Torah

     The TORAH of Moses

The first five books of the Scriptures (the Old Testament)
have been called the Books of Moses, and tradition has it that he
was the author.

They describe the creation of the universe and people, their
early history before and after the flood, the call to Abraham,
the story of his descendents into Egypt, their exodus under Moses
and Joshua into Canaan (the Promised Land), and a detailed list-
ing of the laws of God.

(Incidentally Jesus unequivocaally endorsed these laws as
written in Matthew 5:17-19, namely, "Till heaven and earth pass,
one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till
all be fulfilled." Also Luke 16:17)

           Genesis

Genesis describes how God created man and woman at first to
be immortal, and that they only became mortal after their Fall
by eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil.

Hundreds, or thousands of years later, "God saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth...And the Lord said, 'I
will destroy man...and beast...and fowls of the air`". (Gen. 6:5-
7)

However, "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord", built an
ark, filled it with his immediate family and two of every living
thing, and all within was saved from drowning from the Great
Flood.

Following the flood, Noah's three sons populated the whole
earth.

"Ham is the father of Canaan (Gen. 9:18), Japheth's des-
cendents populated the 'isles of the Gentiles' (Gen. 10:5), Shem
is the ancester of Abram (Father Abraham) (Gen. 11:10-26).

Somehow, the above division does not include the white people
of Europe; the black aborigines of Africa, India and Australia;
the varieties of brown and yellow people in Asia, nor the red
people of the Americas.

       God's Call to Abram

The Lord called Abram from Ur of the Chaldees to migrate to
Canaan, saying that He would make of Abram a great nation, by
which "all families of the earth shall be blessed". (Jesus ?)

Just before the death of Moses, the Lord showed he Canaan,
and said, "This is the land which I sware unto Abraham...saying,
I will give it to thy seed." (Deut. 34:4)

In Deut. 9:4-6, it reads that the Lord did not give Canaan to
the Israelites because they were righteous, but because its in-
habitants were wicked, they would be defeated.

          Comment

Nowhere in these five books is there any mention of a life
after death, or of a heaven and hell where the righteous are
rewarded and the wicked condemned to eternal hellfire.

Nor is there any mention of a "Messiah".

Although the Lord in general terms speaks of blessing Israel,
there is nothing to indicate that the Lord is interested in the
welfare of any other people.

Quite the contrary, the Lord decreed death to the Egyptian
army pursuing the Israelites out of Egypt.

Again, it reads, "For thou art a holy people unto the Lord
thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people
unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth."
(Deut. 14:2)

Torah