Commands or Charges?

What does it mean when someone “gives you a charge” to carry out some responsibility?

For example, a police commissioner might say to a new policeman at his commissioning ceremony, “In the name of good law and order, I charge you to defend the innocent.”

Or when a famous scholar is delivering a speech to the graduation class of a university, she might say, “As you leave here today to go out into the world to accomplish something meaningful with your life, I charge you to always work diligently, be honest, and never forget to be kind.”

In my military experience, a post commander might say, “I am making you the Officer in Charge for this coming weekend.  If anything happens on the post, you are in charge to properly address the issue.  Here is the book of policies and guidelines that will help you know what to do in specific situations.”

So, what is the difference between giving a charge, and giving a command?

It seems to me there is a difference. I think of a command as a no-brainer specific order that must be followed precisely or there will be some sort of prescribed punishment. Whereas “giving a charge” is more of a trust and shared responsibility sort of thing. One commands obedience, but one “gives a charge” when the focus is more on a trusted partnership.  

What’s all this got to do with Psalm 119? There are 8 synonyms for the “word of God” used throughout Psalm 119.  Two words are considered synonyms if they have mostly the same meaning, but since they are different words, they also have slight, but sometimes important, differences.  It is the differences in those 8 synonyms that deserve our focus.  Those little distinctions are chalk full of meaning, helping us to focus on some particular aspect of the “word of God.”

One of these words is מצוה (mitzwah, also commonly pronounced mitzvah). This word is often translated into English as commandment. When a Jewish boy comes of age, he goes through a ceremony called a bar mitzvah.  “Bar” means “son of” and so this ceremony marks his arriving at the age of responsibility so that he is now a “son of the commandment(s).” (“Bat” means “daughter of,” and that is what the term “bat mitzvah” means for young women.)

מצוה (Mitszwah) is a compound word. It comes from putting two Hebrew words together. “From” and “to give a charge.” So, a mitzwah is an action that logically derives from a charge that is given. 

Am I making mountains out of mole hills here?  I don’t think so. I think it is VERY important to realize that God gives us His mitzwahs because He respects us enough to charge us with sharing a responsibility with Him—a shared responsibility that rests on His trusting us with something that He says is important. This is a partnership; this is not a commandment as one would command a slave. It is more a charge that a Father would give to His son or daughter to help uphold the family honor.

Does that put a new light on the Ten “Commandments”?  It has for me, and I hope it does for you.

This is a post from the blog at https://beholdthechrist.com

written by Dr. Richard Routh