Strong's Number: H4687
Original Word: miswâ
Usage Notes: "commandment." This noun occurs 181 times in the Old Testament. Its first occurrence is in Gen 26:5, where miswâ is synonymous with hoq ("statute") and tôrâ ("law"): "Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."
In the Pentateuch, God is always the Giver of the miswâ: "All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and posses the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no" (Deut 8:1-2). The "commandment" may be a prescription ("thou shalt do …") or a proscription ("thou shalt not do …"). The commandments were given in the hearing of the Israelites (Exod 15:26; Deut 11:13), who were to "do" (Lev 4:2ff.) and "keep" (Deut 4:2; Psa 78:7) them. Any failure to do so signified a covenantal breach (Num 15:31), transgression (2Chron 24:20), and apostasy (1Kings 18:18).
The plural of miswâ often denotes a "body of laws" given by divine revelation. They are God's "word": "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word" (Psa 119:9). They are also known as "the commandments of God."
Outside the Pentateuch, "commandments" are given by kings (1Kings 2:43), fathers (Jer 35:14), people (Isa 29:13), and teachers of wisdom (Prov 6:20; cf. Prov 5:13). Only about ten percent of all occurrences in the Old Testament fit this category.
The Septuagint translation are: entole ("commandment; order") and prostagma ("order; commandment; injunction").
