Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Shoshanna Walker wrote:

> There are many of the 613 positive and negative commandments that 
> make NO SENSE (red heifer is the classic example).  They are called 
> "chukim" - ie; we are not supposed to understand the reasoning behind 
> them.

HH: Doesn't "chukim" refer to the plural form of 
the Hebrew word for "statute, ordinance, decree"? 
I am familiar with this way of looking at such 
regulations of the law, but it may be that we have 
 lost some of the meaning that the institutions 
had for the ancient Israelites, such as the reason 
why it was a heifer and not a bull calf, and the 
demand for the red color. Parts of the ordinance 
are quite comprehensible, enough for us to find 
the law meaningful, even if we do not grasp all 
the details.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard