What Is the Greater or Higher Torah?

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?

Torah reading in a synagogue with a hand holding a silver pointer

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 Continue reading