Often a particular regulation is introduced especially in Leviticus and sometimes in Numbers, with the words, “this is the law.”2 The law often is associated with a book.3 In most instances what is written or found in the book are the regulations of the law. The emphasis on doing what the law commands, on keeping it, and on obeying what the Lord has prescribed is quite extraordinary. When the word torah occurs in the Old Testament, the emphasis is not on instruction in terms of teaching, as if the