The Eternal Torah: Why God’s Covenant with Israel Can Never Be Replaced

Gila asks: “One of the foundations of our faith is the belief that the Torah will never change. This is what we’ve believed for generations, and I have no doubt about it — but is this something that can actually be proven?”

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In the previous article, we examined why it’s impossible for the Torah to ever be replaced. The commandments define the very purpose of human existence: “For it is your life” (Devarim 32:47).

Now, we’ll explore a deeper dimension: the eternal nature of the Torah as a direct reflection of its Giver.

1. God Commanded That His Torah Be Kept Forever

From the very beginning, the Torah itself declares its eternal nature: “This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations” (Vayikra 17:7). “It shall be a perpetual covenant throughout your generations” (Vayikra 3:17). “The children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath... an everlasting covenant... it is a sign forever” (Shemot 31:16–17). “The revealed things belong to us and to our children forever — to perform all the words of this Torah” (Devarim 29:28).

God Himself commanded that His Torah be observed for all generations. Indeed, the Jewish people have miraculously maintained their faith and commandments for over 3,300 years, despite exile and persecution.

This simple fact has long troubled Christianity and Islam — for as long as the Jewish people remain faithful to the Torah, their very existence stands as living proof that God has never changed His covenant.

Even more remarkably, the Torah itself foretold this perseverance. It predicted that after all our suffering and exile, Israel would eventually return to the Torah and to God: “When all these things come upon you... you shall take them to heart among the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and you shall return to the Lord your God... you and your children... then the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity and have compassion on you.” (Devarim 30:1–3).

The Torah prophesied that the key to Israel’s redemption — and to ending hatred and exile, would be returning to our covenant and commandments.

2. God Never Changes — Therefore, His Will Never Changes

“For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:6).

Because God is infinite, eternal, and unchanging, His will is likewise unchanging. Unlike human beings, who shift opinions and desires, God’s will is perfect and constant.

The Torah is the revelation of that will — and because His will never changes, neither can the Torah.

Christianity and Islam rest on the notion that God somehow “changed His mind”: that He chose Israel and then rejected them, or that He gave one Torah and later replaced it with another. This idea collapses before the simple truth that an eternal God does not change. As Scripture says: “The Eternal One of Israel does not lie or change His mind, for He is not a man, that He should change His mind.” (Shmuel I, 15:29).

God’s choice of Israel is permanent: “You shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from the nations to be Mine.” (Vayikra 20:26). “The Lord your God has chosen you to be His treasured people... not because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the fewest of all peoples.” (Devarim 7:6–7).

3. God Sees the Future — and Does Not Reverse His Decisions

“Who has done this and called forth the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, the first and the last — I am He.” (Yeshayahu 41:4).

Because God exists beyond time, He knows the end from the beginning. He foresees all generations and cannot make a decision He would later regret or reverse.

The Torah therefore contains astonishing prophecies about the future — from Israel’s exile across the world to their miraculous return to the Land of Israel in the end of days. “When you are in distress, and all these things have come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey His voice.” (Devarim 4:30).

Even the Torah predicted that nations in later generations would falsely assume that God had rejected Israel — an eerie anticipation of later Christian and Islamic claims: “The next generation and the foreigner who comes from a distant land... will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land?’... And they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers.’” (Devarim 29:21–25).

This very misunderstanding was foretold thousands of years ago, and it continues today.

4. God Does Not Break His Promises

“God is not a man, that He should lie.” (Bamidbar 23:19).

Truth is the very seal of God, as our sages said: “The seal of the Holy One is truth” (Talmud, Shabbat 55a). Because His essence is eternal truth, He cannot and will not go back on His word.

He declared that His Torah will never be forgotten: “This song shall testify before them as a witness, for it shall not be forgotten from the mouths of their descendants.” (Devarim 31:21). “My spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants, says the Lord, from now and forever.” (Yeshayahu 59:21).

Although Israel has endured exile, persecution, and dispersion, the covenant remains: “Even when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or destroy them to break My covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God.” (Vayikra 26:44).

Anyone who doubts the eternity of the Torah or the covenant, implicitly doubts the truth of God Himself.

The Eternal Covenant

The Torah’s endurance is not a miracle of history, but a reflection of its divine source. Just as God is eternal, so is His Torah, and so is His covenant with Israel.

For over three millennia, every attempt to replace it has failed, while the Jewish people and their Torah endure.

In the next and final article in this series, we will explore the strongest proof of all — the eyewitness testimony that established the Torah for eternity.