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Unfortunately, Israel fell into the trap of keeping
as something imposed, and for
itself, rather than as a means of becoming what God intended for her. The means became
the end. Instead of seeing
as a guideline, it became an external body of rules, and
thus a weight rather than a freeing and guiding power. This burden, plus the legalism of
Roman law, forms the background of the New Testament tradition of law, especially as
Paul struggles with it in his Letter to the church at Rome.
C. Adjective.
6 $
means “taught.” This adjective forms an exact equivalent to the New
Testament idea of “disciple, one who is taught.” This is well expressed in Isa. 8:16: “…
Seal the law among my disciples.” The word also occurs in Isa. 54:13: “And all thy
children shall be taught of the Lord.…”
TO TELL
A. Verb.
(
$,
, 5046), “to tell, explain, inform.” An exact equivalent to this verb is not
known outside biblical Hebrew except in late Aramaic. The verb occurs around 335 times
and in all periods of biblical Hebrew.
The first emphasis of the word is “to tell.” This especially means that A (frequently a
messenger or some other person who has witnessed something) “tells” B (the one to
whom the report is made) C (the report). In such instances B (the one told) is spatially
separated from the original source of the information. So, in Gen. 9:22, Ham (A) saw his
father naked and went outside the tent and “told” his brothers (B) what he had seen (C).
In another group of passages
represents the reporting of a messenger about a
matter of life-or-death importance for the recipient. So a fugitive “came … and told
Abram” that Lot had been captured and led away captive (Gen. 14:13). A note of this
emotionally charged situation is seen in Jacob’s message to Esau: “… I have sent to tell
my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight” (Gen. 32:5). Although not a report from a
messenger from afar, Gen. 12:18 uses the verb of a report that is of crucial importance to
the one addressed. Pharaoh asked Abram: “Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy
wife?” Gen. 12:17 reports that because Pharaoh had taken Sarai into his harem to become
his wife, God had smitten his household with great plagues.
Finally,
means “to explain or reveal” something one does not otherwise know.
In Gen. 3:11 (the first biblical occurrence of the word) God asked Adam: “Who told thee
that thou wast naked?” This was information immediately before them but not previously
grasped by them. This usage appears in Gen. 41:24, where Pharaoh said of his dream: “…
I told this unto the magicians; but there was none that could declare it to me.” Similarly,
David made certain there were no survivors from the Philistine cities he looted so no one
would “tell” it to Achish (1 Sam. 27:11). This word sometimes has a more forceful
significance—God told the prophet to “show my people their transgression” (Isa. 58:1).
B. Noun.
(
$
,
, 5057), “chief leader.” This noun occurs 44 times in biblical Hebrew. In 1
Sam. 9:16 the word is used as a “chief leader” that is equivalent to a king: “Tomorrow
about this time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint
him to be captain over my people Israel.…”
:
appears in 1 Chron. 9:11 to refer to a