Beyond the Math
The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. Psalm 19:7 NIV
Law – Yesterday we introduced an interesting mathematical puzzle concerning the occurrences of tôrâ. Today we’ll look more seriously at the scope of this most-important word. In general, tôrâ as a verb falls into two categories. The first is teaching, communicating in dialogue, and/or communicating through tradition. The communication can be either oral or written. The second category is response and reaction to the communication. In other words, tôrâ covers both the initiation and the response. Tôrâ is two-way interaction. Why is this important? Because too often we think of tôrâ as “command,” having inherited that idea from its Greek translation as nómos, (“law”). The Christian rejection of Mosaic tôrâ is based on this connection, viewing tôrâ as if it were legislated restrictions, that is, a moral code that is demanded of citizens of the Kingdom. Since this (mistaken) idea smacks at the heart of the Greco-Roman concept of freedom, it chafes at individual and societal choice. It makes God a dictator, and as such, Western man attempts to throw off the yoke of the “law” and seek the freedom found in “grace.”
Of course, all of this goes away if we realize that tôrâ is dialogue. Dialogue does not presuppose a dictated outcome. In fact, dialogue means shared experience in an effort to understand and embrace consensus. Of course, in dialogue either party may come to realize the superiority of the other’s perspective, but it doesn’t happen by compulsion. It happens because of persuasion. In this regard, the biblical idea of tôrâ is not coercion. It’s invitation. It’s an invitation to see the creation from God’s perspective, and to realize that His perspective not only makes sense but it is also the only proper way of living. In other words, tôrâ is a religious concept, not a universal demand. “Only in obedience can tôrâ be received or imparted as divine instruction.”[1] What Lopez hints at in this comment is that tôrâ is a paradigm position. Its place in the religious sphere, and its meaning within that realm, is determined not by subsequent translation into other religious cultural constructs but by what it means to adopt the Hebraic paradigm in the first place. tôrâ is a Hebrew construct. It is not the equivalent of the Greek nómos and it does not carry the burden of immutability as nómos does. The very word “law” mistranslates tôrâ by loading the term with a 2500 year history of eternal principles. We are better served to think of tôrâ as the will of the chieftain of the tribe, in this case, as the will of the head of Israel, YHVH. In this regard it is crucial to remember what my rabbi friend in Jerusalem told a touring group: “You Christians are so funny. You think of tôrâ as law. We Jews think of tôrâ as our way of expressing our love for God.”
Topical Index: tôrâ, law, dialogue, rules, Psalm 19:7
[1] García López, tôrâ, TDOT, Vol. XV, p. 617.
You have to be referring to the irrepressible Moshe Kapinski delivering a “sermon” in his jewelry store in the old city of Jerusalem from his short staircase entry. He will forever be in my memory with the gift I bought for Penny of a pair of earrings she calls the circle of life and loves so much.
Three rings within rings of lacy delicate silver. Thanks for the trigger.
George and Penny
I am one that a Jew would likely categorize as a non-Jewish gentile; and I am unapologetically a Christian… that is, I’m a disciple of Jesus Christ and one who follows his teachings as they are preserved for us in the texts and manuscripts of the scriptures of the NT. But I have no precisely correspondent “fit” with the common distinctive expressions of either of these major faith communities, nor am I “messianic”. But I certainly embrace tôrâ as God’s ethic for his people by which His covenantal faithfulness was/is “lived out” as the witness of that relationship with his people, Israel. And I particularly embrace the “Jewish” perspective that tôrâ— summarized by Yeshua as “these two, upon which hang all the law and the prophets”— is the ethical way of expressing our love for God and his Christ.