the account of the giving of Passover, the first real part of the Mosaic law in the Pentateuch. A better way is to adjust our understanding of the big idea. Perhaps another way of stating our big idea will help explain one of the most important facts about the Pentateuch, which is that it does not immediately deal with the Mosaic law. In this introduction, for illustration purposes, I will pursue a different big idea for the Pentateuch. I propose that the big idea of the Pentateuch is “the importance