Introducing The Law/The Torah

Torah is the Hebrew word usually translated into English as Law. However, to confine the meaning of Torah to just simply “Law” is an over simplification. The word Torah is derived from the Hebrew word Yerah defined as: 'to shoot out the hand as pointing, to show, indicate', 'to teach, instruct', 'to lay foundations', 'to sprinkle, to water', 'to shoot, as an arrow'.
Isn’t the last definition reminiscent of something? Throughout my life as a Christian I have always heard the use of the analogy of sin as missing the mark. This evokes the image of aiming an arrow, and with every decision made in life representing the execution of an arrow launched at a target. Yes this analogy is helpful, but what is the target? To what are we to place our aim?
Yerah, defined as “To shoot, as an arrow” is our arrow, and the Torah is our target! To transgress the Torah is to miss the mark/target.
Yerah begins with the Hebrew letter Yod which carries with it the symbolism of a hand. In contrast, the Hebrew word Lamadh also used sometimes to reference an instruction/teaching starts with the Hebrew letter L for Lammed, associated with the concept of an ox-goad used for disciplining an animal. The Law of Torah has more to do with instruction through the use of an informing hand pointing the way rather than the forceful rod of legalism.
Among the many definitions of Yerah is one other important concept: “To lay foundations”. The purpose behind the Torah is to lay a foundation for understanding the spiritual truths our father wished to communicate to us as his children. The Torah is an instruction manual for life, and the key to understanding the promises and fulfillment of scripture.
The Hebrew word for the Old Testament is an abbreviation of three Hebrew words: Torah (law/instruction) Nevi’im (the Prophets) and Ketuvim (the Writings). With the first letter of each word combined they form “TNK” or the “Tannakh”. The Torah is a reference to the five books of Moses and all the Laws of God included in the text. Although the Torah only includes the five books of Moses, The Old Testament establishes the Torah as synonymous with the “Word of the Lord.”
"And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we shall walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the Torah, and the WORD OF THE LORD from Jerusalem." – Isaiah 2:3
The Torah is a lamp and a light:
"Your word (Torah) is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. I have sworn, and will confirm it, that I will keep your righteous ordinances" – Psalms 119:105, 106.
“For the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching is light.” - Proverbs 6:23)
The Torah is Truth:
“Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law is truth.” – Proverbs 6:23
“You are near, YHVH, and all your commandments are truth” – Psalm 119:151
“The sum of your word (Torah) is truth, and every one of your righteous ordinances is everlasting.” – Psalm 119:160
The Torah is to be loved:
"O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day." Psalms 119:97
The Torah is a tree of life:
"My son forget not my TORAH: but let thine heart keep my commandments ... She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her. " – Proverbs 3:1,18
To reject the Torah is to reject the Word:
“…for they have rejected the TORAH of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.” – Isaiah 5:24
The Torah endures forever:
Your word is truth from the beginning: and every one of your righteous judgements endures forever.
(Psalm 119:160)
On the day of June 28, 2017 the news reported a man in Arkansas arrested for destroying a monument of the 10 commandments with his car. Incriminating evidence found online unwittingly posted by the perpetrator himself helped the authorities identify him. A video was posted of the driver revving his engine, screaming “Freedom!” before ramming his car right through 10 commandments. Ironically, a Christian song can be heard playing in the background before all the noise of the crash. This was not an act of defiance by an Atheist or member of an opposing religion. This was a Christian! I believe this is incredibly symbolic of the relationship that current Christianity has with God’s Law. It’s my observation that traditional Christianity offers only a vague understanding regarding what of God’s Law still applies to us as Christians. I think, most will agree that the 10 commandments (with the exception of the fourth commandment) still apply:
1. Do not have any other god before God
2. Do not make yourself an idol
3. Do not take the Lord's name in vain
4. Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy
5. Honor your mother and father
6. Do not murder
7. Do not commit adultery
8. Do not steal
9. Do not testify or fear false witness against your neighbor
10. Do not covet
Are we to covet our neighbor’s possessions as a Christian? Are we free to lie and give false testimony against our neighbor? Has the bondage of the prohibition against stealing been lifted for us a Christians? Does the New Covenant give us license to commit Adultery? An honest look at the 10 commandments reveals that adherence to just those 10 alone, can potentially yield dramatic improvements in a life. We just can’t live our lives without acknowledging the value and use of rules as protection. Rules are necessary in an airport flight line to direct the landing and takeoff of multiple planes in order to avoid monumental disaster. Traffic rules, traffic lights and stop signs are needed for the road in order to ensure order and protect the lives of hundreds driving through any given point in the city a day. In either case, the absence of order through Law would result in chaos and people dying. If laws are necessary regarding the mundane, preventing massive disaster for the: street corner, airport, hospital, etc. Then how can we disregard the Laws that God has revealed in order to protect us, bless us, to preserve order and harmony in our lives, to please him and soo much more? We are to regard the Torah as a treasure! I thank God for his Torah! It is more to be desired than fine gold:
"The TORAH of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes ... More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb." – Psalm 19:7,8,10
When Joshua faced the task of leading Israel to the Promised Land, God gave Joshua this word of advice:
“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” – Joshua 1:7-8
The word translated as meditate is the Hebrew word Hagadah, meaning to rehearse in speech: “to speak, talk, utter or mutter.” God was instructing Joshua to keep the law always on his lips, meditating/speaking, saying it day and night in order to know it to fully enough to prevent from breaking it. It was this practice; this unrelenting focus on his Torah that God tells Joshua would make him “prosperous and successful.”
The Orthodox Jews follow a practice called putting on the “Tefillin”; a black box on the head and on the arm that they wrap and secure on the body with leather straps. Inside each box is a scroll of the full Shema prayer.
They apply the Tefillin while reciting what is known to Jewish people as the Shema:
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might…”
This is the famous commandment reference that Jesus quoted in the gospels. If you read the Shema in Deuteronomy, you’ll find that it goes on from that one line made famous by Christ:
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as a reminder between your eyes…” – Deuteronomy 6:5
The orthodox approach of putting on the Teffilin is quite the literal fulfillment of God’s request. They bind the word of the Lord on their hand and on their forehead. I think the point is clear, with or without Tefillin, that God wants us to know his Torah (being reminded continually) and apply his Torah to our lives through our actions (a sign on our hand). The line that introduces this Deuteronomy 6 is paramount: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all you might. God then elaborates how we should do this: To keep, to know, to ever be reminded of his Torah and to obey it with our actions.
God’s greatest desire is for us to receive the blessings and protection that result from keeping and cherishing his Torah:
“Oh that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever!” – Deuteronomy 5:16

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