Torah: Its Meaning and Textual Usage

What does the word "Torah/torah" mean? How is this Hebrew word employed in academic circles and religious textbooks? Moreover, how does the Bible use the term?

1) Definition: The Holman Bible Dictionary gives this definition for torah-"The Hebrew term most frequently translated 'law' in the Old Testament is torah , used more than 200 times. The central idea of torah is that of instruction received from a superior authority on how to live. Torah in the Old Testament came to mean the way of life for faithful Israelites. The Torah is more than just “laws”; it includes the story of God's dealing with humankind and with Israel.

See https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hbd/l/law-ten-commandments-torah.html


2) How Scholars and Judaic Practitioners Use the Word: Torah sometimes refers to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (the Pentateuch). But it may refer to law in general, to the oral torah, and to the entirety of Scripture and tradition. 

Mark Rooker illustrates one way "torah" may be used:

"The Ten Commandments have been viewed within Judaism as the essence of the Torah. Many have noted that all 613 laws of the Torah correspond to the 613 letters of the Ten Commandments in Exod 20, hence the Decalogue appears to represent the embodiment of all laws and statutes of the Pentateuch. Since the first century BC, the Ten Commandments have been regarded as a summary of biblical law or as headings for all its categories."

See Rooker, Mark. The Ten Commandments: Ethics for the Twenty-First Century (New American Commentary Studies in Bible and Theology) (Kindle Locations 326-330). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Also see https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789047410737/BP000010.xml

Compare https://fosterheologicalreflections.blogspot.com/2020/07/defining-torah.html

3) The Biblical use of Torah:

Genesis 26:5; Exodus 12:49; 13:9; 16:4, 28; 18:16, 20; 24:12; Leviticus 6:9, 14, 25; 7:1; Ezra 7:6, 10 (et passim).