TORAH tôr’ ə. Usually tr. “law,” refers to the Pentateuch, i.e., the five Books of Moses. In OT and in rabbinic usage torah (תּﯴרָה, H9368) is more than a legal code.

The noun derives from the verb yarah (יָרָה֒, H3721), to throw, to shoot (as an arrow), to aim at. By association of ideas it came to mean guidance, instruction (cf. 2 Kings 12:2), commandment, law (cf. Exod 12:49, etc; Lev 6:9, 14, 25, etc; Num 5:29, 30; 6:13, 21; etc; Deut 1:5; etc). Torah must not be interpreted in a solely legalistic sense; it is a way of life derived from the covenant-relationship between God and Israel. The purely legal connotation entered through the LXX with the rendition of νόμος, G3795. That torah is not only law can be seen from the fact that it is equally well prophetic utterance (cf. Isa 1:10; 8:16) and the counseling of the wise (Prov 13:4). Even in the Pentateuch, torah sometimes means decisions in respect to equity (Exod 18:20), instruction in respect to behavior (Gen 26:5; Exod 13:9), rules in respect to cult (Lev 6:9, 14, 25; etc.). Torah also covers the principle of justice: there shall be one torah for the native and for the stranger (Exod 12:49). From Exodus 24:12 it would appear that commandment is supplementary to torah but not identical with it.

In the NT, νόμος, G3795, generally stands for the Mosaic code (cf. Luke 2:22; 16:17; John 7:23; 18:31; Acts 13:39; etc). In at least one instance it stands for the Scriptures generally (John 10:34).

In rabbinic tradition, torah connotes the written code (תּﯴרָה שֶׁבִּכְּתָב) plus interpretation as codified into the 613 precepts (תּﯴרָה שֶׁבְעַל פֶּה). At no time is torah purely law in the legal sense; it is rather the Jewish way of life requiring total dedication by reason of the Covenant (cf. the Mishnaic tractate: Pirke Avot).

Bibliography H. Danby, The Mishnah (1933), 446ff.; Law and Religion (Judaism & Christianity, ed. E. K. J. Rosenthal, III (1938), 50ff., 62; SBK, IV, pt. I, 439ff.