Can you please point me to the area of teaching that shows the 613 laws are a Jewish myth? I would like to study this too.<\/p>\n\t
The claim that there are 613 laws in the Old Testament first appeared in the third century A.D. when a Jewish Rabbi, named Simlai, mentioned it in a sermon that was recorded in Talmud Makkot 23b. The number became fixed in Jewish tradition, even though a large number of rabbis disagree with the number. It should be noted that Simlai did not provide a list of his 613 laws.<\/p>\n
Probably the most notable proof that it is just a legend is the fact that there is no definitive list of the supposed 613 laws. To be sure, there are lists, but they vary. The list most commonly cited was not created until the twelfth century AD.\u00a0 A second problem is that the existing lists leave large sections of the Old Testament out, which one rabbi points out is not reasonable to think that there are no laws in those sections.<\/p>\n
“This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth<\/em>” (Titus 1:13-14).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Sources<\/h3>\n
\n
- “613 Commandments<\/a>,” Wikipedia<\/em>.<\/li>\n
- Israel Dazin, “There Are Not 613 Biblical Commands<\/a>,” The Times of Israel<\/em>, 31 May 2017.<\/li>\n
- Marc Herman, “The Origins and Use of the 613 Mitzvot<\/a>,” The Torah .com,<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\t
Response:<\/h2>\n
Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Can you please point me to the area of teaching that shows the 613 laws are a Jewish myth? I would like to study this too. Answer: The claim that there are 613 laws in the Old Testament first appeared in the third century A.D. when a Jewish Rabbi, named Simlai, mentioned it in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[115,469],"class_list":["post-24103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-old-law","tag-traditions"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":89132,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-an-instrument-in-romans-613\/","url_meta":{"origin":24103,"position":0},"title":"What is an “instrument” in Romans 6:13?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is an instrument in Romans 6:13? The Thayer's Greek lexicon and Strong's dictionary didn't help me understand this word. Answer: \"Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8045,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-you-cherry-picking-laws-from-leviticus-to-condemn-homosexuality\/","url_meta":{"origin":24103,"position":1},"title":"Why are you cherry-picking laws from Leviticus to condemn homosexuality?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 19, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just read the article on homosexuality and was concerned it excludes all the other 613 commandments of God dealing with slavery, leprosy, woman's issues, dietary codes, etc. Instead of cherry-picking laws from Leviticus, the guidance of Jesus is far more valuable and would have been of more useful.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14144,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/shouldnt-we-follow-the-old-testament-and-the-new-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":24103,"position":2},"title":"Shouldn’t we follow the Old Testament and the New Testament?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Shouldn't we follow God's rules in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament? (I'm reading the Bible currently, and I'm only in Joshua right now.) I mean, well, some of the rules would be considered kind of illegal, such as sacrificing your first born child. I could\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1803,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-the-apostle-paul-keep-the-laws-found-in-the-torah\/","url_meta":{"origin":24103,"position":3},"title":"Did the apostle Paul keep the laws found in the Torah?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 20, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Did the apostle Paul keep the laws found in the Torah? If so, why do people reject them today? Answer: \"For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. To the Jews I became as a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20328,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-was-nailed-to-the-cross\/","url_meta":{"origin":24103,"position":4},"title":"What Was Nailed to the Cross?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Deuteronomy 4:1-14 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I frequently run into odd ideas about the Old Law, especially when I bring up Colossians 2:13-15 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Oh, most people will accept that Jesus\u2019 death on the cross eliminated animal sacrifices, but they cannot believe all of the Old Testament came to an end. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cSurely you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41526,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wouldnt-the-jewish-bible-the-torah-be-the-most-accurate-since-jesus-was-jewish\/","url_meta":{"origin":24103,"position":5},"title":"Wouldn’t the Jewish Bible, the Torah, be the most accurate since Jesus was Jewish?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I have a question\" I googled \"Which Bible is the most accurate?\" and I stumbled upon your page. But my question is wouldn't the Jewish Bible, the Torah, be the most accurate since Jesus was Jewish? Answer: \"Torah\" refers to the first five books of the Old Testament,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24103\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}