Is the Torah for Today - Part 4

As we begin to look what is meant by the internalized Torah as prophesied by Jeremiah, it is important to understand what Torah is or rather what it is not. Many people associate the term "Torah" with the Law of Moses, meaning those regulations given by Moses. They would include what we call "The Ten Commandments", the other regulations given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, plus all other directives given by Moses while he lived. This would also include various directives gleaned from the Book of Genesis, which traditionally was authored by Moses. The five books of Moses, from Bereshit (Genesis) through Devarim (Deuteronomy), are referred to as "The Torah."

While the books of Moses are called "The Torah", it is not entirely correct to say that they are equivalent. Torah is actually contained in these books, rather than being one and the same. Certainly Jeremiah was not saying that the books of Moses would be internalized.

Some also equate Torah with the covenant given at Mt. Sinai. To them the giving of the Torah and the Sinai covenant are one and the same, but this too cannot be the case. There is an interesting reference to God's laws centuries before Moses came on the scene. It was when God was confirming his promises to Isaac, Abraham's son. It is a reference to Abraham's obedience to God:

I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws. (Bereshit / Genesis 26:4,5)

According to this, Abraham kept God's requirements, commands, decrees, and laws. This language sounds very post-Moses. We don't read of God giving Abraham a list of directives to follow. We do read of some examples of his obeying God, but not too much of his overall lifestyle. At least not until this comment. I understand that for the rabbis this is proof that Abraham was Torah observant even before it was revealed to Moses. This is to them a proof text for Orthodox Judaism.

I don't think that is what is going on here. This reference simply tells us that Abraham was a godly man, following in God's ways as he understood them. It is likely that an understanding of how to follow God was well known on the earth from Adam to Noah to Abraham. This would explain how Noah could be called righteous and blameless (Bereshit / Genesis 6:9). There was always a standard of righteousness known, which Noah and later Abraham followed.

This understanding of God's ways was separate from his covenant with the people of Israel given at Mt. Sinai. While the Sinai covenant included what God calls " my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws" that Abraham followed, they are not one and the same.

So when Jeremiah later on predicts a time when a New Covenant would be made that is not like the Sinai one and that this New Covenant would include the internalization of God's Torah, he is not necessarily referring to a spiritualized Law of Moses or Sinai covenant. He is speaking of a new way that would internalize God's directives which existed as external regulations within the Sinai covenant.

Understanding that neither Sinai nor the Books of Moses equal Torah, but instead contain it prevents us from trying to apply the details of the Sinai covenant to our lives under the New Covenant. What we need to determine therefore is what are those things that God has internalized, so that we can truly obey him in our day.

To be continued…