The Real Meaning of Torah
|
T |
he word Torah is a frequently used and misused Hebrew word. In our English Bibles, it is commonly translated “law.” This is sometimes appropriate, often misleading.
The word Torah in Hebrew usage has a range of meanings. As with all words, usage and context determine meaning in any given instance. It is bad methodology to assign the meaning of “law” to the word torah, and then to say that is what it means in every instance of usage. The definition given for torah in Strong’s Concordance is fundamentally in error. It is also misleading and can be used to support an erroneous theology about Biblical law. Strong’s (No. 8451) gives the following definition for torah: “a precept or statute, espec. The Decalogue or the Pentateuch – law.”
Torah does not mean “precept,” “statute,” or “law.” Nor does it primarily refer to the Decalogue. It can, in some contexts, refer to the Pentateuch (the five books of Moses).
An authoritative definition of torah is provided in A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Brown, Driver, Briggs), on page 435d: “direction, instruction, law.” Note that the primary definitions are “direction” and “instruction.” There are instances where the word can mean “law” but it is the context and usage that determines which meaning is intended.
The word torah is a noun derived from the verb yara meaning to “throw” or “shoot” (BDB, p. 434d). For example, when Pharoah’s armies were “cast” into the sea, the word used is yara. If in ancient times, one asked for directions, the person given them might “cast” or “throw” his hand in a given direction and say, “It’s that way.” We cast or throw stones in a given direction. We point a finger to provide instruction. We shoot an arrow at a target. Thus the verb yara came to mean to “lead” “guide” (BDB, p. 434d). It can also mean, “teach.” It is the word used for casting lots (Joshua 18:6). Another relevant meaning is to “point out” or “show” (ibid., p. 435).
In Genesis
46:28 we read, “And he sent
BDB also
points out that the word is used “specially of the
authoritative direction given by priests on matters of ceremonial
observance…they teach thy judgments to Jacob, and thy direction to
So we see that the verb yara is the root from which the noun torah is derived. To “instruct” or “teach” is the verb. The “instruction” or “teaching” is the noun.
Notice now the discussion of the meaning of torah from an authoritative Jewish source (Back to the Sources edited by Barry Holtz):
“Torah for the Jewish tradition is a multifaceted term. On one level it refers to the first five books of the Bible, the content of the scroll found in any synagogue. In another more expanded sense, Torah is the Hebrew Bible as a whole. But Torah stands for more than one text or one book. Torah is revelation, the entire revelation and the entire activity of Jewish study throughout the generations. When the rabbinic sages speak of the Written Torah and the “Oral Torah” (the Oral Torah being the commentaries and holy texts of later generations) as both being given at Mount Sinai, they mean to suggest that all Jewish study is Torah and all Torah has the value of revelation” (Holtz, p. 12).
What Torah Does Not Mean
Holtz takes pains to clarify what the word Torah does not
mean. He writes, “The title ‘Law’ however, is of Greek, not Hebrew, origin and
derives from the word nomos, ‘law.’ This is
familiar from the name of the fifth book of Torah, Devarim
in Hebrew. This Hebrew name means ‘words’ and is taken from the first words of
the book: ‘These are the words that Moses spoke to the Israelites across the
The Greek nomos is not an exact equivalent of the Hebrew torah. Holtz explains what torah does not mean: “The Hebrew word torah does not strictly mean ‘law.’ The fact that it does not is crucial to its role in Judaism. Hebrew does employ words for a ‘statute,’ a ‘ruling,’ and, of course, a mitzvah, a ‘commandment.’ But the word torah itself means ‘instruction’ or ‘teaching.’” (Holtz p. 84).
Note that Holtz considers it “critical to Judaism” that the word torah be correctly defined and used.
Ariel and D’vorah Berkowitz, both
of whom are Messianic Jews, write in their book Torah Rediscovered: “First
and foremost, the Torah is God’s teaching. This is the primary meaning of the
Hebrew word Torah…Moreover, the root for ‘Torah’ can be traced to the
Hebrew word meaning ‘to shoot an arrow,’ or ‘to hit the mark.’ Thus, the word
‘Torah’ means literally, ‘teaching,’ whether it is the wise man instructing his
son, or God instructing
“Torah is a document in which God has revealed Himself to mankind and taught us about Himself and His righteousness. In the Torah, one can learn all the theological concepts which are expanded upon throughout the rest of the Bible, such as sin, sacrifice, salvation, sanctification – and Messiah, the One who accomplishes it all” (Torah Rediscovered, pp. 7-8).
Torah, explains Rabbi Morris Kertzer in What is a Jew? (pp. 108-109): “…is our way of life…All the vastness and variety of Jewish tradition…More narrowly, the Torah is the most revered and sacred object of Jewish ritual – the beautiful hand-written scroll of the Five Books of Moses…which is housed in the Ark of the Synagogue.”
So the word Torah can be defined broadly or narrowly, but it does not strictly mean “law” and should not be so translated or used. The correct translation in most instances would be “instruction,” “teaching” or “direction.” The Greek word nomos is not an exact equivalent of torah. Torah does not mean “law” in the sense of English Common Law.
Arthur Hertzberg explains that, “…the concept of ‘Torah,’ in its full national significance, cannot be rendered adequately in any other tongue. Its content and connotations embrace more than ‘religion’ or ‘creed’ alone, or ‘ethics’ or ‘commandments’ or ‘learning’ alone, and it is not even just a combination of all these, but something far transcending all of them. It is a mystic, almost cosmic, conception” (Judaism, p. 85).
Neither
Greek nor English have an adequate word for translating the concept behind the
Hebrew torah. Nomos (law) is certainly
inadequate to the task. Yet, in the New Covenant writings, or even in the
earlier Septuagint translation, when nomos is
used for the Hebrew word torah it can be misleading. This is especially
true in the teachings of Jesus and later Paul. Much bad theology about Mosaic
“Law” has been formulated on the basis is a misunderstanding of the concept of Torah.
To work with the concept torah we must first gain an adequate understanding of what it meant and means to the Hebrew mind. That meaning goes far beyond the idea of law or commandments. It is the sum total of all of the instruction and inspired discussion of God and his self-revelation from the beginning of time to the present. It is a grand concept – perhaps grander than can be conceived by the average Christian mind.
--Brian Knowles