Matthew 23:23, Weightier matters of the Torah. What are the weightier matters of the Torah? Torah is not an end-all. It is a vehicle that leads us to something. What is that? What really matters to YHVH when all is said and done???? It is the greater Torah or the higher Torah. The Gospel of Matthew (23:23) records that Yeshua rebuked the religious leaders of his day for their not following the higher Torah. What did Yeshua really mean by “the weightier matters of the Torah”?

The Deeper Meaning of the Word “Torah”

Almost every place where you see the word “law” in the Tankah, it is the Hebrew word “Torah.” This word is used 219 times in the Tanakh or Hebrew Scriptures, and in almost every case it is translated in the KJV and in most other English Bibles as “the law.” Is this all the word law (or Torah) means? Is “law” even Torah’s main meaning?

As a test of your understanding (or, perhaps, your preconditioned biases), when you think of the term “the laws” what comes into our mind: good thoughts or bad thoughts? Do you think of a list of dos and don’ts—what you can do and cannot do? Do you think of red and blue lights flashing and a siren? Do you think of a man in a blue uniform with a badge and a gun, or judge in a black robe with a gavel, or a prison? These can be scary thoughts!

Let’s see what the word Torah really means according to the Scriptures.

Let’s start understanding the full scope of this word by first reading Proverbs 13:14. There we read that the Torah is the foundation of life.

Next start reading in Proverbs 1:7 where we read that the fear of YHVH is the beginning of wisdom. In verse 8, Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, is talking to his son about the Torah. In a sense, he’s talking to all of us. The word law in this verse is Hebrew word Torah. Continue reading what Solomon teaches us about the benefits of YHVH’s instructions and wisdom found in the Torah. Start reading in verse 9 to the end of chapter. Then start reading in chapter three and continue to the end of chapter four. Whenever you see the words “law,” “instruction,” “wisdom,” “instructions” “commandments,” “truth,” “mercy,” “knowledge” or “words” think of Torah, for that is what these words are referring to.

Next let’s read Psalm 119. Perhaps no other passage in Scripture extols the virtues of the Torah more than this psalm of David.

Based on Psalm 119 and Proverbs chapters one through three, what are the blessings and benefits of the Torah?

• It takes away feelings of shame, guilt, reproach and contempt. (Ps 119:6, 22)
• It gives us an upright (straightness of) heart. (Ps 119:7)
• It cleanses our ways/keeps a young man clean. (Ps 119:9)
• It keeps us from sinning against YHVH. (Ps 119:11)
• It brings delight and joy. (Ps 119:24, 70, 77, 162, 174)
• It gives us the ability to answer those who reproach (taunt, defy, rail against) us. (Ps 119:42)
• It gives us freedom (a large or broad area to walk in). (Ps 119:45, 96)
• It allows us to speak wisely before leaders. (Ps 119:46)
• It brings us comfort. (Ps 119:52)
• It gives us something to sing about. (Ps 119:54)
• It brings hope. (Ps 119:74, 81)
• It makes us wiser than our enemies. (Ps 119:98)
• It gives us more understanding than our teachers and the ancients. (Ps 119:99, 100)
• It keeps our feet from evil. (Ps 119:101)
• It gives light to our path. (Ps 119:105; Prov 6:23)
• It helps to order our steps and keeps sin from having dominion over us. (Ps 119:133)
• It shows us what truth is. (Ps 119:142, 151)
• It gives us something to love. (Ps 119:159, 163)
• It causes us to hate evil. (Ps 119:163)
• It gives us great peace. (Ps 119:163)
• It defines righteousness for us/gives us understanding as to what righteousness is. (Ps 119:172; Prov 2:9)
• It brings an understanding of the fear of Elohim, which is the beginning of wisdom. (Prov 1:7; 2:5)
• It gives us discretion (purpose, to know the difference between good and evil). (Prov 2:9)
• It delivers us from the way of the evil man. (Prov 2:12)
• It will keep us from the strange woman. (Prov 2:16)
• It shall bring long life, and peace. (Prov 3:2,16)
• It shall give you favor and good understanding in the sight of Elohim and man. (Prov 3:4)
• YHVH will direct your paths. (Prov 3:6)
• It shall bring you good health physically. (Prov 3:8)
• It will bring you physical wealth (because you tithe to YHVH). (Prov 3:9–10, 16)
• It brings the loving correction and chastisement of YHVH. (Prov 3:11–12)
• It brings happiness. (Prov 3:13, 18)
• It brings honor (glory, abundance, riches). (Prov 3:16)
• It is a tree of life. (Prov 3:18)
• It brings life to your soul and grace (favor) like an ornament around the neck. (Prov 3:22)
• It will cause you to walk safely so that your foot will not stumble. (Prov 3:23)
• It will make you so that you are not afraid—so that you can sleep safely at night and have sweet sleep. (Prov 3:24)

All of these blessing of Torah help point us to the higher benefits of Torah, or the greater Torah. All of the things listed above point us to Yeshua, as well, for he is the Living Torah-Word of Elohim, and through a relationship with him these blessings and benefits can be ours.

The Hebrew word Torah literally means “direction, teaching, or instruction.” It comes from another Hebrew word meaning “to flow as water, to lay or throw as in shooting an arrow, to point out as if aiming the finger to make a point, to teach.” In your mind, picture a teacher who is standing in front of a classroom pointing at a chalkboard teaching the class something on that chalkboard, or picture an archer aiming his arrow at a target hoping to hit the bull’s eye. This is the idea behind the word Torah.

Do you see what is really going on here? Think about this awesome thought for a minute. YHVH Elohim, the Creator of the universe and who is our Heavenly Father cares so much for you and me that like a teacher he is teaching us his ways. He personally spoke out his Torah — his instructions in righteousness, and then had Moses write them down for us to point us in the right direction. In his Torah, we learn about salvation by grace through faith from the example of Abraham who had faith in YHVH. From the Torah, we learn that man can escape the penalty of sin, which is death, by killing a lamb and putting its blood on the doorposts of one’s house. This points to Yeshua, the Lamb of Elohim, who spilled his blood on the cross to pay for our sins. From the Torah, we learn that once we are saved by grace through faith in YHVH and have been saved from our sins we can live a righteous and sin-free life by following YHVH’s commandments. From the Torah we learn that this is how we love YHVH our Elohim and our neighbor.

Like an archer shooting an arrow at a target, Torah shows us how to hit the bull’s eye of YHVH’s righteousness and love. Like a river that flows, Torah, which is the very Word of Elohim, is a river of life that brings blessings to us if we obey it. And like a teacher, YHVH is trying to teach us how to walk in his ways that will bring blessings, love, joy and peace.

What Was the Purpose of the Torah?

• The Torah is an amazing thing. Because it comes from the mind of Elohim, it is very deep and broad. YHVH Elohim designed it to accomplish a lot of things. Here are some examples of what the Torah of YHVH can do in a person’s life.
• The Torah tells us what sin is. When we study the Torah, we discover the sin that is in our lives because we see more clearly how we have not been obeying YHVH. The result is that we have feelings of guilt and shame because we have failed to follow the Torah.
• The Torah also shows us how to get the sin out of our lives. This we can accomplish by following Torah’s instructions in righteousness—by obeying the Torah.
• The Torah also points us to Yeshua by showing us that when we sin a price or penalty needs to be paid for that sin. The sacrifice of innocent animals like sheep, cattle and goats when a person sinned shows us that we needed a greater sacrifice than just an innocent animal who would pay for all of our sins once and for all. The Torah shows us that through the shedding of the blood of an innocent animal atonement for or covering over our sins occurs (Leviticus 17:11).
• When we fail to live up to the high standards of YHVH’s Torah, it shows us how much we have sinned, how much we need Yeshua’s salvation and spiritual help to be righteous (Romans 3:23; Galatians 3:25).
• Torah is like a protective boundary line or fence that protects us from straying off of the path of righteousness. Imagine driving down a steep mountain road that had no guardrails, lines or signs—especially at night, or in the fog. It would be very easy to accidentally drive off of the road. Torah is like a guardrail or a marker signs that keep us on the road or righteousness and keeps us from sinning.
• Obeying the Torah helps us to draw closer to YHVH, for it shows us how to love him. (Read John 14:15; 1 John 2:3-6). It also helps us to have a better relationship with our fellow man, since it shows us how to love him.
• Obeying the Torah helps us to stay spiritually pure (1 John 3:3-6).
• Obeying the Torah protects us from the influence of the devil (1 John 3:8).
• Obeying the Torah-Word of YHVH helps to perfect YHVH-Yeshua’s love in us (1 John 3:6).

The Jewish Leaders Had Forsaken the Higher Torah

Yeshua blasted the religious leaders of his day not only for not following Torah, but also for omitting the weightier matters of Torah, which are mercy, justice and faith.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. (Matt 23:23)

The Pharisees had a letter-of-the-law righteousness. But Yeshua said that there was a higher level of righteousness that he expected of his disciples that was to exceed that of the religious Jews of that day (Matt 5:20). Yeshua wasn’t talking about the fine points of a letter-of-the-law Torah-obedience here, for it is doubtful that anyone could have surpassed the punctilious Pharisees in that arena. He must have therefore been talking about something else—something higher and beyond merely keeping the letter of the law along with all the Jews’ added legal traditions.

Not only had the Jews failed to keep the greater Torah, but at the same time, sadly, they had inadvertently nullified some of the Torah through their religious traditions (Mark 7:13).

The Torah should be viewed as more than just a set of dos and don’ts; we should see it as pointing the way to our Father’s heart. His heart is the higher Torah. To get to YHVH’s heart we must lay aside any religious traditions that nullify the Torah-Word of  YHVH, and then follow the Torah at its purest and highest level. But merely following the letter of the Torah legalistically is not sufficient. There is something beyond that.

(Stay tuned for part 2 where we will answer this question.)