March, 2008

 

Isa 42:1-4 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law [8451].

 

The following is from the Lexical Aids in the NASB Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible, Edited by Spiros Zodhiates with KJV scripture verses.

8451 Towrah or torah; this Heb. noun comes from 3384.

3384 Yarah or yara'; to cast, to shoot; to pour; to lay (a foundation), to found, to erect, to establish; to shed (water), to irrigate; to wet, to give water. Its part. form means archer, because they sent forth missiles or arrows. The most common uses have to do with shooting arrows, sending rain, or teaching (putting out words). The word definitely has the connotation of aiming or controlling.

The meaning is instruction, doctrine,

• Job 22:22 Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.

a regulation, direction, a precept, a statute, (human) law, (divine) law (e.g., the law of sacrifice),

• Lev 6:14 And this is the law of the meat offering: the sons of Aaron shall offer it before the LORD, before the altar.
• Lev 7:7 As the sin offering is, so is the trespass offering: there is one law for them: the priest that maketh atonement therewith shall have it.

collective laws.

• Exo 18:20 And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.
• Lev 26:46 These are the statutes and judgments and laws, which the LORD made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.
• Josh 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
• Josh 8:34 And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law.
• 2 Kings 22:8,11 And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it...And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.
• Neh 8:3 And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law

Towrah often has the definite art. prefixed to it when referring to the Law of Moses.

• Deut 4:44 And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel:
• Neh 8:18 Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner.
• Psa 119:1 ALEPH. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.
• Mal 4:4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

The ASV always has "law," but the RSV uses "teaching," "instruction," and "decisions." This important Heb. noun occurs about 220 times in the OT. The essential meaning of towrah is "teaching," whether it is the wise man who gently instructs his own son or God patiently teaching Israel. It can refer to any set of regulations

• Lev 7:37 This is the law of the burnt offering, of the meat offering, and of the sin offering, and of the trespass offering, and of the consecrations, and of the sacrifice of the peace offerings;
• Lev 14:57 To teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean: this is the law of leprosy.
• Num 5:29 This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled;

or the whole. The Book of Deuteronomy clearly shows that the Law of Moses encompassed history, statutes with their interpretation, and exhortations, not like Hammurabi's code. Eventually, towrah became synonymous with the Pentateuch. Covenant precedes law, i.e. after the basic agreement is made, stipulations are spelled out. However, breaking a specific law is equivalent to sinning against God, i.e., breaking with one's covenant relationship. The Levitical priests were to teach precepts of the Law and follow its regulations.

• Deut 17:11,18 According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left...And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:
• Deut 33:10 They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar.

They were called "those who handle the law."

• Jer 2:8 The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

Unfortunately, they became blind and arrogant. They forgot God.

• Hos 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

They used it to enhance their own power and wealth.

• Eze 22:26 Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
• Zeph 3:4 Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.

Therefore, God sent His prophets to call Israel back to true obedience to the Law.

• 2 Kings 17:13 Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.

They showed how the Law was either misapplied or neglected. Ezra and Nehemiah in post-exilic times prodded the people out of complacency

• Neh 8:2-9 And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchiah, and Hashum, and Hashbadana, Zechariah, and Meshullam. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up: And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place. So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.
• Neh 8:13-17 And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law. And they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month: And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written. So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim. And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness.

as Moses commanded.

• Deut 31:10,11 And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, When all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing.

Moses had predicted a new law.

• Jer 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
• Heb 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

So, towrah was much more than a law or set of rules. It was not to be perceived as restrictions, but the very means by which one could reach a spiritual ideal. If Israel would keep the Torah, then Israel would be kept safe. However, the people came to understand it as something which was imposed for its own sake rather than what God intended for them to become. Therefore, the means became the end. And, instead of being seen as a guideline, it became a heavy, external set of rules which were stifling.

• Acts 15:10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

Failure to understand the perfect law of liberty

• James 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

led to severe legalism as taught by the Judaizers in the first century. Paul struggled to define the true place of the Law in Romans 1-8 and Galatians 1-3. Two Heb. synonyms mitsvah (4687)

4687 Mitsvah; this fem. Heb. noun is a deriv. of 6680. It is a command (whether human or divine), a precept, a law, the Law (of Moses when used collectively), an ordinance; the due. It was the terms of the contract in a deed of purchase for a plot of land.

• Jer 32:11 So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the *law* and custom, and that which was open:

Sometimes it was the instruction of a teacher to his pupil.

• Pro 2:1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my *commandments* with thee;
• Pro 3:1 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my *commandments*:

Once it was used for the Ten Commandments.

• Exo 24:12 And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and *commandments* which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.

Mitsvah was used much more often to describe the particular conditions of God's covenant with Israel.

and choq (2706),

2706 Choq; this masc. Heb. noun comes from 2710. It is a statute, regulation, law, custom; decree; share, task, term, limit, boundary. The RSV also translates it as "ordinance," "due," and "bound." It occurs 128 times in the Heb. OT. The ancient people often engraved their laws upon slabs of stone or metal and then displayed them in public places. However, the root was not limited to these materials. These are precepts and rules which must be strictly obeyed. Sometimes it designates a legal right.

• Gen 47:26 And Joseph made it a *law* over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh’s.

This extended to natural laws.

• Job 28:26 When he made a *decree* for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder:
• Job 38:10 And brake up for it my *decreed* place, and set bars and doors,
• Psa 148:6 He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a *decree* which shall not pass.
• Pro 8:29 When he gave to the sea his *decree*, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
• Jer 5:22 Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual *decree*, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?

At other times it denotes privilege or due.

• Gen 47:22 Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a *portion* assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their *portion* which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands.
• Exo 29:28 And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’ by a *statute* for ever from the children of Israel: for it is an heave offering: and it shall be an heave offering from the children of Israel of the sacrifice of their peace offerings, even their heave offering unto the LORD.
• Lev 24:9 And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual *statute*.

both appear with towrah in Genesis 26:5

• Gen 26:5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments (4687 mitsvah), my statutes (2708 chuqqah), and my laws (8451 torah).

2708 Chuqqah; this is the fem. noun form of 2706. It means law, statute, custom, enactment. It appears 102 times in the Heb. OT. The fem. form often has the added qualifier of 'owlan (5769, perpetual). This was an ordinance from God which was permanently binding.

• Exo 12:14,17 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance (2708) for ever (5769)... And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance (2708) for ever (5769).
• Exo 13:10 Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance (2708) in his season from year to year.
• Exo 27:21 In the tabernacle of the congregation without the vail, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the LORD: it shall be a statute (2708) for ever (5769) unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.
• Exo 28:43 And they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they come in unto the tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place; that they bear not iniquity, and die: it shall be a statute (2708) for ever (5769) unto him and his seed after him.
• Exo 29:9 And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on them: and the priest’s office shall be theirs for a perpetual (5769) statute (2708): and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons.
• Lev 16:29,31,34 And this shall be a statute (2708) for ever (5769) unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:...It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute (2708) for ever (5769)...And this shall be an everlasting (5769) statute (2708) unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.
• Lev 23:41 And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute (2708) for ever (5769) in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
• Lev 24:3 Without the vail of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the LORD continually: it shall be a statute (2708) for ever (5769) in your generations.
• Num 10:8 And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets; and they shall be to you for an ordinance (2708) for ever (5769) throughout your generations.
• Num 15:15 One ordinance (2708) shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance (2708) for ever (5769) in your generations: as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD.
• Num 19:10,21 And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute (2708) for ever (5769)...And it shall be a perpetual (5769) statute (2708) unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes; and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until even.

See the Gr. word nomos (3551) in the NT.

3551 Nomos; law, from nenoma, perf. mid. voice of nemo, either of distributing, assigning, because the law assigns to everyone his own, or of administering, because it administers all things either by commanding or forbidding. NT meanings: (1) A law in general.

• Rom 4:15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.
• Rom 5:13 For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

(2) Most frequently, the divine law given by Moses, whether moral, ceremonial, or judicial.

• Matt 5:17,18 For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
• Matt 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
• Matt 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
• Luke 2:22 And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord;
• John 7:51 Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?
• John 8:5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

Sometimes it means the books of Moses or the Pentateuch containing the law,

• Luke 24:44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
• Acts 13:15 And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.
• Gal 4:21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

or the OT in general.

• John 10:34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
• John 12:34 The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?
• John 15:25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
• Rom 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
• 1 Cor 14:21 In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.

(3) The Gospel or gosepl-method of justification is called the "law of faith," opp. the "law of works";

• Rom 3:27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

"the law of the Spirit of life," opp. the law, i.e., power, dominion of sin and death;

• Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

"the royal law"

• James 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

because it is the law of Christ, our King; "the perfect law, the law of liberty."

• James 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
• James 2:12 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.

(4) A force or principle of action equivalent to a law.

• Rom 7:21,23,25 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me...But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members...I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
• Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Deriv.: anomos (459), without law, lawless; anomia (458), lawlessness; ennomos (1772), what is within the range of law.

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