The first five books of the Bible are also known as the, “Pentateuch,” (essentially meaning “five books” or “five scrolls”) and the “Torah” (a Hebrew word that can be translated as instruction, teaching, or law). These are the books identified as being written by Moses. The word “Torah” is also used in conjunction with oral tradition or law. The ‘oral’ Torah (or law) is still highly regarded amongst Jews today and has been codified (written) in several Jewish documents (Midrash, Talmud, etc.), while these will be discussed on occasion in this commentary, the word Torah will only apply to the written Books of Moses, namely Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
In the book of Genesis, we read about how God created the universe and all life, how man failed to obey God, and the disastrous effects of that disobedience. As the narrative continues from Genesis into the other four books, we read how God establishes the definition of sin (rules of procedure and conduct), the need for a Savior, the selection of His Chosen People and the promise of salvation, to name only a few.
So why the title, “Everything a Christian Should Know About the Torah?” What does a Christian need to know about the Torah, or that fact, the Old Testament? It is true that the New Testament contains the gospel message essential for salvation. But there is more to being a Christian than salvation. While some believers may be shocked by that statement, they shouldn’t be. Salvation through Jesus is only the starting point, we entered into eternity with Him when we accepted His gracious offer. That is when the adventure starts, no we can’t do anything more for our salvation, Jesus paid that debt in full. But, have you ever wanted to do something for Him? The more we know about God and His love for us, the more we can be used by Him to help others find salvation too.
The model is simple: Know, Grow, and Go. We all need to KNOW God intimately. As we learn about Him, we begin to GROW and mature in Him, and at some point, we begin to GO for Him. We are all different with different strengths and weaknesses, and what He calls each of us to be also varies. But we all start by learning about God from the words He provided for us to learn about Him. We need to read the Bible, from the beginning. Being a Christian is both rational and reasonable. It does not require you to stop thinking or take giant leaps of faith, but It is important to pray as you read Scripture. Prayer helps us to remain focused on the truth of God’s message.
In any Bible study it is important to understand the words from the original text, as some translations could be biased, reliant on old definitions, use incorrect etymology (origin of word), employ improper cultural references, plus words may have multiple definitions, etc. A lot of the original language (mostly Hebrew) words are referenced in this commentary. These words were not included in this commentary to encourage someone to memorize them or to otherwise frustrate the reader; they are presented only as a reference if further study is desired by the reader.
Now a little about the words themselves. Whenever someone attempts to recreate the sound of a word from one language to another, they use the closest sounding combination of letters to form the word (a process known as transliteration). But due to significant variations in language sounds, placement of emphasis and restrictions (language rules, limited letter sounds, punctuation, etc.), this process is rarely easy nor are the methods used always consistent. Which accounts for why when a word is transliterated from one language to another, the spelling and word structure of that word can be very different. There is no exception for Hebrew words which, when transliterated using the letters and letter sounds used in the English language, there is a wide variance in how the word can be spelled. In an attempt to 'standardize' the spelling and word sounds, most if the Hebrew words transliterated into English found in this commentary will either use “The English-Hebrew Reverse Interlinear Old Testament English Standard Version”[1] or use the spelling suggested in "The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament."[2] In addition, many of the words will have a Strong's number associated with the word to aid in further study (James Strong developed an original-language word numbering system of each primary or root word in the Bible, it was first published in his concordance in 1890, the system was selected due to popularity and accessibility of resources, more on that concordance in a few pages).
Even though most Hebrew words have a basic root structure (often just three consonants), there can be several variations making the language more complex than most. For example, there are several verb families (eight main groups, usually referred to as stems). In the "Active Voice" (the subject performs the action), there are: qal, piel and hifill. In the "Passive Voice" (the action is performed upon or affects the subject), includes: pual, hofal, nifal, and qal passive. Then for the dual status, middle or "Reflexive Voice" (the subject both performs and is affected by the action): nifal and hitpael.[3] This is only one consideration, there are a number of other properties to consider, such as the relationship to the person, plural or singular, gender, aspect, or kind of action, etc. Each consideration can reflect on the choice of the word. This commentary will primarily focus on the root words, analyzing the variation only when critical for interpretation.
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[1] McDaniel, C. (2009). The English-Hebrew Reverse Interlinear Old Testament English Standard Version. Lexham Presss. This reverse interlinear aligns the ESV Old Testament with the Lexham Hebrew Bible. Copyright 2009 Lexham Press.
[2] Baker, W., & Carpenter, E. E. (2003). The complete word study dictionary: Old Testament. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.
[3] Putnam, F. C. (2002). Hebrew Bible Insert: A Student’s Guide to the Syntax of Biblical Hebrew (pp. 21–22). Quakertown, PA: Stylus Publishing.