Deuteronomy 4:5:  “Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.”

Mark 12:30: “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment.”

This word command and commandment has haunted me all my life.  I was always warned of the dire consequences of not obeying God’s commands.  What is a command or commandment?  It is an order.  I saw a church sign that said: “God gave ten commandments, not ten suggestions.”  I thought about that.  At what point does a suggestion become a command?  In English a command is not a suggestion, it is an order that you must carry under the pain of some punishment or consequence.  A suggestion  is like advice.   I can’t see God giving us the Ten Commandments as just advice, but I also am troubled with the idea that it has to be a command. I mean I want to obey these ten points to please Him.  A command raises it to a level of a task that needs to be done with no one really getting any pleasure about it but it has to be done so do it.

In Deuteronomy 4:5 the word command is tsavah which is pretty much you general word for command.  Your lexicons and Bible Dictionaries will tell you it means to lay a charge, give charge or an order.  In the Greek in Mark 12 we find the word entole which means an ordinance, command or injunction.  But in the Aramaic you have the word paqada which could mean a command but it is often used in the sense of a recommendation.  I would really take some heat if I render this as the ten recommendations.  However, I have found paqada used in extra Biblical literature for direction and instruction.

That tends to give us some middle ground between command and recommendation. When I hear someone say I am commanded to do something I am thinking in terms of getting something done whether or not you like it.  If my boss commands me to drive to Hinsdale I will do it, I may not like it but I know I have to do it as he has a reason that is beneficial to him and the organization. My only benefit is that I will get a pay check. But my benefit has nothing to do with going to Hinsdale.  Yet if my boss instructed me to go to Hinsdale that hints to some personal benefit, maybe it is a shorter route or a better road, but the instruction is meant to help me along.

I went back to the University of Chicago and did some research on this word tsavah and its many cousins in the Akkadian, Phoenician, Persian and Ugaritic. I found this word in various ancient Semitic languages and I discovered that this word originated with a piling of rocks. I found this interesting as to what a pile of rocks has to do with commands.  Actually, it has very little to do with our modern concept of a command.  You see, people in those days did not really have maps or compasses. When you are crossing  desert it is very easy to get lost.  Any pathways that are formed are quickly covered over by sand storms. All you have to guide you is the sun and the North Star.  But even with that you could miss you destination by many miles.

So how did they manager to cross a desert and reach their destination?  They used the oldest method there is, still used by Native Americans and Boy Scouts.  You leave behind road signs, a broken twig, a mark on a tree or a  pile of rocks (tsavah).  That is the origin of the word that our Modern English translations render as command and commandments.  The origin of the word tsavah or command is direction, guidance or instructions. It could be a command, follow the direction the rocks are pointing to or you will get lost.  It could be instruction, follow the direction the rocks indicate.  It could be a recommendation, this is the best route to your destination. Ultimately this idea of command is not an order that has no meaning except for the one giving the order, but it is meant as instruction.  Paul knew this: Galatians 3:24: “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster [to bring us] unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”

We fear breaking God’s law because He will become mad or angry with us.  I think what the Apostle Paul is trying to tell us is the origin of the word tsavah or command.  It is given to us to guide us to the heart of God.   No wonder David said in the very first Psalm: Psalms 1:2: “But his delight [is] in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”  The law or the commandments was a treasure map for him, a map to the heart of God.

The law of God is not a task master where we have to follow it to the letter or God will send down bolts of lightning to punish us.  I remember my father once decided that we would skip church and go on a camping trip.  My father loved to camp and fish and concluded that God would have him have a family day  on doing what he loved and God would not mind if we skipped church.  Well, the trip was a disaster, there where thunderstorms and everything turned to mud. The trailer was stuck in the mud.  Then the fish were not biting but the mosquitos were.  Finally my father said: “The reason this turned into such a miserable trip is that we missed church and did not keep the Sabbath.”

I will let you decide if God was punishing my father for breaking the Sabbath.  Forget the fact  that I have a wonderful family memory of that day that my father wanted to do something with his family and bring them some joy.  To be honest, I am kind of glad he broke the Sabbath that day.   Still, we were faithful in our church attendance with just some minor deviations.  My family’s faithfulness to keep the Sabbath worked its wonders on me even if we missed it a couple times.  For me, keeping the Sabbath is not a commandment, it is a tsavah, a pile of stones that put me on the right track to my destination to the heart of God.