There are 613 distinct mitzvot in the Torah, the number comes from the people who have for over three thousand years followed the Torah--the Jews themselves.
-CryptoLutherant
You are in error.
Judaism 101: A List of the 613 Mitzvot (Commandments)
Ok. I know how some like ordered lists, so hear goes:
[1.] To begin with, there is
not a single place in all the TaNaKh, neither the portion thereof, the Torah (Gen-Deut) where
God, Moses, Joshua, or any person of heaven above, or on this earth below, state on biblical record that there are exactly '613' 'mitzvot'. For the New Testament minded (Matt-Rev), the same applies also. Again, absent. Jesus, as a final example (for the New Testament minded), did not once enumerate the 'mitzvot' of the Torah for us in such fashion, to '613' or any other such number.
[2.] The enumeration of '613' is a
Rabbincal, yea even after a Talmudical,
fashioning or calculation or enumeration. No one has to take my word for this, it is said as much on the very site so kindly provided to us (it has been provided so many times, I lost count):
"... Below is a list of the 613 mitzvot (commandments).
It is based primarily on the list compiled by Rambam in the Mishneh Torah, but I have consulted other sources as well. As I said in the page on halakhah,
Rambam's list is probably the most widely accepted list,
but it is not the only one.
The order is my own,
as are the explanations of how some rules are derived from some biblical passages. ..."
- Judaism 101: A List of the 613 Mitzvot (Commandments)
As a side note:
The RaMBaM (whom I have read on numerous occasions, with others, such as RaMBaN, Pirke, etc) is actually, Ra(bbi) M(oses) Ba(ni) M(aimon), aka Maimonides, of the 12th cent Morocco & Egypt (during the Almoravid (Muslim) empire, and died under the Ayyubid sultanate) -
Link
[3.] RaMBaM's listing isn't the only one. There are other listings, by other Rabbis, all several thousand years removed from Moses or Joshua, and the website provided demonstrates the accuracy of this point.
[4.] RaMBaM's order of listing isn't the only one. There are other orderings, by other Rabbis and persons non-Rabbi (scholars, etc), and again, the very website provided, demonstrates this by stating it out as matters of fact, and in personal ordered listing preferred instead to RaMBaM's (example 2 orders at least on the face of it).
[5.] RaMBaM's explanation for the listing and ordering thereof is not the only one. There are explanations, just as there are other listings and orderings by other Rabbis, etc. (generally, not exclusively, following after RaMBaM, (thus post 12th cent), possible just more easily accessible)
[6.] The '613' number is for some calculated on Gematraic principles, with differing reasons or starting points by differing Rabbis, and for this reason, some disagree that it should be said number, for instance:
"... I disagree there are 613 Mitzvot because the explanation for the number is based on gematria, however
the gematria of the Torah is not Standard (
Long preview of 'The Genesis Wheel: & other hermeneutical essays'. ). Instead of the letters Shin and Tav having the value of 300 and 400, they are valued at 3 and 4, and using this most secret gematria the number of Mitzvot would be 217 (31 × 7). However 613 is discovered with this gematria in the opening verses of Genesis so it is still a very significant gematria number.
We first get the idea of 613 mitzvot from Rabbi Simlai:
From Makkot 24a:
"דרש רבי שמלאי שש מאות ושלש עשרה מצות נאמרו לו למשה שלש מאות וששים וחמש לאוין כמנין ימות החמה ומאתים וארבעים ושמונה עשה כנגד איבריו של אדם אמר רב המנונא מאי קרא (דברים לג, ד) תורה צוה לנו משה מורשה תורה בגימטריא שית מאה וחד סרי הוי אנכי ולא יהיה לך מפי הגבורה שמענום
§ Rabbi Simlai taught: There were 613 mitzvot stated to Moses in the Torah, consisting of 365 prohibitions corresponding to the number of days in the solar year, and 248 positive mitzvot corresponding to the number of a person’s limbs. Rav Hamnuna said: What is the verse that alludes to this? It is written: “Moses commanded to us the Torah, an inheritance of the congregation of Jacob” (Deuteronomy 34:4). The word Torah, in terms of its numerical value [gimatriyya], is 611, the number of mitzvot that were received and taught by Moses our teacher. In addition, there are two mitzvot: “I am the Lord your God” and: “You shall have no other gods” (Exodus 20:2, 3), the first two of the Ten Commandments, that we heard from the mouth of the Almighty, for a total of 613."[1]
However the word תורה is valued at 215; Tav:4 + Vav:6 + Resh:200 + Heh:5 = 215. So if we add the two for the first two commandments the people heard at Sinai: 215 + 2 = 217.
Regarding the number of צִיצִית which is supposed to equal the number of Mitzvot:
Rashi "וזכרתם את כל מצות ה'. שֶׁמִּנְיַן גִּימַטְרִיָּא שֶׁל צִיצִית שֵׁשׁ מֵאוֹת, וּשְׁמוֹנָה חוּטִין וַחֲמִשָּׁה קְשָׁרִים הֲרֵי תרי"ג (תנחומא): You will remember all of Adonoy’s commandments. As the numerical value of צִיצִית is 600, and the eight threads and five knots equal 613."[2]
צִיצִית = 204
plus 8 threads and 5 knots = 217.
You can check the sums on this gematria calculator which uses the correct gematria of the Torah;
Shematria
Vilna Gaon in Orot Hagra also disagreed that 613 was the correct number, saying;
It definitely cannot be said that only 613, and no more, come under the category of mitzvot. For if so, there are only three mitzvot from Berei**** until Bo, and many portions of the Torah contain no mitzvot. That is not plausible… The mitzvot are thus multitudinous beyond enumeration… ..." -
Are there really 613 Mitzvot? : Gematria
[7.] Moses specifically said by inspiration of God, that what God spoke and wrote at Mt. Sinai with His own voice and finger from Heaven were "the ten commandments". God came down upon Mt. Sinai in awesome majesty, with the whole mountain covered in the fire of the presence of the Holy Angels of God, so that none but those whom God called up were able to come near.
Exo_34:28 And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant,
the ten commandments.
Deu_4:13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even
ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.
Deu_10:4 And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing,
the ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me.
In each place the Hebrew word
"[1697] dabar" is used, as the Ten Commandments are not merely laws or commands, but individual
promises of God each that He would perform
in those who would walk in His covenant. More on that later as needful.
[8.] The "ten commandments" that God spake in Person to all the people without the mediator Moses, were a complete Law, nothing further being added unto them, except later as to be written in a scroll/book through a mediator (Moses):
Deu_5:22 These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and
he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.
[9.] The "ten commandments" were written by God's own finger originally on sapphire stone and which second set was placed into the "pattern" Ark of the Covenant in the earthly tabernacle (Exodus 25:16,21).
[10.] The other precepts, statutes, laws, commands, ordinances, etc were all given by God through the mediator Moses, to be written by Moses' hand, and placed not inside of the Ark, but to be placed in the side of the Ark:
Deu_31:26 Take this
book of the law, and
put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.
So, while important, God makes distinction, by several means. The many other things which God gave fall under the umbrella of the Ten Commandments:
Psa_119:96 I have seen an end of all perfection: but
thy commandment is exceeding broad.
and as such '613' probably wouldn't even come close to the depth of God's Ten Commandments, which are the expansion of His perfect character of Love, which itself is expressed in the greatest (Deuteronomy 6:5) and second greatest commandments (Leviticus 19:17-18) (both of whose contexts are the Ten Commandments, see Deut. 5, etc).
[11.] The '613' enumeration only considers material within the texts of the Torah (Gen-Deut), and not any other material from the Nevi'im or Ketuvim, as if God somehow stopped talking and giving commands through men, priests or prophets or kings, see Isaiah 8:20 (Law and Testimony)
[12.] Even from a basic search of scripture, the Torah itself makes differences between words:
Gen 26:5 KJB Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my
commandments, my statutes, and my
laws.
Gen 26:5 KJB Str. BecauseH6118 thatH834 AbrahamH85 obeyedH8085 my voice,H6963 and keptH8104 my charge,H4931 my
commandments,H4687 my statutes,H2708 and my
laws.H8451
Gen 26:5 HOT
עקב אשׁר־שׁמע אברהם בקלי וישׁמר משׁמרתי
מצותי חקותי
ותורתי׃
Gen 26:5 HOT Str.
עקבH6118 אשׁרH834 שׁמעH8085 אברהםH85 בקליH6963 וישׁמרH8104 משׁמרתיH4931
מצותי
H4687 חקותיH2708
ותורתי׃H8451 (apologies for how this posts, not much can be done about that, I used highligher to mark the
beginning and
ending, so while the sentence reads left to right, each individual word correctly reads right to left)
Gen 26:5 HOT Translit. ëqev ásher-shäma av'rähäm B'qoliy waYish'mor mish'mar'Tiy
mitz'wotay chuQôtay w'
tôrotäy
Notice the distinction made between H4687 (mitzvot) and H8451 (torah), which is again found in Exodus 16:28,
Exo 16:28 And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my
commandments and my
laws?
This should suffice for now.
