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Whenever
you hear the words "commandments", "law", or even
"Torah", I'm sure you're inundated with images of God in a military
uniform, barking orders of what you are, or are not to do. Failure to abide by these rules are grounds
for punishment, no matter the reasoning.
What if I told you that our Western way of thinking forces us to paint a
far different picture than the author (in this case, God) intended? In a world now in chaos, what better way to
bring order and liberty for the people you love, then to show them how to
remove disorder in their lives, despite living in a world of dysfunction.
Hebrew
vs Modern Thought
In
the West, we pride ourselves in having our society founded on the concepts of
the great Greek philosophers, who felt that there was no force greater than
"the power of an idea." We, as
they did then, think in vague abstractions; concepts that are not found within
the realm of the five senses. But for
the nomadic tribes of the Hebrews, they did not have, nor like this way of
thinking, but established their language on observations found in their
everyday life. I'll use brackets to
emphasize original Hebrew manuscripts.
1 Samuel 20:34
And Jonathon rose up from
table with [burning nose]
So Jonathan arose from the
table in fierce anger... KJV
The
Hebrew for burning nose, "aph" [Strongs: 639], can also mean “a flaring
of the nostrils in anger," and is something we observe when people
actually get angry. We in the West also tend
to place adjectives onto objects based on how they appear, where as the Hebrew
writers liked to use verbs, and focused on the function of the object they were
observing. Root words, with its base
description, act as anchors for words that are built from them. For example, the word "ar" is an
enemy, which is found within the word "sho'ar" which is offensive or
vile, or "arav" is to grow dark.
Much of the meaning of a word can be found through its root, which can
help to confirm or correct our understanding of a word built from it.
As
the West focuses on abstract concepts, and describes things based off of how
they appear, we have to question whether or not we are perceiving the content
correctly that has been given to us by the ancient writers. We should not define words based off of our
modern definitions, but rather how they were understood then. Was "Commandments" or "the
Law" the right English words to use to describe the objects given to Moses
on Mount Sinai, and how could David find such delight in something that was
supposed to be "a curse" in the New Testament?
The
Path of Life.
We,
like the nomadic Hebrew tribes, go through life struggling to provide for our
families, and prepare our kids for the type of world that we live in. As an agrarian society, their life consisted
of following paths from one watering hole and green pasture to the next,
strategically ordering their moves, unsure when the next meal is going to be. Like them, we wander through the cities in a
constant state of disorder, fear, distraction, trying to grasp ahold of
something that will remove this "daily grind".
Psalms 23:1 – 4
"[Yahweh] is my
shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me
[beside waters of rest]. He restores my
soul. He leads me [in right paths] for his name’s sake. Even though I walk
through the [valley of deep darkness] I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me."
When
God pulled the Hebrews out of Egypt, and freed them from their bondage, they
agreed to follow Him and everything that He directed them to do.
Deuteronomy 26:17
"You have declared
today that [Yahweh] is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep
his statutes and his commandments and his rules, and will obey his voice." ~ ESV
Deuteronomy 33:3 – 5.
"Yes, he loved his [peoples];
all his holy ones were in [your] hand; so they followed in your steps, receiving
direction from you, when Moses commanded us a Law, as a possession for the assembly of Jacob. Thus [Yahweh]
became king in Jeshurun,"
The
most common word people recognize as being associated with the Old Testament is
the above word "Law", which comes from the Hebrew word
"Torah" [Strongs: 8451], which is derived from the root word
"yarah" [Strongs: 3384] literally meaning to cast or point.
Exodus 15:4
“Pharaoh’s chariots and his
host he cast (yarah) into the
sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea." ~ ESV
1 Samuel 20:36
“And he said to his boy,
“Run and find the arrows that I shoot
(yarah).” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him." ~ ESV
Exodus 15:25
"And he cried to
[Yahweh], and [Yahweh] showed (yarah)
him a log." ~ ESV
Leviticus 10:11
"and you are to teach (yarah) the people of
Israel all the statutes that [Yahweh] has spoken to them by Moses." ~ ESV
From
these verses we can see that the verb "yarah" not only speaks about
casting physical objects (Exodus 15:4, 1 Samuel 20:36) but can be attributed to
causing someone else to cast their gaze (Exodus 15:25) to point out a particular
object, or to point out certain ideas (Leviticus 10:11). From this verb can be found two nouns,
"moreh" [Strongs: 3384] meaning "teacher", and "torah"
meaning "teachings", the directions pointed out by the teacher.
Proverbs 5:13
"I did not listen to
the voice of my teachers
(moreh)…" ~ ESV
Proverbs 1:8
"Hear, my son, your
father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching (torah)," ~ ESV
To
view the Torah (commonly the first five books of the Bible) as the
"Law" is like giving our earthly fathers the title of
"enforcer". If following God's
template, their duties here are much more than just to punish us when we do
something wrong. Like our heavenly
father, their "instructions and teachings" guide us along our path to
maturity and help us cope with the realities we will face growing up. We are not praised so as to just reinforce
obedience, but for rightly understanding and applying what we've been
shown. Likewise, we are not punished for
not meeting expectations, but praised for our efforts and counseled on future
encounters, except on the accounts of willful disobedience.
So
too God gives us, His children, His Torah in the same way.
Psalms 94:12
"Blessed is the man
whom you discipline [Yahweh], and whom you teach out of your teachings (torah)," ~ ESV
If
God is trying to point out or teach us something, what is it, what in His
Teachings are doing the pointing? In
Deuteronomy 26:17, and many others, we hear that Israel has accepted the
responsibilities of being the chosen people of God by participating in certain
statutes, commands, and rules laid out by God.
However, did Israel see God as just another Pharaoh, ruling over them
with an iron fist, dictating their every move?
If we were to use our English understanding of the word command, certain
people would say yes.
Deuteronomy 6:25
"And it will be
righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all these commandments (mitsvah) before [Yahweh] our God, as he has
commanded us.’"
The
word commonly translated to commandment comes from the word "mitsvah"
[Strongs: 4687], and is based off of the root verb "tsavah" [Strongs:
6680].
Exodus 16:24
"And they laid it up
till the morning, as Moses bade:
(tsavah) and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein."
Deuteronomy 1:19
"And we departed from
Horeb and walked through all that great and fearful wilderness which you saw by
the path of the mountain of Amorites just as Yahweh our God directed (tsavah) us and we came
unto Qadesh Barnea."
While
I'm sure you've noticed, you'll find in most translations, the above word
"directed" is more often translated to "commanded" or
"ordered", which is what gives us the imagery of God as a general
barking orders. But based on what we
understand about word structure, and the words we have been introduced to so
far, the motif of a teacher pointing out the way to solve our problems, doesn't
seem to fit the idea of being ordered to do so.
A teacher directs us towards a problem, guiding us along a path towards
finding the solution, and whose end goal is to instill in us confidence to be
able to solve it every time. This
accomplishment is what brings us joy, because not only are we proud of
ourselves through Him, there is fulfillment knowing the Father is proud of us
as well.
Psalm 119:10
"With my whole heart I
seek you; let me not wander from your directions
(mitzvah)!"
Psalm 119:32
"I will run in the way
of your directions (mitzvah)
because you have enlarged my heart!"
Psalm 119:35
" Lead me in the path of your directions (mitzvah), for I
delight in it."
Psalm 119:176
" I have gone astray like a lost sheep;
seek your servant, for I do not forget your directions
(mitzvah)."
The
Greek used to translate the Hebrew word "mitsvah" is εντολη entole [Strongs:1785]
combining two words, εν en [Strongs:1722], meaning “in” or “with,” and τελος
telos [Strongs:5056] meaning “end” or “goal.”
Again, like a teacher's instructions, every one of their
"directions" comes with an "end goal" in mind, guiding you
or pointing you towards a solution or path to success. The disciples themselves wondered what the
end goal of the teachings were, what was the great direction or instruction?
Matthew 23:36 – 40 (from
Shem Tov Hebrew Matthew)
"'Teacher, which is
the great direction (entole/mitsvah) in the Teachings (torah)?' And he said to
him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first direction (entole/mitsvah).
And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two
directions (entole/mitzvah) depend all the Teachings and the Prophets.'"
For
Jesus, the question wasn't asking which one of the instructions were the most
important, but rather, what was the direction the entire teachings were pointing
us. Love the Lord with everything you
are, and love your neighbor as yourself.
From these two, all the rest of the Scriptures come together.
A
related set of words from the verb "tsavah" (to direct), and the noun
"mitzvah" (direction), comes the root "tsiy" [Strongs:
6716] (nomad: ship), as one who wanders the "tsiyah" (Strongs: 6723]
(dry land, desert), following a "tsedeqah" [Strongs:6666] (trail one
walks), and who uses a "tsiyon" (landmark) [Strongs: 6725] as a means
to guide his way on the path.
Isaiah 2:3
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of
[Yahweh], to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and
that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion
(tsiyon) shall go the teachings, and the word of [Yahweh] from Jerusalem."
As
we travel through our lives, God is giving us His directions as the very means
to help teach us His ways and His paths, firmly planting Himself as the central
"landmark" for us to keep our bearings.
Psalm 119:105
" Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light
to my path."
Hopefully
you can begin to see the imagery unfolding before you as you understand that
the instructions of God were to be a lamp helping to "point out the
direction we should go", and illuminating the path before us. Helping us see things before we encounter
them, giving us direction on how to get there through the darkness that
surrounds us.
It
is no coincidence that the Word will go out from Jerusalem, and that God uses
the wilderness to bring about order and completeness, not only for the Hebrews
after being released from the bondage of Egypt, but for us as well, who have
been released from the bondage of sin and grafted into the same heritage
through the work of Christ. The word "davar" (word) [Strongs:1696] is the
root of the word "devorah" (bee) [Strongs: 1682], and "mid'bar"
(wilderness) [Strongs: 4057], which on the surface seem to have no
correlation. Words must be in order to
make a functional sentence, bees must maintain order for the hive to survive,
and the wilderness maintains a perfect order within its parts in a
self-sustaining balance of life. Each of
these words convey a need for order, a process by which wholeness and
completeness is obtained. Jerusalem is a
combination of the root word "yarah" (cast, point) and
"shalom" (restoration, peace).
So
according to Isaiah 2:3,
“Come, let us go up to the
mountain of [Yahweh], to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us
his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of this landmark of God
shall go the teachings, and the order of Yahweh, pointing to restoration and
peace."
Psalms 37:23 - 24, 30 – 31
"The steps of a man
are established (made erect, straight) by [Yahweh], when he delights in His
way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for [Yahweh] upholds his hand…The
mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice. The teachings (torah) of his God is in his
heart; his steps do not slip."
Proverbs 3:1 – 4
"My son, do not forget
my teaching, but let your heart keep my directions...write them on the tablet
of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and
man..."
The
teachings were given to us not as a means to dictate our every move, but point
us back to the path that leads us towards complete wholeness with God and man. It is the very behavior of the teacher Himself,
who He is and how He operates.
James 1:22 – 25
"But be doers of the
word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of
the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural
face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets
what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of
liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he
will be blessed in his doing."
After
the fall of mankind, the completeness of the creation had been thrown into
disorder and dysfunction, and the means for mankind to flourish and prosper
have become all the more difficult as man mistreats man, and lives a life of
perpetual selfishness, altogether forgetting the ways of God. Yet every day we find people yearning for a Utopian society, trying to remove God from our political system, yet trying to create "laws" that He tried to point us towards all those centuries ago.
Matthew 24:12
"And because lawlessness
will be increased, the love of many will grow cold."
His
directions instruct to us the solution to our problem, provide a pattern to
convey love, restore wholeness, and execute justice. We know that He is within us because we begin
to walk according to His directions that have been written on our hearts, illuminating
the path before us from within, through the light of His Word, confirming that
we "know Him" because He is His Teachings and we follow in His image.
1 John 2:3 – 5, 9 – 11
"And by this we know
that we have come to know Him, if we keep His Directions (entole/mitzvah). Whoever says “I know Him” but does not keep
His Directions (entole/mitzvah) is a
liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps His Word, in him truly the
love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him: whoever says
he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked… Whoever says
he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves
his brother abides in the light, and in [it] there is no cause for stumbling. But
whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and
does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
2 John 1:5 – 6
"… not as though I
were writing you a new direction (entole/mitzvah), but the one we have had from
the beginning—that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk
according to His Directions (entole/mitzvah); this is the direction, just as
you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it."
In
short, the "Law" and the Old Testament is better understood as the Teachings
of our heavenly Teacher, pointing out the direction of His Path, illuminating
His Ways, leading to complete restoration within ourselves, creation, with the rest
of mankind, and with our Creator
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