Exigesis of the term "Law"

There are a few things to keep in mind about the following definitions of Law. First, this applies mostly to its use in Scripture. It is also important to keep these definitions in mind when reading theological works, since scripture is a major foundation of theology. Second, all definitions should be assumed to apply initially, although definitions may be eliminated from consideration if the definition doesn't make sense for how Law is used in the text. Third, and this is very important to note, there are levels of meaning that may be present in a text from a very literal level through more metaphorical levels to taking the text as an allegory. Definitions from one level do not apply to any other level, although the meanings gleaned from the text at each level do need to be held together and made sense of.

Now on to the definitions.

Law:

1) The several hundred injunctions claimed to be given by Moses. Examples include the law against eating shellfish and the requirement of circumcision. They are found only in the Old Testament. This is one of the literal level definitions.

2) Any injunction found in scripture in either the New or Old Testament. This includes the laws mentioned previously and adds to them things like Paul's injunctions to live moral lives. This level is where the distinction between the Moral Law and the Ceremonial Law comes into play from time to time. This is also a literal level definition, although it is slightly less literal than definition 1.

3) The first five books of the bible, commonly called the Torah in Hebrew. This includes all the stories in Genesis and Exodus as well as the laws and history recorded in Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Numbers. In doing this it includes a number of items not included in the injunction model of Law, such as the story of the Flood and the stories of Creation. This is on the historical/cultural level and is most important to keep in mind when using textual or literary criticism to understand the bible.

4) The whole of the Old Testament. This understanding is strongly based in the metaphorical level of interpretation. Specifically, it is taking a part as a metaphor for the whole.

The metaphorical level is as close to allegory as I am comfortable going, and even at that level the weaknesses present in both metaphorical understanding and allegorical understanding start to become clear. The closer one moves towards allegory, the less clearly the definition fits with the text.

Anyone have thoughts on other definitions that should be included?

Jon