What is considered the book of the Law..

2 yrs

What is considered the "book of the Law"?

Reading 2 Chronicles 34 this morning where Shaphan took the book to King Josiah and he read it to Josiah.

The king is also commanded to write himself a copy of the Law. I wouldn't think that the first 5 books where read to Josiah in a quick reading, so it has to be more specific. Does it possibly only consist of Exodus 20-23?

Does anyone have a better understanding of what this book specifically consisted of?

Comment

In Nehemiah and Ezra they find a copy of it as well. It was a book that had just the Law in it. What we call the Torah (Law), the first 5 books, contains the Law, but isn't the Book of the Law. Total guess here, but the only original copy is still in the Ark. We don't have a record of all the kings that did make their own copy, so we don't know how many of those might have actually been made. So, it is a possibility that the only copy of the Book of the Law is the one in the Ark.

I've seen people use Deuteronomy to mimic the practice of making a copy of the Law.

· Reply · 1691677954

7 Replies

Deuteronomy is what I have heard of as the book of the law. The book in the ark is the book of the covenant.

· Reply · 1691684509

This passage refers to the copy that must be obtained from th Levite.
Deut 17:14 “When you have entered the land Adonai your God is giving you, have taken possession of it and are living there, you may say, ‘I want to have a king over me, like all the other nations around me.’ 15 In that event, you must appoint as king the one whom Adonai your God will choose. He must be one of your kinsmen, this king you appoint over you — you are forbidden to appoint a foreigner over you who is not your kinsman. 16 However, he is not to acquire many horses for himself or have the people return to Egypt to obtain more horses, inasmuch as Adonai told you never to go back that way again. 17 Likewise, he is not to acquire many wives for himself, so that his heart will not turn away; and he is not to acquire excessive quantities of silver and gold.

18 “When he has come to occupy the throne of his kingdom, he is to write a copy of this Torah for himself in a scroll, from the one the cohanim and L’vi’im use.

· Reply · 1691771911

So was it the whole Torah. Got me thinking! It is considered that the Torah would have taken up to two years to write. Could a busy King really have that amount of time to spend writing. It was also accepted that a scribe would be commissioned for the purpose. However, the king still had to read from it daily. It would make sense if he concentrated on the levitical priestly book as the king would have to be familiar with the religious and civil law. On another note it is interesting the potential of the people to require a king is written in this passage long before Saul was chosen. YHVH knows the hearts of men. In addition it would seem that the prohibitions of kingship seem to have been broken too.

· Reply · 1691772271

4 Replies

I would assume the reading was not quick. I would also assume that some of the Torah was read, but not all of it. The Book of The Law is Torah. Without The Holy Spirit filling in the gaps though, it becomes a mess.

· Reply · 1692673196

The new covenant references psalms as the law as well. Matthew 4 and Luke 4 reference psalms about hitting your feet against a stone. Later in John 10:34-38 it quotes Psalms as the law again, saying everyone is a god דאלהא S915 D'aALaaHeh. And Matthew 4:4 says that man must live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of יהוה so that includes all the instructions in the Bible. The syriac Aramaic Peshitta and the western 5 books make up 77 books of the Bible before marcion and martain luther removed books, with the division of kings, chronicles, ezra nehemiah...

· Reply · 1692886040

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