I want to start out today’s post with a verse that comes from King David’s advice to his son Solomon. One of the first things he said before passing on the kingship was, “You be strong therefore, and show yourself a man; and keep the instruction of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you turn yourself” (1 Kings 2:2-3, WEB). Did you notice how many words David uses to refer to God’s instructions? He talks about statutes, commands, ordinances, testimonies, and law.
This isn’t the only place where multiple Hebrew words are used to describe God’s instructions, but I picked it because it includes most of them all in one verse. Another example comes from Nehemiah, where it talks about God giving ancient Israel “right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments” (Neh. 9:13, WEB). For some time now, I’ve wondered why all those different words are used and what distinctions there are between them. I figured now is as good a time as any to actually study it.
Starting with A Dictionary
I decided to start by going to my favorite Hebrew dictionary, the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. I looked up the words used in those verses from 1 Kings and Nehemiah, as well as the Hebrew words for “word” and “charge” since they’re often used alongside them in other verses. The TWOT organizes words by root words and derivatives, so we’ll start with the roots and branch out from there to the derivatives used in the specific verses.
- “word.” Root dabar, “to speak” (TWOT 399). The word dabar shows up in the Hebrew Bible more than 2500 times, and in the KJV translators used about 30 different English words for the noun (H1697) and 85 for the verb (H1696). Clearly, it’s not a simple word to translate. However, all “have some sense of thought processes, of communication, or of subjects or means of communication” (TWOT 399). For our purposes today, dabar can refer to words God speaks; it is, for example, used of the Ten Commandments as “words of the covenant” (Ex. 34:28. WEB).
- “statutes.” Root haqaq, “primary meaning of cutting or engraving in stone,” though it also means “enacting a decree” or law (TWOT 728). The masculine noun form choq or hoq (H2706) appears in Nehemiah, and means “statue, custom, law, decree” and is frequently paired with the word for “keep,” stressing the importance of obeying God’s statutes (TWOT 728a). The feminine noun form chuqqah or huqqa (H2708) is used in 1 Kings, and is similar to the choq form, but is also used to talk about “perpetual statutes” such as the ordinances for holy days (TWOT 728b).
- “law.” Root yara, “throw, cast, shoot” or “teach” (TWOT 910). The word for “law” is the derivative torah (H8451). Torah can be translated “law,” “instruction,” or “teaching” (TWOT 910d). Broadly, it means teaching in the sense of wise instruction (often directly from God). It also refers more specifically to God’s instructions, “statutes, ordinances, precepts, commandments, and testimonies” as well as His moral law which predates the giving of the law code as part of the covenant (TWOT 910d). In time, torah came to refer to the first five books of the Bible as well as God’s law.
- “testimonies.” Root ud, to return, repent, or do over again, with various derivatives related to witnessing and testimony (TWOT 1576). The derivative eduth (H5715) is the one we’re looking at today. It specifically means “a warning testimony” (TWOT 1576f). Can be used as a synonym for law (as in Psalm 19 and 119) since “The law of God is his testimony because it is his own affirmation relative to his very person and purpose” and it is also “a warning sign to man” (TWOT 1576f). `
- “commands.” Root sawa, “command” as a verb (TWOT 1887). The noun form for “commandments” is miswa or mitsvah (H4687). This word can refer to terms in a contract or instructions from a teacher, but most often it’s used for “the particular conditions of the covenant” God makes with humanity (TWOT 1887b). This is, for example, a word used of the Ten Commandments (Ex. 24:12).
- “charge.” Root shamar, “keep, guard, observe, give heed” (TWOT 2414). The derivative mishmeret (H4931) doesn’t appear in any of the verses we’ve looked at so far, but it will in a few we’ll read next. It refers to something we keep as an obligation or something we do as a service (TWOT 2414g).
- “ordinances” or “judgements.” Root shapat, to judge or “exercise the process of government” (TWOT 2443). We’ve looked at this word and its derivative mishpat (H4941) before. It’s a nuanced word, with “at least thirteen related, but distinct aspects” centered on the concept of justice (TWOT 2443c). For example, mishpat can mean “a case or litigation,” the judge’s ruling on that case, “an ordinance of law,” and/or justice as “rightness rooted in God’s character.”
As we can see in these brief word studies, there are some differences between the words although they mean similar things. A judgement, for example, is not exactly the same thing as a commandment. Most of the words used to talk about God’s instructions (statutes, testimonies, commands, etc.) fall under the umbrella of “law” or torah. You can tease out nuances between the words, like 119 Ministries does in their article, “Commandments, Statutes, Ordinances, and Judgments…What’s the Difference?” However, when they come from God, all these things are very similar in terms of how we’re expected to respond to them.
Of these words as a group, the TWOT writers say, “hoq occurs in sequence with other words for law: debarim (words), tora (law), mishpat (judgement), edut (testimony), and miswa (commandment). These words are used almost indiscriminately” and though some have tried to separate them into groups, such as using hoq and mishpat for two different categories of laws, “efforts to distinguish clearly between their connotations have not been entirely successful” (TWOT 728a). As GotQuestions.org says, the main point is “obedience to all that the Lord commands,” regardless of the word being used.
How These Words are Used
The words we looked at in the previous section occur hundreds, or in some cases thousands, of time in the Hebrew Bible. Clearly, we won’t be able to look at all those examples. We can, though, start looking at some of the verses that use more than one of these words together and see how they’re used and what we can learn about the response God expects from His people.
Yahweh appeared to him, and said, … “In your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my requirements (mishmereth), my commandments (mitsvah), my statutes (chuqqah), and my laws (torah).”
Genesis 26:2, 4-5, WEB
One of the things that often confuses people is the link between God’s law and the Old Covenant. Christians agree that we’re not under the Old Covenant–it has been replaced by a New Covenant based on better promises and ratified in Jesus Christ–but many Christians disagree on the role the law plays today. Some think that when the Old Covenant went away, the law went with it. But that’s not what Jesus or Paul taught and, as we see here in this verse about Abraham, God’s requirements, commandments, statutes, and laws pre-date the Old Covenant at Mount Sinai. You can see evidence of this elsewhere as well, such as God commanding Noah to “take seven pairs of every clean animal” on the ark but only one pair of unclean animals (Gen. 7:2, WEB). Clean and unclean meat laws are an example of God’s laws pre-dating the Sinai covenant by hundreds of years.
God has expectations for His people. In its simplest form, His law is about loving God will all your being and loving your neighbor as yourself. The rest is details on how to do that (as we talked about a couple weeks ago when looking at how Jesus quoted Deuteronomy).
Now, Israel, listen to the statutes (choq) and to the ordinances (mishpat) which I teach you, to do them; that you may live, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, gives you. You shall not add to the word (dabar) which I command you, neither shall you take away from it, that you may keep the commandments (mitsvah) of Yahweh your God which I command you. … Behold, I have taught you statutes (choq) and ordinances (mishpat), even as Yahweh my God commanded me, that you should do so in the middle of the land where you go in to possess it. Keep (shamar) therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who shall hear all these statutes (choq) and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” For what great nation is there that has a god so near to them as Yahweh our God is whenever we call on him? What great nation is there that has statutes (choq) and ordinances (mishpat) so righteous as all this law (torah) which I set before you today?
Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 5-8, WEB
The laws that God gave His people taught them how to follow Him and set themselves apart as His special people. We can still learn from them today because we’re also God’s people, though our context is not the same as that of ancient Israel. Some laws don’t apply to us directly (e.g. most of us don’t have to worry about what to do if your bull gores someone to death [Ex. 21:28-36]) but we can still learn wisdom from the principles behind the laws (e.g. God’s view on restitution and responsibility). Some laws still apply directly today, such as the Ten Commandments, which teach us more about how to fulfill the law in love (Rom. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:14).
Psalm 119
If you want to know how a godly person interacted with the Lord’s words, statutes, ordinances, testimonies, charge, judgements, and law, then read Psalm 119. This is the longest psalm in the Bible and the whole thing is a meditation on God’s law and the psalmist’s relationship with those instructions.
Blessed are those whose ways are blameless,
Psalm 119:1-7, WEB
who walk according to Yahweh’s law.
Blessed are those who keep his statutes,
who seek him with their whole heart.
Yes, they do nothing wrong.
They walk in his ways.
You have commanded your precepts,
that we should fully obey them.
Oh that my ways were steadfast
to obey your statutes!
Then I wouldn’t be disappointed,
when I consider all of your commandments.
I will give thanks to you with uprightness of heart,
when I learn your righteous judgments.
Psalm 119 begins with this beautiful passage that puts me in mind of Romans 7-8. The Psalmist loves God’s law so much, but also recognizes that his ways are not steadfast enough to obey all God’s statutes. Similarly, Paul says “the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good” (Rom. 7:12, NET) but because he couldn’t obey it fully he needed Jesus’s sacrifice to set him free from the law. Now, he could serve God “in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code” (Rom 7:6, NET) while fulfilling “the righteous requirement of the law” by walking “according to the Spirit” instead of according to the flesh (Rom. 8:4, NET).
Like Paul and this psalmist, we can find delight in God’s law and learn from His instructions while also realizing we can’t perfectly obey God or justify ourselves. We need Jesus mediating forgiveness and making us right with God so we can serve Him in the spirit (which, in many ways, means taking the law to a higher, better level).
Do good to your servant.
Psalm 119:17-18, 20, 24, 27, 30-32 WEB
I will live and I will obey your word.
Open my eyes,
that I may see wondrous things out of your law.
…
My soul is consumed with longing for your ordinances at all times.
…
Indeed your statutes are my delight,
and my counselors.
…
Let me understand the teaching of your precepts!
Then I will meditate on your wondrous works.
…
I have chosen the way of truth.
I have set your ordinances before me.
I cling to your statutes, Yahweh.
Don’t let me be disappointed.
I run in the path of your commandments,
for you have set my heart free.
Have you ever thought about God’s instructions like this? I think a lot of times, we feel confused or frustrated when we read God’s laws, trying to figure them out. But the psalmist models a different approach. He asks God to teach him to understand the law, finds delight in the wonderous things of God’s law, and obeys because the Lord has set his heart free. There’s great comfort in knowing that God places guards around our lives to keep us safe and help us know how to follow Him with all our hearts, minds, and souls.
Yahweh, your word is settled in heaven forever.
Psalm 119:89-91, 97, WEB
Your faithfulness is to all generations.
You have established the earth, and it remains.
Your laws remain to this day,
for all things serve you.
…
How I love your law!
It is my meditation all day.
I love the consistency and reliability of God. I don’t have to worry about Him changing His mind about His relationship with me or with His people as a whole. I don’t have to worry that He’ll say one thing a couple thousand years ago and then contradict Himself tomorrow. His plan of salvation, the way Jesus delivers us, and how we show our love by obeying Him doesn’t alter on a whim. We can count on Him not to break his New Covenant with us or to change the terms of relationship.
God’s law, word, statutes, ordinances, judgements, charges, and commands are good and they are good for us. We might not be able to figure out exactly what the differences are between those words or sort God’s instructions into neat categories, but that’s not the point of them. They’re a revelation of God’s character, guides for relating to Him and living in a way that honors Him, and a source of wisdom as we learn how to be more like Him.
Featured image by StockSnap from Pixabay
Song Recommendation: “Word of God Speak” by MercyMe
Like An Anchor 