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The Hebrew word "shomer" means "keeper of," or “to be observant”; in the Qal stem, the root word “shamar” suggests the idea of “safeguarding.”[1] The Hebrew word "mitzvot" is the plural form of the word "mitzvah," meaning, "command”; thus, "shomer mitzvot" (say: show-mair meets-vote) means "keeper of the commands,” or more generically "Torah observant.”

Many believers—specifically Jewish believers without a formal background in Judaism, and Gentile ones who wish to identify with the Scriptures of Isra'el—have questions about what it means to be “Torah observant.” Pursuing the Torah as the Master Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ) modeled it for his followers is sometimes referred to as “halakhah,” coming from the Hebrew word “halakh” for “walk.”[2]

In Judaism, safeguarding and keeping the Torah is central to performing the will of HaShem.[3] Indeed, as properly understood from HaShem’s point of view, the whole of Torah was given to bring its followers to the "goal" of acquiring the kind of faith in HaShem that leads to placing one’s trusting faithfulness in the One and only Son of HaShem, Yeshua HaMashiach.[4] To this end, the Torah has prophesied about him since as early as the book of Genesis (3:15), and continues to speak of him until its conclusion in Revelation (22:20). In this capacity, the Torah acts like its etymological counterpart "yarah"[5] (an archery term) in that it "teaches" its adherents how to properly identify with HaShem by helping them to "reach the mark.” To be sure, one of the most common Hebrew verbs used to identify "sin" (chetah) literally means, "to miss the mark.”[6]

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[1] Brown, Driver, Briggs (BDB), shamar.

[2] Ibid, halakh.

[3] Deuteronomy 5:1.

[4] Luke 24:27, 44-47; Romans 10:4.

[5] BDB, yarah.

[6] Ibid, chatah.

*The Shomer Mitzvot series is ongoing, with content added as time permits.

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