In tonight’s discussion of letter 26 we followed a small rabbit. This rabbit, which seems to get my attention a lot these days, led us to the concept of “The Law”. For the uninitiated unwashed, hell-bound heathens (this means you Keith) many Christians refer to the Ten Commandments, the Hebrew Scriptures or anything that resembles some form of divine restrictions as “The Law”. They get this most likely from a translator’s rendering of the Hebrew word torah. The prevailing view, it seems, is that this Law is not actually useful as guide to right conduct character, but only as a standard which we should use to realize our failure as humans. This is odd to me, because, from my non-scholarly experience with the Hebrew Scriptures, this is precisely what it was used for. What’s more is that this word, torah, in the view of real scholars, “if one were to attempt to capture the essence of the torah in the OT, ‘instruction’ or ‘teaching’ rather than ‘law’ with its particular modern connotation, may be terms that best do justice to the variety of uses. [1]” Even if we ignore this scholarly assessment, the whole body of the Hebrew Scripture communicates something along these lines [2]. Attitudes toward this torah range from delight, devotion, careful study and obedience. With this in view, it seems to me, that there is something a bit more behind this one dimensional assessment to the law that many Christians seem to embrace. It seems much more real, useful and engaging than some lifeless standard for failure measurement that it has been reduced to. I know, this is a short rant with minimal substance. I promise to do a much longer essay in the near future.

[1] New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis, Volume 4, Page 897
[2] Psalm 1, Deuteronomy 6:25, Psalm 119:97