Come To The River: A Short Survey Of The Bible

By Judith Folse

A Short Survey of the Bible presents an overview of each book of the Bible in plain English. It is intended to be used as introductory and background material for each book to increase comprehension of the Bible as one cohesive story of God's plan of redemption for mankind. It is a great tool for those new to Bible study, and can also serve as a reference tool for those more familiar. Included with the summary of each book are questions to guide the reader through central themes in each book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: May 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781646702084

Book preview

Books of the Bible

Old Testament

It is sometimes helpful to think of the Bible as a collection of books on a bookshelf or a library. There are forty-six books in the Old Testament, grouped into four general types: law, poetry or wisdom, history, and prophecy.

New Testament

The New Testament is comprised of the Gospels or the good news of Christ’s ministry on earth, history (in the Acts of the apostles, the epistles or letters of the early church in the Apostolic Age), and prophecy (in the book of Revelation).

The Law

The first five books of the Bible, in Greek called the Pentateuch, include Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. In Hebrew, they are known as the Torah, or the Books of the Law, because they contain the commandments of God, handed down to Moses at Mt. Sinai after the Exodus from Egypt, as well as other instructions to the nation of Israel for worship and daily living.

These books also comprise the first section of the Bible known as the History books of the Old Testament, along with the books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth. They are an essential part of the entire Bible, giving the spiritual history of the human race from the beginning. It tells the story of God’s plan to redeem mankind through the formation of a holy nation, the nation of Israel. It is the story of how God called a man, Abraham, from a pagan land and built this man into a family, then a tribe, then a nation through his descendants, Isaac, Jacob, and the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel.

Today, the historicity of much of the Bible is being corroborated through new archaeological discoveries, which are tending to prove their reliability, although the value of the Scriptures is not dependent upon their historical value. Rather, they are the timeless and inspired Words of God, as relevant to life today as they were to the ancients, answering the deepest questions of man and his relationship to a transcendent God.

Reading the history books of the Old Testament will give readers the foundation needed to understand the rest of God’s story.

Genesis: The Creation and Fall of Man

Summary

God created the heavens, earth, and man to live in fellowship with Him. Man chose to disobey God, and the world fell into sin. Corruption and violence become widespread, and God judged man with the Great Flood. God implemented a plan of salvation to restore mankind back to Himself. As a first step, God called Abram to be the father of the nation of Israel. Due to a famine in the second generation of this family, the family descended into Egypt to survive.

Key Verses

Then God said, Let there be light, and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)

Questions: What materials and methods did God use to create the world? Do we need to know the exact answer to this question?

Now, the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals that the Lord God had made. (Genesis 3:1)

Questions: Did God create Satan? Exactly how did Satan deceive Eve?

When the LORD saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth, and how no desire that his heart conceived was ever anything but evil, He regretted that He had made man on the earth, and His heart was grieved. (Genesis 6:5–6)

Questions: What did God ask Adam to do in Genesis 1:28. Did he succeed?

I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. (Genesis 9:13)

Question: What were the terms of the covenant?

The LORD said to Abram: Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land I will show you. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you. (Genesis 12:1, 3)

Question: Was salvation intended for the nation of Israel alone or for the entirety of mankind?

I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are now staying, the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession: and I will be their God. (Genesis 17:8)

Question: Why would God promise the land of Canaan to the Israelites when it was inhabited by the Canaanites?

Joseph remained in Egypt, together with his father’s family. He lived a hundred and ten years. (Genesis 50:22)

Questions: How many people went to Egypt? Is Abraham’s people now a nation or a large family?

Exodus: Descent and Deliverance from Slavery

Summary

Exodus tells the story of the development of the family of Abraham into the nation of Israel as they dwelt in Egypt and fell into the corruption of slavery that made them call to the Lord for deliverance. God heard their cries and delivered them in one of the epic stories of the Bible, the Passover and Exodus from Egypt. In the desert of Sinai, God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments, but sadly, even before Moses returned to them with the Law, they were worshipping a golden calf they made for themselves. God delayed their entry into Canaan for a generation. As they wandered in the desert, God instructed them to build a tabernacle so the Lord was with them in the wilderness.

Key Verses

Then a new king, who knew nothing of Joseph, came to power in Egypt. Yet, the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread. The Egyptians, then dreaded the Israelites and reduced them to cruel slavery. (Exodus 1:8, 12–13)

Questions: Do individual leaders matter? How did the original arrangement with Joseph turn into cruel slavery?

There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in fire flaming out of a bush. God called out to him from the bush: Moses! Moses! He answered, Here I am. Come now! I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. (Exodus 3:2, 4, 10)

Questions: Does God hear our cries for help? Did God have a plan to deliver the Israelites?

After that, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Let my people go, that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the desert. And you, lift up your staff and, with hand outstretched over the sea, split it in two, that the Israelites may pass through it on dry land. (Exodus 5:1, 14:16)

Questions: Did Pharaoh heed the request of Moses? Did the Israelites witness a miracle in the splitting of the sea?

The LORD also told him, I am coming to you in a dense cloud, so that when the people hear me speaking with you, they may always have faith in you also. Then God delivered all these commandments. They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them, making for themselves a molten calf and worshipping it, sacrificing to it, and crying out This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt! (Exodus 19:9; 20:1, 32:8)

Questions: Why did God give the Law to the Israelites? Why do you think they made a golden calf, even after witnessing their deliverance at the Red Sea?

Leviticus: Approaching a Holy God

Summary

Leviticus contains God’s instructions to Israel for purification of worship to Him. Two methods of sacrifice are given—the burnt (animal) and grain or cereal sacrifices—to be used as peace, sin, and guilt offerings. God specifically prohibits the sacrifice of humans, especially children, common in pagan rituals. He also set the rituals for ordination of priests and holy days, or feasts of the Sabbath, Passover, First Fruits, Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Booths. He also asks for observance of Sabbatical and Jubilee years, daily sacrifice, and placing perpetual lights in front of the veil to the Holy of Holies.

Key Verses

He also poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head, thus consecrating him. (Leviticus 8:12)

Questions: What does it mean to consecrate? Why did God consecrate priests? Why was oil used to anoint?

Moses and Aaron went into the meeting tent. On coming out they again blessed the people. Then the glory of the LORD was revealed to all the people. Fire came forth from the LORD’S presence and consumed the holocaust and the remnants of fat on the altar. Seeing this, all the people cried out and fell prostrate. (Leviticus 9:23–24)

Question: What is the glory of the Lord?

The LORD said to Moses, Tell the Israelites: Anyone, whether an Israelite or an alien residing in Israel, who gives any of his offspring to Molech shall be put to death. Let his fellow citizens stone him. I myself will turn against such a man and cut him off from the body of his people; for in giving his offspring to Molech, he has defiled My sanctuary and profaned My holy name. (Leviticus 20:1–2)

Questions: Why was God turned against the Canaanites? Does this verse give insight into his judgment against them?

Sanctify yourselves, then, and be holy; for I, the Lord, your God, am holy. Be careful therefore, to observe what I, the Lord, who make you holy, have prescribed. (Leviticus 20:7–8)

Question: Why did God want His people to be holy?

The LORD said to Moses, Speak to the Israelites and tell them: The following are the festivals of the LORD, my feast days, which you shall celebrate with a sacred assembly. (Leviticus 23:1)

Questions: Why was God so specific in His instructions for sacred assemblies? Is it important how we approach God?

Keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. I am the LORD. (Leviticus 26:2)

Question: Why is it important to heed the instructions of the Lord?

Numbers: A Nation Matures in the Desert

Summary

Numbers is the story of the forty-year sojourn of the nation of Israel in the desert, prior to their entering the Promised Land, as He equips the new generation to continue His plan of redemption. God asks for two censuses to be taken—one at the beginning of their time and one at the end. The first census numbers men of military age at 603,550. In the second census, the same group numbered 601,730. God sustained the nation of Israel during their time in the desert and replaced the generation that did not obey with a new generation He matured through their time in the desert. Numbers also gave some additional instructions for how to offer worship to the Lord. As the time comes to enter the land, God commissions Joshua to take them into the land, replacing Moses since he failed to manifest the sanctity of God to them when he struck the rock in Numbers 20:11, a leadership failure, requiring a new leader for a new generation.

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