Initially, I was gonna do this as a facebook post, and my plan was to keep it short and sweet. As I began writing, I found my thoughts just going and going. I eventually decided to cut it off and just do this as a blog since I haven’t done one in a while. Last night, I was sort of thinking on Torah, (or as most know it “The Law”), and the reaction many believers have about it when you speak of it, when suddenly, I felt compelled to address a few misconceptions. First off, the word in the Hebrew that was translated as “The Law” is Torah. When doing a Hebrew word study on this word, what one finds is that to use the word “Law” to define Torah is very vague. I read an example of this when doing my word study that said that using the word “Law” to describe Torah is about as accurate as using the word “disciplinarian” to describe Father. I’m sure we can both agree that although a father indeed is a disciplinarian, that there is so much more to fatherhood than just that. Looking in the Strongs Concordance 8451 we find the top two definitions of Torah as being “directions” and “instruction”. Usually when I do my Hebrew word study’s, although I may glance at Strong’s to see what it has to say, I prefer my Hebrew sources even the more. It seems a bit silly to look at a western cultured concordance on a Hebrew word that was written to a eastern cultured people, and then end my studies at that. When looking at the Hebrew sources, another word that stands out is the word “teach / teaching”, as a good definition for Torah. Although I am no scholar, in my humble opinion, this really defines Torah.
Growing up in a Christian church, and I base this solely on my own church experiences, I have to say, I was taught to view The Law as a bad thing. Iv’e heard countless preachers preach against the Law, citing that “We are saved by grace”, and that therefore because of grace, The Law no longer applies to me. Interestingly enough, I was never taught exactly what The Law was, and when they spoke of it, the only thing that really came to mind was The Ten Commandments, (another title erroneously translated). I never really knew what the Ten Commandments were, because it was never really taught on, but nonethelesss, it was still a bad thing. Furthermore, it wasn’t until I began to do my own studies on the word from the Hebrew perspective that I learned that there were actually 613 “Laws”. Not to be judgemental, but I really wonder how many believers actually will admit to NOT knowing that? And of those that say they did know, just how many of them have read all 613? Just being transparent, I will say that it wasn’t until the later part of last year that I actually did read them all. As a Messianic Jew, it is our tradition, for lack of a better word, to read our “Torah Portion” daily. By the end of the year, you will have read the entire Torah, (or the first 5 books of Moses, for those not familiar with this), and then you star over. This is done in accordance to Scripture, so that the Word of YHVH stays with us, and that we are constantly studying His teachings. Anyway, while doing mine, little by little I began to see first hand these “Laws” that I was taught were so bad. Amazingly, they were quite the opposite. As I read them, what I began to see was the “Kingdom mindset. There were countless teachings (commands) that governed how we interacted with one another. The overall theme was basically to lookout for your brother. An example would be Levitics 19:16 where it says not to stand idly by while another's life is in danger. There is also Leviticus 23:22 that speaks about not picking up all the crops off of your field that there may be some for the poor to have food. There are countless others like that dealing with our neighbor, strangers, the poor, livestock, and the list goes on. Does this really sound bad?
When I was in the beginning stages of my conversion, I had lots of questions for my friends who were fellow believers. I recall asking one about “The Law”, and her response, much like mines, was that The Law was dead and done away with. I began to ask her, exactly what about The Law was so bad. She really didn’t have an answer. She ended up talking about the Ten Commandments, and even in talking about that, she really couldn’t come up with any real point. As I began to read some of the “Laws” that I had come across, once again, there was nothing she could say that could explain what made the “Law” so bad. Searching for justification, she quickly pointed out the various penalaties inccured for breaking the “Law”. Although that is true, there were penalties for breaking the “Law”, these same laws were never the problem. Again, after reading them you see a picture of what the life that YHVH intended for us looks like. A life where everyone takes responsibility for themselves and one another. One of my favorite arguments against “The Law” or the Ten Commandments is when it comes to commandment number 4. For those who only know of the main ten commandments, and ot the other 603, it would seem that out of the ten, there is only ONE that gives them grief, and thats commandment number 4, Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy. everything else is fine, but to keep the Sabbath is almost like getting teeth pulled. My response to this is that to keep 9 of the 10 tells me that if they can pick their 9 to obey, and 1 to not, why does my 9 have to mirror yours? Why can’t I pick my own? That really sets them off, lol. Not to get off track though, the overall point is that most people that speak against “The Law” has first, misread the writings of Paul in the New Testament, and second, never read the 613 Laws, or for that matter, don’t even know there are that many.
Something else I want to address is the term “Law of Moses”. The Bible makes quite a few references to “The Law of Moses”. As I was meditating on this term, I saw some more flaws. First of all, how can a mere man give a Divine Law? Not only that, but a law that not only comes with a death sentence that no man, including Moses, could step around. Personally, I think this a bad term, especially when calling it a law. However, when you use an appropriate term such as “teaching”, it fits better. Not only that, but you have to consider the fact that YHVH himself gave these teachings to Moses, who in turn taught them to the people, since they were afraid to be in the presence of YHVH. This is ultimately how it was given the name “Law of Moses”. The point to all of this is simple though, Torah is not a Law, but a teaching. YHVH told Israel that this Torah was intended to show them how to behave once they possessed the land that He had given them. Israel was to be a light to the nations, and living Torah is what was to set them apart. Torah was a blessing, not a punishment. Within Torah is the standard that YHVH requires of His people, and in living it, it sets you apart from the rest of the nations, because outside of the realm of Torah is utter chaos. In the New Testament, Yeshua told the people that the two greatest laws (teachings) were to love the Lord with all your heart, soul and strength, and to love your neighbor as your self. He further said that on these two teachings hang all the Law and the prophets. In other words, the 613 laws (teachings) were summed up in these two commands. It actually goes deeper than that. Yeshua had 1050 commands in the New Testament. These 1050 teachings, (or laws if you still prefer), elaborate on the 613 teachings, that are actually subtopics of The Ten Sayings (Commandments), that are all rolled up into the two greatest according to Yeshua.
We really need to get away from calling Torah “The Law” because in doing so, we do Torah a great disservice. I believe that once we get beyond this, then we can actually see it the way David did, who proclaimed that the Torah of YHVH is perfect, converting the soul. These teachings are a beautiful thing, and if we could strive to live in them, we as a people would be so much further. Understand this, I am not saying live Torah to be saved, but live it because you are saved.
