The

New Jerusalem

Bible

READER’S EDITION

D O U B L E D A Y

NEW YORK LONDON TORONTO SYDNEY AUCKLAND

published by doubleday

a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.

666 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10103

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are trademarks of Doubleday, a division of

Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.

The Nihil obstat and Imprimatur are a declaration that a book or pamphlet is considered to be free from doctrinal or moral error. It is not implied that those who have granted the Nihil obstat and Imprimatur agree with the contents, opinions or statements expressed.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bible. English. New Jerusalem Bible. 1990.

The New Jerusalem Bible.—Reader’s ed.

p. cm.

I. Title

BS195.N375 1990

220.5’2062—dc20 89–39911

cip

Biblical text © 1985 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd and Doubleday,

a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.

Notes and Introductions © 1990 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd and Doubleday,

a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.

isbn 0-385-24832-6

isbn 0-385-24833-4 (pbk.)

All Rights Reserved

July 1990

The
Old Testament

Introduction to

The Pentateuch

Genesis and the next four books of the Bible (the ‘Pentateuch’ or fivefold scroll) form the basic torah or Law of Israel. They are the memorial of the beginnings of God’s people. They record God’s call to the patriarchs who followed him in trusting faith, the choice and formation of the people whom he called in the desert to be his own, and the way of life laid down for them to make them a people able to associate with the holiness of God. He is a God who saves his people, and by a series of covenants leading up to the great covenant on Sinai, commits himself to being their protector for always. Israel in its turn commits itself to fidelity as the holy people of God, who reveals himself to them in love and tenderness. Yahweh, the God of Israel did not pluck his people out of their surroundings, but educated them gradually, ‘leading them with human ties, with the leading-strings of love’ (Ho 11:3). These books draw on the folklore and traditions of Israel over many centuries, reflecting all the phases of the development of the life of the nation and its devotion to Yahweh. The memories of its origins are preserved in a variety of ways. There are personal stories of the great ancestors of the people, their attachment to Yahweh or their astuteness. Some stories are centred on particular localities, while others explain usages or provide legislation in the form of anecdotes. Two collections of these ancient memories were recorded, one about the time of King Solomon (c. 980 bc) and the other two centuries later after the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel (c. 720 bc). At the time of the Babylonian exile (587–538 bc) these were joined by a third body of tradition concerned mostly with worship and its origins and with genealogical and cultic matters. ...