Laying Down the Law

You have ^[c]ordained Your precepts, ^[d]that we are to keep them diligently.  Psalm 119:4  NASB

Precepts – Perhaps “ordained” isn’t quite the word we want.  We’re more familiar with this term in regard to priests and ministers, but it has a second, and perhaps original, meaning as well.  It means “to decree,” for example, when a king officially orders or prescribes an action.  Its etymology comes from  Latin meaning “rank” or “series” and Middle English “to put in order.”  The important point is that “ordain” is official proclamation, not off-hand remarks or opinions.  Now let’s try the translation again.

“You have ordered (commanded) Your precepts.”  In other words, these are not divine opinions.  They are just as valid as any other divine command.  So, why not use the word torah rather than piqqûdîm?  “The basic meaning [of piqqûdîm] is to exercise oversight over a subordinate, either in the form of inspecting or of taking action to cause a considerable change in the circumstances of the subordinate, either for the better or for the worse.”^[1] Torah is the guidebook of life.  piqqûdîm are the supervisory adjustments.

It’s important to recognize the root of this noun.  That root is pāqad.  “There is probably no other Hebrew verb that has caused translators as much trouble as pqd” (Speiser, BASOR 149:21).^[2]  Why?  Because it shows up in the often mistranslated verse of Exodus 34:7.  The NASB’s miserable translation is a perfect example: “. . . inflicting the ^[a]punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”  Here the verb is rendered “inflicting,” leading directly to the false claim that God punishes the children for the father’s transgressions.  In contemporary theology, this becomes the basis for the claim that my physical illnesses are the result of ancestors’ sins and the ensuing encouragement to ask forgiveness for something I did not do.

To put it bluntly, pāqad never meant, and cannot mean, that God exercises judgment on those who happen to be the offspring of the unrighteous.  If we pay attention to the derivatives of pāqad, we discover that it must mean supervisory intervention.  In other words, Exodus 34:7 is God’s personal commitment to be involved in the supervision of what transpires as a result of the sins of the fathers, not punishment but oversight.  God does not allow the full devastation to His creation to occur simply because the ancestors sinned.  He watches over the results with personal care, bringing about His plans regardless of the derailment of past unrighteousness.  And those supervisory adjustments are just as important as the basic commandments.  Accepting them as part of God’s involvement in human life is essential if we want to discover happiness.

Topical Index: precepts, piqqûdîm, pāqad, ordained, official declaration, Psalm 119:4

^[1] Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., Jr., & Waltke, B. K. (Eds.). (1999). Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 731). Chicago: Moody Press.

BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research

^[2] Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., Jr., & Waltke, B. K. (Eds.). (1999). Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 731). Chicago: Moody Press.