The Hebrew word torah means “instruction, teaching, law.” In some cases, it primarily means “instructive precept, law,” as in Exodus 12:49, “The same law [torah] applies to the native-born and to the alien living among you.” Similar to this is the usage of torah in verses such as Leviticus 6:9(2), rendered in the New Jewish Version with, “Command Aaron and his sons thus: This is the ritual (torah) of the burnt offering” (cf. nasb, which renders this, “Command Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the law for the burnt offering’ ”; niv has “regulations” instead of “law”). In other cases, torah primarily means “instruction, teaching,” as in Proverbs 3:1, “My son, do not forget my teaching [torah], but keep my commands in your heart.” But even here, when torah means “teaching,” it carries with it a note of authority, as indicated by the second half of the verse, which makes reference to “my commands.” So then, when God gave the Torah to Israel, He was not simply giving His people a set of laws, nor was He merely giving them divine revelation. Rather, He was giving them His binding instruction, His covenantal commands, His divine directions. He was telling them, “This is how you are to live before Me, and these are the consequences of obedience or disobedience. This is what I require of you.”
To convey this, the njpsv sometimes renders torah as “Teaching” (with a capital T), as in Joshua 1:8, “Let not this Book of the Teaching cease from your lips, but recite it day and night, so that you may observe faithfully all that is written in it. Only then will you prosper in your undertakings and only then will you be successful.” In this context, Torah refers to divinely given, divinely binding direction. It is filled with laws, but it is not exclusively law. It is divine revelation.
In the process of time, however, torah became especially connected with the concept of God’s Law for Israel, and so when the Septuagint translators rendered the word torah (the Septuagint was translated in the third to second centuries b.c.), they generally translated it with the Greek nomos, which primarily means “law, custom, ordinance,” but which lacks the nuance of “teaching.” Similarly, the New Testament authors, writing in Greek, followed this established convention and used the word nomos when referring to the Torah, as in Luke 24:44; Romans 6:14; 1 Corinthians 9:8–9; and scores of other passages.[30]
Jewish scholars have rightly objected to the strict association of torah with “law,” feeling that this association contributes to a wrong concept of Judaism as primarily a religion of laws. This is certainly a valid objection, since to equate torah with “law” is to narrow its meaning. When rightly understood, however, the Torah can be thought of as God’s holy standard, His definitive word to ancient Israel, His authoritative instruction—and this comports well with the concept of the divine Law. I also find it interesting that the same scholars and rabbis who state that torah should not be translated as “law” actually refer to the Oral Law and the Written Law, even though the Hebrew phrases speak of an oral torah and a written torah. Why then translate these terms with “Oral Law/Written Law” if torah does not mean this at all?
It is also fair to ask why traditional Judaism produced major law codes (see #7) that are studied daily and adhered to punctiliously if torah is wrongly understood as “law.” And why is the Talmud itself filled with head-spinning legal discussions—all considered to be an essential part of Torah study—if torah does not mean “law”? And don’t portions of Scripture such as Psalm 119, full of praise for the Torah’s commandments, point to an association between the Torah and Law?
My point in raising these questions, however, is not to advocate that the word torah be rendered primarily as “law.” In fact, thinking only of “law” does bring a wrong association to mind. Rather, my point is to emphasize that there is legitimacy to thinking of the Torah as the Law of God, recognizing that His Law contains much more than just laws. Having said that, it is interesting to observe how the use of nomos in Greek is influenced and stretched by the concept of torah. A good example of this is found in John 10:34, where Jesus makes reference to “your Law [nomos],” but His quote is not from the Pentateuch but from the Psalms. Similarly, in the Koran, tawrah primarily refers to the Old Testament as a whole (while injil, “gospel,” refers to the entire New Testament).
Returning to traditional Judaism—the Torah-centered religion—the word torah becomes all-inclusive in its meaning. Torah study means the study of all religious Jewish texts, and the highest form of worship is talmud torah lishmah, study of Torah for its own sake, traditionally applied primarily to Talmud study. And torah becomes the Jewish way of life, as illustrated by this famous story from the Talmud:
It has been taught: R. Akiba said: Once I went in after R. Joshua to a privy, and I learnt from him three things. I learnt that one does not sit east and west but north and south; I learnt that one evacuates not standing but sitting; and I learnt that it is proper to wipe with the left hand and not with the right. Said Ben Azzai to him: Did you dare to take such liberties with your master? He replied: It was a matter of Torah, and I required to learn. It has been taught: Ben Azzai said: Once I went in after R. Akiba to a privy, and I learnt from him three things. I learnt that one does not evacuate east and west but north and south. I also learnt that one evacuates sitting and not standing. I also learnt it is proper to wipe with the left hand and not with the right. Said R. Judah to him: Did you dare to take such liberties with your master?—He replied: It was a matter of Torah, and I required to learn. R. Kahana once went in and hid under Rab’s bed. He heard him chatting [with his wife] and joking and doing what he required. He said to him: One would think that Abba’s mouth had never sipped the dish before! He said to him: Kahana, are you here? Go out, because it is rude. He replied: It is a matter of Torah, and I required to learn.
b. Berachot 62a
So, even the way a rabbinic teacher has sexual relations with his wife is a matter of Torah! This gives a hint to the expansive use of the term torah in Judaism.
As for the etymology of the word torah in Hebrew, there are several possible explanations. Some have traced it back to the Akkadian word tertu, a “divine oracle.” (Akkadian refers to the language of the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians.) A more popular explanation is to derive torah from the Hebrew root y-r-h, either in the sense of “to teach” or in the sense of “to shoot an arrow.”