The Structure of the Torah

The Torah, divided into its five "books," presents a most complex and interesting structure, not at all following the narrative, chronological, or thematic "logic" that one might expect in terms of an organized, sequential presentation. I am convinced this Structure is far from haphazard or random. It was not one that accumulated editorially over history as this and that layer of material was added to a whole. Rather it represents a certain "worldview" or perspective. Just a few random examples or observations here, and I hope others might jump in on a fuller discussion. The years I give here are those of the "internal" chronology of the Hebrew text, bascially AC (after Creation) or as I would prefer (AA after Adam).

1. Chapters 1-11 of Genesis (Bereshit) cover the entire history of humankind down to b. of Abraham (1948 AA). This is rather amazing and makes on obvious point that I have often repeated--the Bible very quickly becomes the "story of one man's family."

2. From the birth of Abraham to the death of Moshe (2488 AA) is 540 years. Thus the Torah is essentially a narrative of this five hundred and forty year period, once you get to Genesis 12, ending in Deut 34.

What these two observations mean is that the Torah gives 8 chapters (Gen 4-11) to a 2000 year period, and then the rest of five books to a 500 year period.

3. However, within that 540 year period from the b. of Abraham to the death of Moshe, 160 years cover the life of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, and this period is covered in Genesis 12-50, leaving four entire books--Exodus through Deuteronomy to essentially cover the remaining 380 years--however, note, that the focus very quickly comes down to just the last 40 years, which means we essentially have Exodus 3 (when Moshe is 80) through Deuteronomy 34 covering only 40 years!

4. This means the focus of the Torah is very much on the last 40 years of Moshe's life, that is the period from the Exodus to the his death. This point alone is well worth pondering when one thinks of the five books of the Torah, but even within that 40 year period, to which 80% of the Torah is devoted, note the following points.

Exodus 3-40 covers less than two years--from the Exodus through the first year camped at Sinai

Leviticus falls within that same period, with Israel camped that first year at Mt Sinai, and based on Numbers 1:1 compared with Exodus 40:16 covers just one month of that period.

Numbers 1-10 covers events at Mt Sinai for 50 days, then chapters 11-18 begins with the narration of the journeying of Israel in the desert, leaving Mt Sinai, but chapters 20-26 deal exclusively with the last year of the 40 years of "wandering."

Deuteronomy is also devoted to the Teaching of Moses given during that last year of the 40 years.

Taking these narrative and chronological facts into consideration one can say about the Torah--it is first, the "story of one man's family," and secondarily, the account of Israel's experience first at the foot of Mt Sinai that first year, and second, the final year before entering the Land. The lessons learned during that three year period, at the beginning and end of the wilderness experience, become primary in terms of the Teaching of Yehovah to Israel--and thus to all humankind. That 75% of material is a mixture of Torot, Teachings, and Stories, or narrative examples of Israel's experiences, both negative and positive (what used to be called "Law" and "History").



What this means is the 37 years of the final 40 narrated by Exodus 3-Deut 34 are hardly covered at all, with the remaining three years of that history becoming the focus of the bulk of the Torah.

In other words, approximately 75% of the five volumes of Torah cover three years of the 540 of Israel's history from the b. of Abraham to the death of Moshe!

What this means is the Torah is primarily about the first year of the Sinai experience, camped at the foot of the Mountain, and the last year before the people entered the land.

As Moshe reminds them in Deut 1:2 it is only 11 days journey from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea.