Genesis - the beginning of humanity, the first sin, the first promise of the Messiah, the line to Abram the first patriarch of Israel, all three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and wives had issued of barrenness, yet the Lord answered their prayers with His covenant of descendants and land. Genesis ends with Jacob's family, 70 including Joseph in Egypt. Exodus - the Israelites start enslaved in Egypt, they exit due to the miracle of Passover, the last of the 10 plagues, they end up at Mount Sinai with the building of the Tabernacle, the place where the Lord dwells among them. Leviticus starts and ends at Sinai - God is holy and people are not, so the Lord made a way of atonement so they could approach Him which is through the tabernacle and the sacrifices which the Levites were mediators for the people. Numbers - the first generation of Israelites to leave Egypt are at Mt. Sinai. where they take a census. They spy out the promised land, but due to disbelief, they were not allowed to enter, instead they had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until that generation died out. Then the second generation is now on the east side of the Jordan River, about to cross it to go into the promised land. They take a census of this new generation. Deuteronomy - Moses' last words to this second generation of Israelites. He gives then the law, and challenges them to stay faithful. Moses died, and Joshua now takes the leadership. Joshua - the people cross the Jordan River and take the promised land, and then it was allotted to the remaining 9 1/2 tribes. (2 1/2 tribes took land on the east side of the river. Yet they did not remove all the people and their gods from the land. Joshua called the people to obey the Lord, and the people said they would. Judges - Joshua is dead, Aaron's son, Eleazar the High Priest died, and the question arose, "Who will now lead us?" The cycle of Judges was explained. The Israelites were oppressed by the people of the land and their gods, so they cried out. The Lord raised up a Judge to fight for them, and then there was peace in the land while the Judge was alive. When the judge died, the Israelites fell back into sin with the gods of the land and intermarried with the people, and oppression came again. Chapter 3 covered three judges, Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar.
