Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>]

Dear Yohanan,
> I think the issue here is that you are creating a difference between 
> God's Torah and Mosaic Torah, as if they are not one, and the same. 
> But the issue is that they are one, and the same to, and I do not 
> think that there is any place in the Miq'ra that proves otherwise as 
> far as text is concerned.
>  
HH: The Mosaic covenant was certainly a conduit of God's law and the 
expression of it which Israel was obliged to keep. That covenant was the 
vehicle by which he chose to communicate his law to Israel. But God had 
laws before there ever was a Mosaic covenant:

Gen. 26:5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my 
commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
Ex. 16:4 Then the LORD said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from 
heaven for you; and the people should go out and gather a certain amount 
every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law, or not.

HH: Remember that Exodus 16 is prior to the arrival at Sinai and before 
the institution of the Mosaic covenant. The people were in the 
wilderness of Sin at that time:

Ex. 16:1  The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to 
the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day 
of the second month after they had come out of Egypt.

HH: They did not reach Sinai until Exodus 19:

Ex. 19:1 In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth 
out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of 
Sinai.

HH: So God had a law before the Mosaic covenant.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard