The Beauty of the Word, The Glory of the Scriptures

The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
Until Shiloh comes;
And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
Genesis 49:10, NKJV

We started this series on the life and mission of Jesus with His declaration that He came, not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it.  As we began to try to understand what it would mean for Jesus to “fulfill” the Law, we stopped to carefully examining the specific passage in Genesis where the word Law is first mentioned:

And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
Gen 26:4-5, NKJV

In this passage, we see God acclaiming Abraham for keeping (not fulfilling, but keeping) His laws.  But we noticed that God broke the fullness of His Law into several parts: His voice, His charge, His commandments, His statutes and His laws.  We then began to examine each of these specific aspects of God’s Law to begin to understand its nature, and to explore its fulfillment in Jesus.  To this point, we have studied God’s voice, charge and commandments.  And now we come to one of the more interesting aspects of the Torah, his statutes.  Because of the depth and breadth of this particular subject (God’s statutes, Abraham’s obedience to them, and Jesus’ fulfillment), we will explore it in multiple sessions.

The word used for statute is חקה (chuqqah) (khook-kaw’), whose root is חק ‎choq (khoke), which emanates from the primitive root: חקק ‎chaqaq (khaw-kak’), which we will examine a little later in this blog.  Chukkah is defined as follows (from Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words):

חקה ‎chuqqah (khook-kaw’): “statute; regulation; prescription; term.”

Chuqqah is found for the first time in God’s words of commendation about Abraham to Isaac: “Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments [mitswah], my statutes [chuqqah], and my laws [torah]” Gen 26:5, together with its synonyms mishmeret, mitswah, and torah. The primary use of chuqqah is in the Pentateuch, especially in Leviticus and Numbers. It is extemely rare in the poetical books and in the prophetic writings (except for Jeremiah and Ezekiel).

The meaning of “fixed” is similar to the usage of choq, in the sense of the laws of nature: “Thus saith the Lord; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth” Jer 33:25; cf. Job 38:33. Even as the Israelites had a period of rainfall from October to April, there was a fixed period of harvest (from April to June): “Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest” Jer 5:24. ln addition to regularity of nature, the word chuqqah signifies regular payment to the priests: “Which the Lord commanded to be given them of the children of Israel, in the day that he anointed them, by a statute for ever throughout their generations” Lev 7:36.

In non-religious usage, the word chuqqah refers to the customs of the nations: “After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances” Lev 18:3; cf. 20:23. The reason for the requirement to abstain from the pagan practices is that they were considered to be degenerate Lev 18:30.

The most significant usage of chuqqah is God’s “law.” It is more specific in meaning than choq. Whereas choq is a general word for “law,” chuqqah denotes the “law” of a particular festival or ritual. There is the “law” of the Passover Ex 12:14, Unleavened Bread Ex 12:17, Feast of Tabernacles Lev 23:41, the day of Atonement Lev 16:29ff., the priesthood Ex 29:9, and the blood and fat Lev 3:17.
…
(from Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright © 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers.)

I have chosen to underline a few key points in Vine’s description of the word chuqqah.  First, notice that its use in the verse we are examining is the first mention of the word in Scripture.  As such, we have found that this meaning is very special in the text and should carry through as the primary meaning through the remainder of Scripture.   So the fact that the keeping of God’s חקה is of primary importance.  In fact, it is more important than the actual definition or description of each חקה itself.  The fact that Abraham kept God’s chuqqah put him in good standing with God, and served as the basis for God’s blessings to all the nations of the earth.

Notice, secondly, that the non-religious usage of chuqqah relates to the customs of a nation.  While this description is only secondary in nature, I think it helps us begin to understand the nature of chuqqah itself.  Finally, notice that our word חקה is more specific than its root חק (choq).  Where חק refers to the generality of God’s law, חקה (chuqqah) refers to the law as it relates to festivals and rituals.  This will become incredibly important as we examine Jesus’ fulfillment!  Let’s take a look at some of the uses of חקה in the Scripture (all found in God’s communication of the Law to Moses, recorded in Exodus):

‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
Exodus 12:14-15, NKJV

So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.'”
Exodus 12:17-20, NKJV

And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat it. But every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then he may eat it. A sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat it. In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. And when a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it. One law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you.”
Exodus 12:43-49, NKJV

You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.
Exodus 13:10, NKJV

“And you shall command the children of Israel that they bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to cause the lamp to burn continually. In the tabernacle of meeting, outside the veil which is before the Testimony, Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening until morning before the Lord . It shall be a statute forever to their generations on behalf of the children of Israel.
Exodus 27:20-21, NKJV

“For Aaron’s sons you shall make tunics, and you shall make sashes for them. And you shall make hats for them, for glory and beauty. So you shall put them on Aaron your brother and on his sons with him. You shall anoint them, consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister to Me as priests.  And you shall make for them linen trousers to cover their nakedness; they shall reach from the waist to the thighs.  They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they come into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister in the holy place, that they do not incur iniquity and die. It shall be a statute forever to him and his descendants after him.
Exodus 28:40-43, NKJV

“And Aaron and his sons you shall bring to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and you shall wash them with water. Then you shall take the garments, put the tunic on Aaron, and the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the intricately woven band of the ephod.  You shall put the turban on his head, and put the holy crown on the turban. And you shall take the anointing oil, pour it on his head, and anoint him.  Then you shall bring his sons and put tunics on them. And you shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and put the hats on them. The priesthood shall be theirs for a perpetual statute. So you shall consecrate Aaron and his sons.
Exodus 29:4-9, NKJV

All highlights and underscores have been added for emphasis.

Do you see the connection?  Each of these passages (all recorded usages of chuqqah in Exodus) relates to a festival or a religious custom.  But these are not simply cultural customs such as our bank holidays or our style of dress today.  These are, instead, God’s holy ordinances describing crucial religious requirements.  Each of these statutes (and all the rest in the remainder of the Torah) plays a part in God’s story of law, judgement, grace and ultimate redemption.  And underlying it all is a thread of His love for the people that He created to have fellowship with!

Before moving further, I think it is very important to recognize WHEN Abraham’s obedience to God’s statutes occurred.  Consider the following very carefully: God gave His Law to Moses immediately after the exodus of the Israelites from 400 years of captivity in Egypt.  So the Law was given to Moses roughly 400 years after the death of Jacob, father of the Israelites.  Jacob’s father was Isaac, and Isaac’s father was Abraham.  Do you see it?  Even in the passage under study, God was speaking to Isaac about his father’s obedience.  God was telling Isaac that Abraham had kept His statutes.  But this was over 400 years BEFORE God gave the Law to Moses!  So what statutes did Abraham keep, if he did not yet have the Law, or Torah?  In order to answer this question (if at least partially), we will take a look at the significant instructions – and promises – that God gave to Abraham.  And we will include one or two passages related to important actions that Abraham took that seem to be undirected.  As you read each one, consider this: is this passage related to a religious ordinance, ritual or custom that God is instructing Abraham to follow?  We’ll start from the beginning, in order – from His calling:

THE CALLING:

Now the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him.
Genesis 12:1-4, NKJV

Here, we see the very first instruction that God gave to Abraham – to leave his country and move to a land that God would give to him and his descendants.  Next, we have God’s promise to give the land of promise to Abraham, and we see Abraham’s response:

THE PROMISE OF THE LAND

Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.
Genesis 12:7-8, NKJV

Next comes a very strange passage that we have looked at before, and that shows up in a very significant way in the New Testament Letter to the Hebrews:

THE TITHE

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said:

“Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
And blessed be God Most High,
Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”
And he [Abraham] gave him a tithe of all.
Genesis 14:18-20, NKJV

Our next passage is one of the most significant passages in the Old Testament.  In it, God makes a very unique covenant with Abraham – a one way covenant, in which Abraham plays no part and has no role, other than to provide the covenental animals.  Abraham is given no requirement in this covenant; only God is bound – by His own oath:

THE ONE WAY COVENANT

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”  Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”

And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”  Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”

And he said, “Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?”

So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”  Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two.  And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him.  Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.  And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.  Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age.  But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.  On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying:

“To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates — the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
Gen 15, NKJV

Next, we will look at God’s direction to Abraham regarding the strange (but exceedingly symbolic) practice of circumcision that we examined earlier in this series:

THE FATHER OF NATIONS, CIRCUMCISION A SON

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.  I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.  And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.  Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.  And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.”

Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”  And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”

Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.”  Then He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.

So Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day, as God had said to him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very same day Abraham was circumcised, and his son Ishmael; and all the men of his house, born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
Genesis 17:1-27, NKJV

And finally, we will examine the most important and significant test that God ever laid before a human being other than Christ Himself – the command to sacrifice his only son Isaac:

THE SACRIFICE

Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.  And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”

So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.  But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”

And he said, “Here I am, my son.”

Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.

Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

So he said, “Here I am.”

And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son — blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.  In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
Genesis 22:1-18, NKJV

So we have now surveyed each of the most significant interactions between God and Abraham.  These passages relate to God’s instructions to Abraham, Abraham’s responses, and Abraham’s undirected actions of faith.  We have read about:

The calling out of Ur and to the Promised Land
The gift of the Promised Land
The Patriarchal tithe to Melchizedek (self-directed)
The one-way covenant regarding the land
The promise of a lineage, the sign of circumcision, the sons of Hagar (the Law) and Sarah (the Promise)
The test of the sacrifice

As we consider the definition of chuqqah, at least three of these passages could be seen as relating to religious rituals and ordinances.  We have the giving of the tithe, the sign circumcision, and the ultimate sacrifice which blesses all the nations.  Each of these subjects is worthy of its own study!  And so, we will treat them accordingly.  In our next session, we will discuss the tithe, Abraham’s involvement in and obedience to it, and Jesus’ ultimate fulfillment.  We will follow this with discussions related to circumcision and sacrifice.  Finally, we will end our discussion regarding statutes with an engaging view of God’s perspective related to Abraham’s keeping of the statutes.  And it might surprise you!  Selah!

Until next time, may God bless your study of the Holy Word of God!

YouJi