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Law of Moses


The Law of Moses, also called the Mosaic Law or in Hebrew: תֹּורַת מֹשֶׁה‎‎, Torat Moshe, refers primarily to the Torah or first five books of the Hebrew Bible, traditionally believed to have been written by Moses.

The Law of Moses or Torah of Moses (Hebrew תֹּורַת מֹשֶׁה, Torat Moshe, Septuagint Greek: νόμος Μωυσῆ, nomos Moyse, or in some translations the "Teachings of Moses" ) is a biblical term first found in the Book of Joshua 8:31-32, where Joshua writes the Hebrew words of "Torat Moshe תֹּורַת מֹשֶׁה" on an altar of stones at Mount Ebal. The text continues:

The term occurs 15 times in the Hebrew Bible, a further 7 times in the New Testament, and repeatedly in Second Temple period, intertestamental, rabbinical and patristic literature.

The Hebrew word for the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, Torah (which means "law" and was translated into Greek as "nomos" or "Law") refers to the same five books termed in English "Pentateuch" (from Latinised Greek "five books," implying the five books of Moses). According to some scholars, use of the name "Torah" to designate the "Five Books of Moses" of the Hebrew Bible, is clearly documented only from the 2nd Century BCE. In modern usage,Torah can refer to the first five books of the Tanakh, as the Hebrew Bible is commonly called, to the instructions and commandments found in the 2nd to 5th books of the Hebrew Bible, and also to the entire Tanakh and even all of the Oral Law as well. Among English-speaking Christians the term "The Law" can refer to the whole Pentateuch including Genesis, but this is generally in relation to the New Testament where nomos "the Law" sometimes refers to all five books, including Genesis. This use of the Hebrew term "Torah, 'Law', for the first five books is considered misleading by 21st-century Christian bible scholar John Van Seters, because the Pentateuch "consists of about one half law and the other half narrative." The adjective "Mosaic" means "of Moses."


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