Torah, Word and Law

The Torah is the core work of the Bible. …

It possesses artistry of form and depth of content,

housing the ideas and values of a people over centuries. …

It is a single work, a collection of five books, and an editorially brilliant merging of sources. …

It contains stories of individual bonds and conflicts within families,

and it recounts events involving nations.

“The generations of the heavens and the earth,”

it sets a record of human history against a cosmic background

and relates it to the divine presence.*

*Friedman, Richard Elliott. 1992. “Torah (Pentateuch)”. (Ed.) David Noel Freedman. The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary. New York: Doubleday.

Nehemiah proclaims Torah (the word/Law) to the people to inaugurate the re-establishment of the God’s people.

The Torah, as embodied in the Pentateuch, is the expression of God’s will for Israel;

the synonyms are “decree,” “precepts,” etc.**

**Brown, Raymond Edward, Joseph A. Fitzmyer & Roland Edmund Murphy. 1996. The Jerome Biblical commentary. Vol. 1. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Paul praises Torah (Law) as the expression of God’s favor.

Ie, he proposes

A Christian Anthropology → a basis for community order (ie ‘law’)

— Torah/word, good order is to characterize God’s people.

Jesus proclaims Torah/word from Isaiah to announce the fulfilment of Isaiah’s promise.