What Does The Torah Say!?

In August of 2021, I started a series of weekly essays to ask that question about the Sunday morning message at TimberCreek Church (TCC), Monument, CO where we attend. It's turned out to be a great journey, and even spawned two other sections to this website: Words and Bonuses (see the tabs above). Words is a listing of interesting Hebrew words that when understood properly bring a clearer and deeper understanding of the text. Bonuses are short essays that let me talk about anything I want to talk about.

So why the Torah? Bottomline: the Torah (Genesis through Deuteronomy) teaches us how God wants us to live and treat each other and how to live a meaningful life. There are many lessons as to how to get along with our neighbors, deal with family, as well as build a good society. All it takes is a little digging into the material which is not easy to just read through and grasp. But once you're in it and begin understanding the meaning of it all, the Torah presents Ah-Ha moment after Ah-Ha moment!

One note... My familiarity is with the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament. Some use the term Torah to include much more. For example, the word Torah is also used by some (incorrectly) to refer to the entire Old Testament. Tanach is the Hebrew word for the entire Old Testament. In addition, doing an internet search on "[topic] Torah," you'll get a great deal of entries beyond the Torah. This will include other Old Testament passages, writings from other older Jewish texts like the Talmud and the Mishnah, and more current commentaries by moderns as well. We try to stick with the Torah proper. Click here for a very brief outline of what the Torah contains.

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Fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls from Cave 4 at Qumran from the section known as the Temple Scroll. It contains restated material from Exodus and Deuteronomy describing the construction of the Temple. The Dead Sea Scrolls date from about the 3rd Century to the 2nd Century B.C.E. (about 2,200 years old, give or take).