Strict. Strait. Stern. Uncompromising Unmerciful. Ritualistic. Rigorous. Restrictive. Repressive. Hard. Harsh. Legal. Solemn. Iron-fisted. Negative. Austere. That's God's Law. Or so we have been taught. Because in the English language the word "law" has come to carry the connotation of unrelenting, cruel authority. "Law" has come to mean the opposite of "fun." And this is especially true of GOD'S Law. Because most people believe that GOD'S Law is tougher, rougher, more confining and more debilitating than man's law. That's what "religion" has drummed into our heads. Interested in what God has to say? It's His Law — He should know. The Hebrew word translated "law" is pronounced "TORAH." And it is absolutely absurd to transform TORAH into a straitjacketing set of restrictive rules which deprive man of fun. So let's find out just what GOD means by TORAH. The noun TORAH is derived from the verb "yarah". "Yarah" is akin to "or", the Hebrew word for "light" and means "to shine, to light, to see". However the EXACT grammatical form of "yarah" from which torah (law) is derived — which is "yoreh" — is in a special Hebrew conjugation (called the "Hiphil") which emphasizes CAUSE. In other words, "yoreh" literally means TO CAUSE TO SEE, or more fully, TO CAUSE TO SEE THE LIGHT — and has thereby COME to mean "to teach" and "to instruct". (The Hebrew word for teacher or instructor — "moreh" — is built from the same root.) Another word which helps us understand the real meaning of "torah" is "tor" which can mean "turn, course, order". Putting all the concepts together, we find that TORAH MEANS — GOD'S LAW IS — an "order of teaching" or "a course of instruction" it which causes man to see the light of God's Truth. ORDER OF TEACHING! COURSE OF INSTRUCTION! How radically different from the stern, harsh, unmerciful restrictions which the English word "law" conjures up! The word "curriculum" expresses what "torah" — what God's Law — REALLY is. A "curriculum" is the "order of teaching" or "course of instruction' which teachers use to bring their students from point A to point B. For example, the third-grade curriculum is designed to bring students from the second grade level to the fourth grade level in reading, writing, arithmetic, etc. Likewise, God's OVERALL CURRICULUM — God's Law, God's TORAH — is the "order of teaching" and the "course of instruction" which God designed for the express purpose of bringing man from the carnal, human level of thinking and existing up to the incredible GOD level of thinking and existing. BECAUSE THAT'S THE PURPOSE OF HUMAN LIFE — THAT'S WHY GOD CREATED ALL OF US TO LITERALLY BECOME GOD OURSELVES (I John 3:1-2; Ps. 17:15; John 10:34, etc.). AND GOD'S TORAH IS THE ONLY WAY TO REACH THIS AWESOME GOAL. In this context we note the comments of the eminent Hebraist, Samson Raphael Hirsch. He states that TORAH comes from the verb HARAH — which means to receive a seed within oneself or "to conceive". More specifically, TORAH is derived from the CAUSATIVE form of this verb ("Hiphil" conjugation) — which is "horeh", the meaning to plant a seed in someone else or TO BEGET. That's the CRUX of TORAH — TO BEGET. Consequently, according to Hirsch, TORAH (God's Law) is the method by which God BEGETS WITHIN US the knowledge of truth, the decision to goodness, the mind of morality and the essence of God-like spirituality. Which all together means that God's Law is NOT "a set of strait-jacketing rules for limiting the human experience as the religions of this world would have us believe." Rather, GOD'S LAW IS THE TOTALITY OF GOD'S REVELATION TO MAN — GOD'S COMPLETE PLAN FOR REPRODUCING HIMSELF THROUGH HUMAN BEINGS (Gen. 1:26). GOD'S LAW IS THE FULL EXPRESSION OF GOD'S DESIRE TO BEGET, NOURISH AND DEVELOP A FUTURE MEMBER OF HIS ETERNALLY RULING GOD FAMILY IN EVERY ONE OF US! GOD'S LAW IS HOLY JUST AND GOOD (Rom. 7:12).
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