First Five Trees

Seeing both the forest and the trees of the Bible

03/28/2023

Nm 21:4-9 From Mount Hor the children of Israel set out on the Red Sea road, to bypass the land of Edom. But with their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, "Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!" In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died. Then the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you. Pray the LORD to take the serpents away from us." So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses, "Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live." Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

I am a big picture kind of guy. What I mean is that I do not like to focus so much on the "trees" that I lose sight of the whole "forest". That is why I love to look at maps because they allow me to zoom out and see the big picture of my whole trip: where I came from, where I am on the road, where my final destination lies, and how long it will take me to get there.

Now this is especially important when we read the Bible, we should not miss the forest for the trees. There are 73 “trees” or books that make up the “forest” of the Bible. But it is easy to get bogged down in the details of the trees of the books, and we can easily lose sight of the overall message and meaning of the great, dense forest of the Bible.

Would you mind if I painted for you the big picture of the first five books of the Bible? Those books are: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Of course a lot happens in those five books, but the basic story line is how humanity was created in Genesis, goes down into slavery in Egypt, is saved by passing through the Red Sea, receives the 10 Commandments on Mt. Sinai, worships the Golden Calf, wanders in the wilderness for 40 years, and finally Joshua leads them into the Promised Land.

I am convinced these five books, called the Pentateuch (literally “five scrolls”) is also the outline of our own lives as Christians. How so? Well, we are all born beautiful and innocent in our mother’s womb, as if in the Garden of Eden. But immediately we contract original sin and are contaminated by the idolatry of Egypt. We are saved from original sin by baptism, going through the death and new life of the Red Sea. As we grow we are taught the 10 Commandments. But we disobey them like teenagers do by worshipping the Golden Calf.

That golden bull symbolizes the three gods we waste our lives worshipping: money (the gold), sex (the virility), and power (the strength of the bull). As a result, we spend 40 years wandering in the wilderness, complaining to God, praying to God, and growing in grace. And finally, at the end of our earthly wanderings, a Joshua, which is another name for Jesus, leads us into the Promised Land of heaven. That is the big picture of the Pentateuch, and it fits rather neatly with the big picture of our Christians lives as well.

Now that we have glanced at the forest, let’s zoom in and take a closer look at these five trees of the Pentateuch. The fifty chapters of Genesis recount Adam and Eve’s creation all the way through Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and ends with Joseph. By chapter fifty, the 12 tribes of Israel have settled in Egypt and live comfortably (a little too comfortably) in Goshen, the primo real estate in Egypt, thanks to Joseph, who is second-in-command of the country.

We have been hearing from the second book of Exodus during Lent. Why? Well, because just as Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights fasting and praying on Mt. Sinai, so we spend 40 days doing penance so God will bless us. Exodus takes the people of Israel out of Egypt and to Mt. Sinai (covering about 3 months), where they tragically worship the Golden Calf. That is where that ancient maxim comes from: “You can take the people out of Egypt, but you can’t take Egypt out of the people.” In other words, their hearts were still back in Egypt even though their bodies were at Mt. Sinai.

Next comes the 27 chapters of Leviticus which covers the roughly one year timeframe the Israelites stayed at Mt. Sinai. You may remember that when the Israelites worshipped the Golden Calf, it was the tribe of Levi that took out their swords and slaughtered over 3,000 idolaters that day, their own kinsmen and families. From that point on, the tribe of Levi was ordained and became the priestly tribe. And Levi-ticus talks about their ordination, their role, and their responsibilities.

The next book is Numbers, and our first reading today, covers the following 38 years of wandering in the wilderness. The book takes its name (“Numbers”) from two censuses: the first one was taken when the people left Mt. Sinai, and a second one when the people arrived at the Holy Land. That is how I remember the meaning of Numbers – it refers to the two censuses at the beginning and at the end of the book.

The fifth and final book of the Pentateuch is Deuteronomy. And it is essentially one, long, tired, and tiring sermon by old Moses, who was 120 years old by then, droning on and on and on in the plains of Moab about how the people should obey God and reject other gods. Deuteronomy comes from two Greek words, deuteros and nomos, meaning “second law.” Why was a second law needed? Because the people could not keep the first law, the Ten Commandments.

So Moses, the great lawgiver, creates a long list of stipulations and even exceptions to the original law. And one of those exceptions is divorce in Deuteronomy 24:1. And Jesus will correct that in Mt. 19. And Moses dies on the plains of Moab within sight of the Promised Land, but unable to enter it. Why? Because only Joshua (Jesus) can lead us into the Promised Land of heaven. Now I hope you can see the forest and at least the first five trees of the Bible a little better.

Praised be Jesus Christ!