Editorial note: Proper names, biblical books, titles, and other proper nouns have been capitalized for readability. The supplied transcript wording has otherwise been retained.

Hello and welcome back to Finding the Ancient Path I’m Ed Doss your host and today i wanted to ask the question

Perhaps answer the question what is the Torah my son tapped me on the shoulder recently and said dad i think you need to do a

Video on answering the question what is the Torah because it keeps coming up people are hearing this word

More and more often and wondering what in the world it is and i i bet it’s the spirit of God turning people’s eyes and ears to it and i’ll

Try to tell you why in the course of this video but that’s what we hope to answer in the course of this short video honestly i

Could do a two-hour lesson on what the Torah is but very briefly for those of you who don’t know what it is i wanted to share this these thoughts

With you what is the Torah well first and foremost the word means instruction or teaching

Chapter 2: What is the Torah

And we know it as the five first five books of the Old Testament uh Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers and

Deuteronomy in its most basic form if i were to ask you the question what is the Torah that

Would be the answer it is the first five books of what we call the Old Testament and i say what we call

The Old Testament is because the word Old Testament New Testament the words

Were created by a heretic whose name is Marcian and he started using the terms old

Testament and New Testament in the second century because in his mind the old was gone and

The new was what we needed to focus on now i can do another lesson on him at another time but

Uh suffice it to say he was not a good dude he had all kinds of twisted understanding about what the scripture is and that’s where we get the words old

Testament New Testament but for the sake of this video the Torah are the first five books of the old

Testament or the first or the five books of Moses and if you are a theology person it is called the Pentateuch Penta meaning five

But the rest of the world simply knows it as the law too many people make the mistake of

Thinking that the entire Old Testament is the law when in reality that’s not the case

Uh the law as we know it is found inside the first five books of Moses more specifically Exodus

Leviticus Deuteronomy where you’ve seen the most of that the 10 commandments in Exodus chapter 20. but that is what we think

Of when we think of the word law now another misconception or

Sad idea sad conception of what the law is is that it’s just a bunch of rules and regulations when in reality the law when you study

It it is an expression of God’s character an expression of God’s values if you think about that for a moment

Even on a completely humanistic level why did God give Israel these laws did he just

One day arbitrarily decide you know these people this new nation they need to have some laws i better i better make some things up

Or was it a transfer of his character and his value system that he was giving his people in his

Kingdom i think that’s more likely the case and more importantly the law the Torah

Are the vows on which the marriage between Israel and God was based

When you look in Exodus when the law was given in stone at Mount Sinai what you’re seeing there is a marriage

Ceremony where God says i will be your God and you will be my people and my vows if you will are to love and

Bless you and your vows are to love and obey me and they said yes we will thus the relationship the marriage

Contract was constructed the only problem is Israel didn’t do a very good job of obeying God as we know from the scriptures

The Torah is the foundation if you will of the entire scriptures all the scriptures it is the

Foundation it is that important we’re going to see here in a moment just what that means but it’s important for

Us to know at this point that as we move forward the Torah is the foundation for what all other scripture is based

For example when we look at Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy we see some important themes

Chapter 3: Themes

In each one of these books for example in Genesis we know about creation of course and there’s a lot of lessons to be

Learned about the creation if you want to learn how to fight the godless

Evolutionary teaching out there about where we come from we find that very clearly in the book of Genesis

Of course we also learn things like the Nephilim and who they were uh the Tower of Babel and of course the patriarchs

The father of the faith Abraham and his son Isaac and Jacob who became Israel and his son Joseph

And of course the beginning of the experience of their trip through Egypt

All is found in the book of Genesis these are the themes i would say the greater themes of the book of Genesis we get into Exodus

And we see more of Egypt of course we see the Exodus out of Egypt we see Moses

And the plagues and Pharaoh the first Passover if you will and then of course the crossing of the

Red Sea 40 years in the desert and the covenant that we talked about earlier

There in the book of Exodus excuse me in Leviticus we get into the laws

The offerings and the sacrifices the beginning of what’s called the Levitical priesthood and surprisingly enough

We learn about holiness in Leviticus Leviticus as I’ll teach in another lesson has more

Instances more uses of the word holy in its chapters than anywhere else in the bible because it’s in Leviticus

Where we hear about God’s laws that is what sets God’s people apart so we learned about holiness in the book of Leviticus

And of course we learn about the feasts and the food laws and all those kinds of things Numbers we get into the community laws

For community compassion forgiveness justice rules and order and warfare even yes there was warfare

If you want to learn more about Israel’s place in those wars you should look at my Nephilim lesson on my YouTube channel that explains a

Great deal it’s a very deep lesson and of course in Deuteronomy we get into Israel’s rebellion talk of the promised land entering the promised land

Um remembrance of the laws that God gave them at Sinai blessings and curses some of my favorite chapters we learned about

Apostasy more laws and instructions feast reminders and the covenant renewed there’s all kinds of themes in these

Five chapters that really constitute what is the law it is it is God expressing his ways

His passions his character his values to his people so it’s important that we know that

Chapter 4: Prophets

When we move on to the prophets throughout the scriptures we see that it was the prophets that were calling

Israel the House of Israel and the House of Judah back to the Torah

They would use words verbiage like sin and why do they do that well because in First John 3 the apostle john tells us

That whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness sin defined is breaking the law

And so for those of you who wish to do away with the law well then how do you define sin if the law is gone then you have no sin

Paul actually talks about this in other writings so we have to understand that going forward that when the prophets are calling Israel and Judah back to the

Torah he’s accusing them of sin and of course they did do a great deal of sinning and breaking the Torah but

That’s what they were doing we see Isaiah o house of Jacob come and let us walk in the light of the Lord well

If you don’t know what the light of the Lord is you might just read that and think he’s just talking about light when in reality Proverbs 6 tells us that the

Commandment the Torah is a lamp and the law and the word there for law

In the Hebrew is Torah the law the Torah is a light reproofs of instruction the way of life

We see Jeremiah saying therefore that says the Lord if you return return to what return to their vows which was what

They return to the Torah then i will bring you back and you shall stand before me we see Ezekiel in chapter 18 saying

Repent repent from what repent from your sin which is what a violation of the Torah a violation of

A law and turn from your transgressions so that iniquity would not be your ruin Hosea says return o Israel to the Lord

Your God for you have stumbled because of your iniquity or your sin Malachi in chapter 3 says yet from the

Days of your fathers you have gone away from my ordinances and have not kept them return to me

And i will return to you says the Lord of Hosts so here we see these prophets calling people back

To the Torah to the things that God taught them his ways his ancient paths

His values his expressions of love all of them are going back to the Torah

Chapter 5: David

Let me see David David in Psalms 119 says my whole heart i have sought you

With my whole heart i have sought you oh let me not wander from your commandments your word i have hidden in my heart

That i might not sin against you he says in uh in in verse 17 open my eyes

That i might see the wonderful things from your Torah again this is the word the Lord law

There is Torah in verses 34 and 35 give me understanding

And i shall keep your Torah indeed i shall observe it with my whole heart make me walk in the path of your

Commandments for i delight in it now we can look at David and see that he

Delights in the Torah and then we need to ask ourselves if we’re fans of David and i certainly am i

Certainly want to have David’s heart because it was David’s heart that God said was most like his

And he delighted in the Torah can we say that as New Testament believers would it surprise you to know that Paul

Did that the Apostle Paul says in Romans 7 for i delight in the law

And the word there in the Greek is nomos which is translated to law or Torah

I delight in the Torah of God in my inner being which means really down deep he delights

In it well does he hold to it did the Apostle Paul ever advocate that we should still hold to the Torah

In this day and age well yes he did in Romans chapter 3 in verse 31 in talking about the dichotomy between

Understanding justification by faith and justification according to the law

Paul says do we overthrow the law by this faith of course the faith he’s talking about is our faith in Christ

And he answers himself by saying by no means absolutely not on the contrary

We uphold the Torah we obey the Torah so here we have the Apostle Paul

Advocating obedience to the Torah is that what you believe in your church is that what you hold to

Or do you have a dismissive attitude or dismissive teaching from the pulpit

About the Torah about the law as if it’s gone and done away with well that can’t be the case

Chapter 6: Matthew

And I’m going to show you why here in Matthew chapter 5 with Yeshua our savior Jesus our Lord said in

Matthew 5 do not think that i have come to abolish the law let’s just stop right there

There are many people in the world today teachers and pastors that think that Yeshua did just that

When he was resurrected from the dead and yet he is saying here in no uncertain terms

That he has not come to abolish the law we have to wrestle with that or the prophets i have not come to

Abolish them but to fulfill them of course what that means is he had to become the spotless lamb and in order to become the spotless lamb

He had to be obedient to the Torah and so therefore thereby fulfilling them

Thereby fulfilling his goal in becoming the spotless lamb but you can’t say that to fulfill is

Also to abolish that wouldn’t make sense because then Jesus is saying i have not come to abolish the law but to

Abolish it that doesn’t make sense not from a a common sense point of view nor does it make sense

Exegetically or theologically in any way shape or form and then he says in verse 18 for truly i say to you until heaven and earth pass

Away not an iota not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished you see i have that in red and we’re going to see another passage here in red

That i want to discuss these two things therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called

Least in the kingdom of heaven but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven for i tell you unless your

Righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and the Pharisees you will never enter the kingdom of heaven by the way uh which of us would dare

Try to explain to God which of his commandments is the least i  wouldn’t

I don’t think you would either and yet Jesus uses these words very intentionally whoever relaxes one

Of these can you think of a commandment that Christianity has relaxed

I can in the minds of most Christians we don’t have ten commandments we have nine why nine well because they don’t absorb

The sabbath the biblical sabbath for a lot of different reasons and i wrote about this in my book

Finding the Ancient Path which by the way if you want still on Amazon i’d love for you to read it and give me your feedback but the sabbath is

Certainly a commandment that Christians around the world has relaxed a commandment that Jesus said

He did not come to abolish or do away with but let’s look at these two verses in red for truly i say to you until heaven and earth pass away not an iota nor a

Dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished what is going on here well from a completely

Uh i don’t know again I’m gonna use the word humanistic perspective i guess we can ask the question is heaven and earth still here

Yeah yeah heaven and earth is still here so if that’s the case then what’s going on

Here for truly i say to you not one iota not one dot will pass from the law until heaven and earth well

That says something that might mean that the law is still with us but there’s more to this passage here

Than i think many people realize and we can find the answer to that in Psalm 148.

Speaking of creation the scriptures say let them with creation including earth praise the name of the Lord

For he commanded and they were created he established them forever and ever

He gave a decree and it shall not pass away so heaven and earth

Are never going to pass away so what is Jesus doing here well have you ever had somebody ask you a

Question that was so crazy your answer was well when hell freezes over if someone asks me when are you moving

To Alaska and i answered them when hell freezes over should you expect the time

To come when hell freezes over and i actually moved to Alaska no because you understand the idiom you

Understand the common saying that by saying when hell freezes over what I’m really saying is i am never

Moving to Alaska and this is exactly what Yeshua is doing here to those who knew their scriptures

They would have known exactly what he was saying here that the law is never going away

We have to wrestle with that brothers and sisters and then the second scripture highlighted in red

Was a passage that confused me for a long time for i tell you unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and the Pharisees you will never enter the

Kingdom of God when i read that i used to think holy cow these guys were obedient to the law to the letter

How is my righteousness going to exceed theirs but again

That’s not what’s going on here when you read your scriptures and you read the interactions that Yeshua had

With the Pharisees and the Scribes he was constantly challenging them for the way that they changed the law

The way that they added to the law like here in Mark 7 where he says you leave the commandment

Of God and hold to the traditions of men verse 9 you’ve a fine way of rejecting

The commandment in order to establish your traditions in verse 13 thus making void the word of

God by your tradition that you have handed down and many such things you do

So was Jesus saying that you had to rise above their commitment to the law or the Torah no

He was saying stop obeying the traditions of man in place of the Torah

And where would we have seen that well you know they make up new laws like they did here in Mark 7 about washing plates and

Couches and stuff that aren’t found in the scriptures law is about washing your hands according to their

Their instruction which is not found in the scriptures telling people that on the sabbath they can’t walk more than 10 paces from their

Home they can’t turn on a light switch those are things they added to the law traditions of men so when Jesus says your righteousness

Needs to exceed theirs all he was saying was obey the scriptures and not the traditions of man

So the last thing i want to show here show you here is uh the Talmud is not the Torah what is the Talmud well

Chapter 7: The Talmud

The Talmud is a Torah that is on the mouth it is considered the oral law

Purported laws and statutes and legal interpretations that were not recorded in the first five books

Of Moses for all intents and purposes the oral law or the Talmud

Are rabbinical commentary on the actual law rabbinical additions to the law and you might hear that and go well who

Are they to add to the law who are they to have commentary on the law well

Careful how many books do you have on your shelf that are basically all commentary on the

Scriptures this is what they did for thousands of years and

Instead of holding to the ancient paths they started listening to their rabbis and some of their oftentimes twisted ideas of what a

Scripture actually was saying there’s a lot of good stuff to be found in the Talmud very honest and genuine commentary that does not

Stand in violation of the scriptures but at the same time there’s a lot of crazy stuff too which just goes to show us and remind us

The importance of holding to the way holding to the ancient path and not giving up that in in

Exchange for uh the traditions of man so we talked about this earlier ceremonial washings uh how far a person

Can walk on the sabbath not using electricity these are all things that were added to the law contemporary kosher laws

Jesus says don’t eat pigs because they’re nasty and they’re dirty and you’re going to be defiled by them but

The Talmud says that you can’t even eat in a restaurant where they prepare pig well that would be an extension of that law

And they they hold people to it and the scriptures simply say in many such things you do and by the way brothers and sisters it’s

Not just the Jews that did it it’s not just the Pharisees it’s not just Israel we do it too we have traditions in our churches today

That we hold people to that have no biblical foundation and in doing so we have our own Talmud

We have our own non-scriptural teachings and commands that people are hold to

So this is a brief lesson on what is the Torah if you want to learn more about it again in my book Finding the Ancient Path on

Um on Amazon i would love for you to pick it up there’s different versions Kindle version and a hard copy of edition i

Think i actually have a copy of it here on my desk looks something like this

Uh 300 pages pretty good size Amazon did make some mistakes in the printing of it which could have been my mistakes i’m not sure

But um thanks for taking the time to listen to this again I’d love to hear your thoughts and your comments

And my next video is going to be showing you where we see the Torah at work even in the New Testament so be

Looking out for that thanks for watching and God bless have a great day