Laws and Commandments: Why Keep Them

תּוֹרָה, מִצְוָה, שָׁמַר: the words for God’s laws, five at a time, and the reasons the Bible itself gives for keeping them.

Five words for the law

The Bible has several words for God’s laws, and it often puts them side by side, the way English says “rules and regulations”. Each looks at the law from its own side. In verses they often have endings: תּוֹרַת “the law of”, חֻקִּים “statutes”, מִשְׁפָּטִים “rulings”.

תּוֹרַת יְהוָה תְּמִימָה מְשִׁיבַת נָפֶשׁ “The law of yəḥawwe is perfect, bringing back the soul” (Psalm 19:8)

וְזֹאת הַמִּצְוָה הַחֻקִּים וְהַמִּשְׁפָּטִים “And this is the commandment, the statutes and the rulings” (Deuteronomy 6:1)

Five things to do with them

Moses tells Israel to do four of these with the laws in a single verse: hear them, learn them, keep them, do them. שָׁמַר and עָשָׂה often go together: “keep to do”, that is, take care to do.

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־הַחֻקִּים וְאֶת־הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים “Hear, Israel, the statutes and the rulings” (Deuteronomy 5:1)

וּלְמַדְתֶּם אֹתָם וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם לַעֲשֹׂתָם “and learn them, and take care to do them” (Deuteronomy 5:1)

וּזְכַרְתֶּם אֶת־כָּל־מִצְוֹת יְהוָה וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם “and remember all the commandments of yəḥawwe, and do them” (Numbers 15:39)

Five reasons to keep them

The Torah seldom gives a law without a reason. These five words come back again and again when it says why, often after לְמַעַן “so that” or לְ “for”. The last step of the lesson reads those verses.

וּבָחַרְתָּ בַּחַיִּים לְמַעַן תִּחְיֶה “So choose life, so that you may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19)

לְטוֹב לָךְ “for your good” (Deuteronomy 10:13)

Why keep them? The Bible’s own reasons

You know the words now: five for the law, five for what to do with it, five for why. Here are the reasons the Hebrew Bible itself gives for keeping God’s laws. It does not only command. Again and again it says why, with לְמַעַן “so that”, כִּי “for, because” and לְטוֹב “for good”. Many of these verses use the form you met in And You Shall: וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם “and you shall keep”.

1. He set them free first. The Ten Commandments don't open with a command. They open with who is speaking and what he has already done: אָנֹכִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם “I am yəḥawwe your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 20:2).

When a child asks what the laws mean, the answer begins the same way: עֲבָדִים הָיִינוּ לְפַרְעֹה בְּמִצְרָיִם “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt” (Deuteronomy 6:21). The laws are given to people who have already been rescued.

2. They are life. וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם אֶת־חֻקֹּתַי וְאֶת־מִשְׁפָּטַי אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשֶׂה אֹתָם הָאָדָם וָחַי בָּהֶם “Keep my statutes and my rulings: the person who does them will live by them” (Leviticus 18:5).

At the end of the Torah, Moses puts two ways in front of Israel and tells them which to take: הַחַיִּים וְהַמָּוֶת נָתַתִּי לְפָנֶיךָ הַבְּרָכָה וְהַקְּלָלָה וּבָחַרְתָּ בַּחַיִּים “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

3. They are for our good. וַיְצַוֵּנוּ יְהוָה לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת־כָּל־הַחֻקִּים הָאֵלֶּה “Yəḥawwe commanded us to do all these statutes” … לְטוֹב לָנוּ כָּל־הַיָּמִים לְחַיֹּתֵנוּ “for our good always, to keep us alive” (Deuteronomy 6:24).

The good reaches the next generation too. God wishes his people would keep his commandments always, לְמַעַן יִיטַב לָהֶם וְלִבְנֵיהֶם לְעֹלָם “so that it may go well with them and with their children forever” (Deuteronomy 5:29).

4. They are wisdom the nations can see. וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם וַעֲשִׂיתֶם כִּי הִוא חָכְמַתְכֶם וּבִינַתְכֶם לְעֵינֵי הָעַמִּים “Keep them and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples” (Deuteronomy 4:6).

The peoples will hear these statutes and say: רַק עַם־חָכָם וְנָבוֹן הַגּוֹי הַגָּדוֹל הַזֶּה “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people” (Deuteronomy 4:6). Two verses later Moses asks: וּמִי גּוֹי גָּדוֹל אֲשֶׁר־לוֹ חֻקִּים וּמִשְׁפָּטִים צַדִּיקִם “And what great nation is there that has statutes and rulings so righteous?” (Deuteronomy 4:8).

5. Love comes first. The great command is to love: וְאָהַבְתָּ אֵת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ “You shall love yəḥawwe your God with all your heart” (Deuteronomy 6:5). Keeping the commandments goes with that love. God shows his steadfast love לְאֹהֲבַי וּלְשֹׁמְרֵי מִצְוֹתָי “to those who love me and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:6).

A psalm says it from the heart: מָה־אָהַבְתִּי תוֹרָתֶךָ “How I love your instruction!” (Psalm 119:97).

6. They bring joy. Psalm 19 adds one more word for the laws, “precepts, charges”, here in its “of” form פִּקּוּדֵי: פִּקּוּדֵי יְהוָה יְשָׁרִים מְשַׂמְּחֵי־לֵב “The precepts of yəḥawwe are upright, making the heart rejoice” (Psalm 19:9). It calls them sweeter than honey, וּמְתוּקִים מִדְּבַשׁ (Psalm 19:11), and says בְּשָׁמְרָם עֵקֶב רָב “in keeping them there is great reward” (Psalm 19:12).

7. They are not out of reach. לֹא־נִפְלֵאת הִוא מִמְּךָ וְלֹא רְחֹקָה הִוא “It is not too hard for you, and it is not far away” (Deuteronomy 30:11). כִּי־קָרוֹב אֵלֶיךָ הַדָּבָר מְאֹד בְּפִיךָ וּבִלְבָבְךָ לַעֲשֹׂתוֹ “For the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it” (Deuteronomy 30:14).

All together. The Torah never answers “why?” with “because I said so”. Its answer is: because yəḥawwe set you free, because the laws are life and good, because they are wise, because you love him, and because they are near. Moses sums it up: לְאַהֲבָה אֶת־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לִשְׁמֹעַ בְּקֹלוֹ וּלְדָבְקָה־בוֹ כִּי הוּא חַיֶּיךָ “to love yəḥawwe your God, to listen to his voice and to cling to him, for he is your life” (Deuteronomy 30:20).

Check yourself

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