In Isa.
8:16, 20, teʿûḏâ in parallel with tôrâ can be translated “oracle,” for it
refers to the message that Isaiah received from God as a prophet. In this
context tôrâ is equivalent to
oracular instruction. In the OT, then, tôrâ
can mean a particular individual instruction embodying a command or decision,
communicated in the temple by a priest. Thus tôrâ denotes an instruction or behavioral norm whose authority and
binding force depend on its source. A word revealed by God takes the form of a
law or an oracle. A prophetic tôrâ,
instruction with oracular character, may be traced to a word (dāḇār) of Yahweh. (F. Garcia-López and
Heinz-Josef Fabry, “תּוֹרָה,” Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament,
ed. G. Johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren, 17 vols [Grand Rapids, Mich.:
Eerdmans, 2006], 15:640)
