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The Magnificent Torah

The Magnificent Torah

Written by Dale Ebel
dale@daleebel.org | 503-957-4547

This is a teaching I am leading at a local church men’s group.

My Purpose for This Teaching

My purpose for this teaching is that you will love the Law of God as the Psalmist did:

“Oh, how I love Your law (instructions, directions)! It is my meditation all the day.”
— Psalm 119:97 (LSB)

This will partly be accomplished when you:

  • Change or deepen your desire to study the Torah.
  • Obey what God says in the Torah.
  • Become emboldened to speak the words of the Torah to anyone who will listen.

Three Major Resources for Your Study

You will discover a lifetime of redemptive truth if you internalize and communicate these Biblical truths with others.

Please consider investing in the following:

  • Invest $50.00–$100.00 and purchase The Founders’ Bible: The Origin of the Dream of Freedom (NASB), with signature historian David Barton.
  • For about $30.00, purchase Exodus: God, Slavery, and Freedom by Dennis Prager.
  • For another $30.00, purchase Deuteronomy: God, Blessings, and Curses by Dennis Prager.

The Call to Remember and Obey

Deuteronomy 4:4–9 (LSB)
“But you who clung to Yahweh your God are alive today, every one of you.
See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as Yahweh my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it.
You shall keep and do them, for that 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.’
For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is Yahweh our God whenever we call on Him?
Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?
Only keep yourself and keep your soul very carefully, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. But make them known to your sons and to your grandsons.”

Your Impressions of the Torah

Describe your impressions of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible).

When you think of “the law,” what comes to mind? Circle as many as you wish:

  • Legalistic and restrictive commands
  • Attainable instructions and teachings
  • Punitive standards
  • Unattainable laws
  • Informative, instructive, empowering
  • List your own impressions

The word “Law” in Hebrew is Torah, which means instruction or teaching.

The Torah Reveals a Biblical Total Truth Worldview

The Torah reveals a Biblical Total Truth worldview.

A worldview is a Biblically informed perspective on all reality.

General Characteristics of the Torah

  • It is behavior-oriented.
  • It demonstrates a Hebraic (Hebrew) worldview — act your way into thinking correctly.
    This stands in stark contrast to much of modern Christian theology, which reflects a Greek, Hellenistic worldview that emphasizes — think your way into correct behavior.
  • There is a profound logic that relates all aspects of life to God.

All disciplines of life fall under God’s authority: social interactions, scientific realities, business practices, civic politics, sanitation practices, guidelines for war, worship practices, judicial guidelines, sexual behaviors, educational applications, and more.

  • It is a reasonable and rational defense of the ways of Yahweh God.
  • Compartmentalization (a Hellenistic paradigm) is non-existent. Private life is reflected in public life. Our deeds are not detached from our personhood — our words are an extension of our heart (motives).
  • It is preoccupied with living a good (Ex. 22:14), wise (Deut. 1:15), and holy life (Lev. 20:26).

The Great Shema

Deuteronomy 6:4 (LSB)
“Hear, O Israel! Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is one!”

This was Yahweh’s claim over and against the competing claims of the many gods in the polytheistic religious environment of that day. It was a call for the loyalty of the people. It was an attack on heathen religious polytheism.

I am not saying that this verse (the Shema) has no indirect implications for our understanding of the nature of God. But in its original context, Deuteronomy 6:4 constituted more of a declaration against the prevailing way people saw and experienced God.

It is cogent. It is compelling. It is convincing. It defends the will and the ways of Yahweh God as revealed in Holy Scripture.

What Torah Truly Means

The Hebrew word Torah has traditionally been translated “law,” meaning a set of rules or legal codes. This can be misleading because it implies a rigid approach to life and distorts the inner intention of Torah.

A truer translation is “instruction” or simply “teaching.”

A better way to understand it is this: the Torah is an orientation course in the will and the ways of God. It was the training Israel needed in order to know her covenantal God.

Please look up the article on my blog (daleebel.org) titled “Categories of the Law,” page 1, dated February 3, 2026. In it, I list nine types of laws revealed in both the Book of the Covenants (OT) and the Renewed Covenant (NT).

Healthy Warnings from the Prophet Hosea

Hosea 4:6 (AMP)
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge [of My law, where I reveal My will]. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.”
YIKES!

Hosea 8:12 (AMP)
“I wrote for him the ten thousand precepts of My law, but they are regarded as a strange thing.”
This is modern Evangelicalism!

My Own Confession

For years, I mistakenly lumped God’s Law into one category — simply “the Law.”

I also mistakenly relegated it only to the Book of the Covenants (OT). Embarrassingly, for far too long I considered it — along with many others — as legalistic, restrictive, punitive, unattainable, and irrelevant.

All of which are untrue.

Today, I will cover three types of law in my “Do You Believe?” section below.

Three Types of Law

The Moral Law
The right and wrong behaviors that reveal the goodness or badness of one’s character. This was exemplified in the Ten Commandments.

The Judicial Law
These are the civil and statutory laws that take the rights and wrongs from the Moral Law and assign penalties and rewards for behaviors. These are meted out through the courts or a society’s judicial system. The penalties and rewards vary with each society.

The Societal Law
The comprehensive instructions and directives that, when followed, maintain a healthy society and promote prosperity — individually and collectively.

You Can’t See What You Do Not Know!

Do You Believe…

(All the answers I provide are found in the Torah.)

  • Do you believe in the right to defend yourself? (Exodus 22:2–3)
  • Do you believe that if a person commits premeditated murder, he should receive the death penalty? (Genesis 9:6; Leviticus 24:17)
  • Do you believe we should love our neighbor as ourselves? (Leviticus 19:18)
  • Do you believe that life has conditions? (Leviticus 26:3)
  • Do you believe in an honest and fair judicial system? (Leviticus 19:15)
  • Do you believe slandering another person is wrong? (Leviticus 19:16)
  • Do you believe it is wrong to hate your brother in your heart? (Leviticus 19:17)
  • Do you believe God demonstrates unfailing love, forgiveness, compassion, and mercy? (Exodus 34:6–7)
  • Do you believe there are qualities in elected officials that warrant your vote? (Exodus 18:21)
  • Do you believe America should be in such financial debt? (Deuteronomy 15:6)
  • Do you believe that most needy people, if able, should work? (Deuteronomy 24:19)
  • Do you believe you should give generously, when appropriate, without a grudging heart? (Deuteronomy 15:10)
  • Do you believe that if a thief steals from you, he should make full restitution and repay more? (Exodus 22:1; Numbers 5:7)
  • Do you wash your hands under running water? (Numbers 19:17 — KJV, NLT)
  • Do you wish that the Lord’s people were prophets and that He would put His Spirit upon them? (Numbers 11:29)
  • Do you believe it is more important to lend to the poor rather than indiscriminately give? (Exodus 22:25 — NLT; Deuteronomy 15:8)
  • When you have the flu, do you quarantine or isolate? (Numbers 5:1)
  • Do you own your own property? (Genesis 34:10)
  • In business practices, do you practice honesty? (Deuteronomy 25:15)
  • Do you believe kidnapping, slavery, or sex trafficking should be punishable by death? (Exodus 21:16; 24:7)
  • Do you believe in the first law of thermodynamics — that there is no ongoing creation? (Genesis 2:1)
  • Do you recognize and accept the second law of thermodynamics — that all of life is under bondage to decay (entropy)? (Genesis 3:17)
  • Do you believe there are false gods in our culture? (Exodus 20:2–3)
  • Do you believe judges should judge rich and poor the same? (Deuteronomy 1:17)
  • Do you believe the fear of God must supersede all other fears? (Deuteronomy 4:10 — NKJV)

I consistently communicate these truths with many people — those who espouse Christianity, those who are indifferent, and even those who are hostile to Christianity — and I receive positive, inquisitive, and newly enlightened responses.

Friends, you can do this — especially with your family, your children, and your grandchildren.

“The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.”
— Psalm 19:7 (KJV)

The richness of this teaching will deepen as you look up these verses in their context.

Any Biblically thought-out response is welcome.

In Christ,
Dale