“When They Approach the Old Testament, They Think It’s Boring”

We recently sat down with Gary Schnittjer to talk about why the Pentateuch is often read less frequently than other parts of the Bible, as well as some ways to encourage and deepen your study of the Pentateuch. Take a look:

One of the problems Christians have when they approach the Old Testament is they think it’s boring.

I think especially a book like Leviticus or Numbers or Deuteronomy—they’re not often read and studied carefully by Christians. They seem irrelevant and get sort of stirred up together. People say, “Well luckily Jesus came and we don’t need to worry about that.”

But that’s part of the tragedy in and of itself.

It’s fine to just say “love God, love others.” Who cares about the rest?

To love God and love others, to really figure out what they are—if they’re the sum of all the commands, then we should read and study and know what those commands are.

A course like this can really help someone begin to understand the Bible in a really significant way.

To study Genesis and Exodus with Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, and see how each of these books—Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, they're Genesis-shaped, and to see how the whole Scripture is fit together.

Gaining a strong understanding of Torah can especially be applied to interpreting all the rest of the Scriptures and can open up some significant new insights in Christian living and in Christian theology.

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Gary Schnittjer's new online course, The Torah Story, will be available soon.