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Sukot - Simchat Torah 2

  • Gene Keener
  • Nov 7, 2024
  • 3 min read

Updated: Feb 3





Nu, what’s a Torah?

 

Not ‘law’ (khok), but ‘instruction.’

Root word yarah, to aim, to instruct. An archery term, which suggests one must be taught the skill to be proficient. To learn Torah is to learn God’s ways of thinking and acting; His instruction manual for this world.

 

So, why be happy about God giving us rules?

 

  1. It makes us look good. D’varim (Deuteronomy) 4.5-8

 

5 "Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. 6 Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'

 

  1. It makes God happy. Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 42.21

 

21 The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness' sake; He will exalt the law and make it honorable.

 

  1. It teaches us how to live a holy life before a holy God. T’hillim (Psalm) 119

 

105 Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.


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Objections to Torah:

 

  1. Jesus died on the cross to get rid of the commandments. Matityahu (Matthew) 5.17-20

 

17 "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

 

  1. The New Testament Church went in a new direction, Christianity. Acts 21.20

 

20 And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, "You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law;

 

  1. I get all the direction I need from the Holy Spirit. Romans 2.13; 3.31; 7.12

 

13 (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified;

31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.

12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

 

  1. All we need is faith. Ya’akov (James) 1.22-25

 

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

 

  1. Torah is old (bad), Spirit is new (good). Revelation 2.4-5

 

4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place--unless you repent. 

 

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The beauty and value of Torah is that it provides us with what is right and what is wrong, from God’s point of view. That means we are not left guessing about God’s directions or what we need to do to please Him. The elimination of doubt gives us great confidence and joy, thus we rejoice in God’s Torah!

 


 
 
 

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