Holy Spirit has me on a learning curve about the meaning of words. They appear often in the Bible, yet, are rarely used in our society today. ‘Statutes’ is one of those words. If you read the Bible like most people, you often see this word and pass right over it. You may see it as being something archaic, or meaningless. To you, it may have the same meaning as other words you are familiar with like commandments. You have a surprise in store. Let’s do some digging.

Before we look at the Biblical meaning, here is what I found in Wikipedia:

Statute -A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority. It governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country. It activates by way of consent. Statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy.

Okay, now let’s look at the Biblical meaning: The word most often used for ‘Statute’ is Strong’s Concordance #2708 and it comes from #2706, but its primitive root is #2710.

When you follow the path of definitions, you find a variety of definitions included:

A Statute is, an enactment. It is an appointment (of time, space, quantity, labor or usage), a commandment, custom, decree, due, law, measure, ordinance, set time, statute, or task.

What is interesting is that the primitive root brings a stronger perspective to the table. Strong’s Concordance #2710 means: lawgiver, governor, to cut out, to hack, inscribe, engrave, to enact laws, to cut in stone or metal tablets in primitive times, print.

Here is how it looks

Here is the Hebrew spelling–read from right to left.

Chet  8 = New Beginnings. Means: Fence, Gate, Tent wall to Separate, Protect, Cut off. Torah

Qof 100 = Election of God’s chosen ones, set apart as holy. Means: Holiness, Consecrated, Divide, sun on horizon, Back of the Head, Make a Complete Circle, End of a Cycle, Final, Behind, Dome

Qof 100 = Election of God’s chosen ones, set apart as holy. Means: Holiness, Consecrated, Divide, sun on horizon, Back of the Head, Make a Complete Circle, End of a Cycle, Final, Behind, Dome

When we put these together we discover something amazing:

STATUTES ARE BOUNDARIES FOR HOLINESS

Let’s see how this lines up with scripture:

Here is the first time or ‘First Mention’ of the word Statutes in scripture–

God speaking to Jacob:  Then the Lord appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. ³ Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. ⁴ And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; ⁵ because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My STATUTES, and My laws.” Genesis 26:2-5

Here is a small part taken from Leviticus 18:22-29, a chapter about sexual morality.

You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. ²³ Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion.

²⁴ ‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. ²⁵ For the land is defiled; therefore I visit^[c] the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. ²⁶ You shall therefore KEEP MY STATUTES and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you ²⁷ (for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), ²⁸ lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you. ²⁹ For whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people.

And Ezekiel 36:24-27:

For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. ²⁵ Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. ²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My STATUTES, and you will keep My judgments and do them.

There is a lot of talk about holiness these days and questions about what it is and how to live it. The answer to all of those questions are found here in this word. Of course, none of us can live a 100% holy life by our own efforts. Yeshua went to the cross to wash us clean of our sin and restore us to God the Father. His sacrifice paid the price for us to be forgiven and restored to God.

Our position of holiness before God then has been secured. Still, to continue to walk with and grow in the Lord, we need to follow His ways. His statutes are a part. They mark a path of holiness where sin cannot enter. Holy Spirit is in charge of reminding us, counseling us, empowering us, and keeping us on His pathway. Our part is to say yes and follow where He leads.

How blessed we are to have God’s Statutes written out for us. We can compare the written Word, with the words we are hearing from our friends, our family, pastors and teachers, and our own souls. Boundaries for holiness are laid out before us. So may each of us pray and ask Holy Spirit how we can better walk the path of holiness. He will lead us.

Shalom ♥