten Commandments so at the time the Ten Commandments were coming the mountain with Moses, they were already breaking them before even seeing them.

The Book of Leviticus

The Book of Leviticus is called “the calling” or “He called” which is from the Hebrew word “Vayikra.” This book deals with the duties of the Levitical priesthood and all of the necessary functions of their priestly duties. This book contains more about the holiness of the priesthood and the need for sanctification or moral purity than any other book in the Bible but more importantly, it says what it does about the requirements of the priesthood because of the holiness of God. The Book of Isaiah comes in a distant second in regards to the holiness of God.

The Book of Numbers

The Book of Numbers is from the Hebrew word “BaMidbar” and means “in the wilderness” because that is the main storyline of the book. This book covers the wanderings of Israel in the wilderness for forty years and their constant state of disbelief and disobedience, which to God are seen as the same thing. They never do reach the Promised Land in this book because of their unbelief in the promise that God will go before them.

The Book of Deuteronomy

The final book of the Torah is the Book of Deuteronomy and means, in the Hebrew, “D’varmin” or “Devarim” and means “second law” or “spoken words.” The Hebrew title is taken from the opening phrase Eleh ha-devarim which means “These are the words” and it gives an account of the final wanderings of the generation that came out of Egypt and most of them dying in the wilderness due to their disbelief in God and their refusal to cross over into the Promised Land because of their lack of trust in God and fear of those on the other side. This book ends with the death of Moses and the time just before the nation of Israel enters Canaan in the Book of Joshua.

Conclusion

The Torah or the Pentateuch consist of the first five books of the Bible and cover the creation of everything to the nation of Israel just about ready to cross over into the Promised Land. As I wrote earlier, this is the book that the Jews cherish more than anything, at least the Orthodox Jews do. Even those of the Islamic faith believe in this book. Contained within the Torah are the foundational principles of all Western law and morality which consist of the Ten Commandments.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon.

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