II. The Law as given to Moses

1. The Book of the Covenant:

This book, expressly so named (Exodus 24:7), is stated to have been written by Moses (24:3,4). It consisted of "words of the LORD" and "rules" (Exodus 24:3 the English Standard Version). It must have comprised the contents of Exodus 20-23 at least.The making of the covenant at Sinai, led up to by the revealing words of Exodus 3:12-17; 6:2-8; 19:3-6, was a transaction of the very first importance in the religious history of Israel. God's revelation of Himself to Israel being very largely a revelation of His moral attributes (Exodus 34:6-7), could only be effectively apprehended by a people who were morally fitted to receive it. Hence, it was that Israel as a nation was now placed by God in a stated relation to Himself by means of a covenant, the condition upon which the covenant was based being, on His people's part, their obedience to a given law. This was the law contained in the "Book of the Covenant."

2. The Book of the Law of Deuteronomy 31:

Immediately after the making of the Covenant, Moses was called up into the mount, and there received instructions for the erection of the tabernacle, these being followed in due course by the rules of the reconstituted ceremonial of which the tabernacle was to be the home. All these for the present we must pass over.

Having arrived on the East of the Jordan, Moses, now at the close of his career, addressed discourses to the people, in which he earnestly exhorted them to live up to the high calling with which God had called them, in the land of which they were about to take possession. To this end he embodied in his discourse a statement of the Law by which they were to live. And then, as almost his last public act, he wrote "the words of this law in a book," and directed that the book should be placed "by the side of the ark of the covenant" (Deuteronomy 31:24-26).

3. The Final Compilation:

(1) Exodus.

As the directions for the erection of the tabernacle with the purpose of its several parts were given to Moses immediately after the making of the covenant, they follow the account of it immediately. Thus Exodus contains the history of the covenant-making, of what led up to it, and of what immediately followed it, namely, the provision of the home for the covenant-worship.

(2) Leviticus.

This book follows with the rules of that worship; not indeed with all its details, but with an account of all that was essential to it. First in Leviticus 1-7 we have the law of sacrifice, including what was so especially peculiar to the covenant-worship, the law of the sin offering. Then in Leviticus 8-10 we have the consecration of the tabernacle and its contents, the consecration of its priests and the inauguration of the newly prescribed system of worship. Then in Leviticus 11-15 we have the rules for purification from ritual uncleanness, without which it would have been impossible for this system of covenant-worship to be carried on. Then there follows in Leviticus 16 the account of the ceremonies of the Day of Atonement, the crown and completion of the whole. Thus in these 16 chapters we have an account of the essentials of the newly instituted covenant-worship. The rest of the chapters of Leviticus give further guidelines for holy living, "You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy" (Leviticus 19:2).

(3) Numbers.

The purpose of Numbers is supplementary. Numbers 1-6, containing the numbering and ordering of the tribes and rules as to the representative Levitical ministry, sets forth the corporate character of Israel's service of God. The Israelites were not to be a mere aggregation of tribes, but a single nation, the bond of their union being the covenant with God. The camp itself, ordered and carefully guarded against pollution, was to be a symbol of this holy unity. Numbers 7-10 narrate the remaining occurrences at Sinai, including (9:1-14) the important account of the first commemorative Passover. The remaining chapters contain, alternately, a narrative of events following the departure from Sinai and groups of laws usually in some way connected with the events narrated, but all of them supplementary to the more essential laws already recorded.

(4) Deuteronomy.

As a separate work and based upon sayings and doings at the very close of the 40 years, Deuteronomy naturally follows last.

III. The General Character and Design of the Law.

Both in civil matters and in ceremonial the Law had to deal with people relating to God and to each other. Its rules inculcated principles, the working out of which would by degrees bring about a great advance in men's conceptions both of what is true and of what is right.

1. The Civil Law:

The excellence of the Old Testament Law is evident, not only in its great underlying principles, but in the suitability of its individual rules to promote moral advance.

(1) Servants and the Poor.

The Law of the Covenant and its enlargement in Deuteronomy guarded the interest of and secured justice, and mercy too, to slaves and the poor. The Law indeed permitted slavery, an institution universal in the ancient world, but it made provisions which must very greatly have mitigated its hardship. It was enjoined, both in Exodus and in Deuteronomy, that after six years' service a Hebrew manservant should "go out free for nothing," unless he himself preferred to remain in servitude (Exodus 21:2-6; Deuteronomy 15:12-18). The rule in Exodus 21:7-11 as to women servants was not exactly the same, but it nevertheless guarded their interests, while Hebrew women servants were afterward included in the rule of Deuteronomy 15:12. A still greater improvement was brought in by a later rule connected with the law of the Jubilee as set out in Leviticus 25:39-55. Again, though servitude was permitted on account of debt, or as a rescue from poverty (Exodus 21:2,7; Deuteronomy 15:12), stealing a man was a capital offense (Exodus 21:16).

(2) Punishments.

The rule of Exodus 21:22-25 ("eye for eye," etc.; compare Leviticus 24:19,20; Deuteronomy 19:16-19) sounds harsh to us, but while the justice it sanctioned was rough and ready according to the age, it put a restraint on vindictiveness. The punishment might be so much, but no more; and the same spirit of restraint in punishment is seen in the rule as to flogging (Deuteronomy 25:2). Similarly the rule that murder was to be avenged by "the avenger of blood," a rule under the circumstances of the age both necessary and salutary, was protected from abuse by the appointment of places of refuge, the rule with respect to which was designed to prepare the way for a better system (see Exodus 21:12-14; Numbers 35:9-29; Deuteronomy 19:1-13).

(3) Marriage.

The marriage customs of the Mosaic age permitted polygamy and concubinage, marriage by purchase or by capture in war, slave-marriage, and divorce. The Law allowed the continuance of these customs, but did not originate them; on the contrary, its provisions were designed to restrict the old license, giving protection to the weaker party, the woman, limiting as far as possible the evils of the traditional system, a system which could not suddenly be changed, and preparing the way for a better. Consider the effect of the following rules:

as to slave-wives (Exodus 21:7-11); captives of war (Deuteronomy 21:10-14); plurality of wives (Deuteronomy 21:15-17); adultery (Exodus 20:14,17; Deuteronomy 22:22); fornication (Deuteronomy 22:23-29; 23:17,18; Leviticus 21:19); divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1-4); Levirate marriage (Deuteronomy  25:5-10); incest (Leviticus 18:6-18); marriage of priests (Leviticus 21:7,10-15); royal polygamy (Deuteronomy 17:17).

(4) Sabbaths and Feasts.

The law as to these though partly ceremonial yet served social ends. The Sabbath day gave to all, and particularly to servants and the poor, and domestic cattle too, a needful respite from daily toil; it also served men's spiritual welfare, and did honor to God (Exodus 23:12; Deuteronomy 5:14,15; Exodus 31:12-17). The seventh year's rest to the land--it also "a sabbath of solemn rest, a sabbath unto Yahweh"--was for the land's recuperation, but it served also to safeguard common rights at perhaps a time of transition as to customs of land tenure; and connected with it also there were rules as to release of slaves and relief of debtors (Exodus 23:9-11; Leviticus 25:2-7; Deuteronomy 15:1-18). The observance of the Sabbath year as a rest to the land seems to have fallen into disuse, perhaps as early as some 500 years before the Babylonian captivity (2 Chronicles 36:21), and it is probable that the Jubilee (the design of which seems to have been to adjust conflicting rights under new customs of land tenure and in the relation of employer to employed) was instituted to take its place (Leviticus 25). The law as to the annual feasts insured both the social advantages of festive gatherings of the people, and their sanctification by the worship of God, and the public recognition of His hand in matters agricultural and political, which were either the occasion of, or connected with, these gatherings. Considerate liberality to the poor and dependent was, on these occasions, especially enjoined (Exodus 23:14-17; Deuteronomy 16:1-17; 12:12,18,19).

2. The Ceremonial Law:

The pattern or the metaphor that God used as a timeless structure for atonement was the ceremonial law. These laws helped to remind the people of the heinousness of sin and of its need of atonement by sacrifice. The sin offering certainly brought this to light (Leviticus 4:1-5:13; 12-15; 16), as did the rules as to guilt offerings (Leviticus 5:14-6:7). These must by degrees have led to a true conception of repentance, as including both the seeking of atonement through sacrifice and restitution for wrong committed. These offerings were established at the time of Moses, marking a development in the sacrificial system. The only sacrifices of which we have any trace in pre-Mosaic times were meal and drink offerings, whole burnt offerings and sacrifices (or, to use the Levitical term, peace offerings).

(1) Origin of Sacrifice.

We read of the offering of sacrifice all through the patriarchal history, and farther back even than Noah in the story of Cain and Abel; and there can be no doubt that the Levitical scheme of sacrifice was based upon, and a development (under Divine ordering) of, the sacrificial system already traditional among the Hebrews. Sacrifice was undoubtedly of Divine origin; yet we have no account, or even hint, of any formal institution of sacrifice. The sacrifices of Cain and Abel are spoken of in a way that leaves the impression that they were offered spontaneously, and the most probable assumption would seem to be that the very first offering of sacrifice was the outcome of a spontaneous desire (Divinely implanted, we may be sure) in early men to render service to God of whose relation to themselves they were conscious.

(2) The Levitical Ritual.

It was through the teaching, not only of prophets but of the Levitical ritual itself, and while it was still in full force, that the words of Psalm 50:13,14 were uttered:

"Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High." The Levitical ritual, as respects animal sacrifice in particular, was so framed as, on the one hand, to keep alive the idea of sacrifice as the offering of life, not of death, of life's dedication, not its destruction, and therefore to make it a true type of Christ's living sacrifice. On the other hand, the rules of sacrifice guarded against abuses which, as a matter of fact, sprang up widely among other cultures. The rule, e.g. in Leviticus 1:2 and elsewhere, that "you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock," excluded human sacrifice. The rule that the first act in every sacrifice must be to slay the creature offered excluded the infliction of unnecessary suffering. The detailed rules as to the offering and disposal of the blood, and the varying modes of disposal of the carcass, kept alive the essential idea of all such sacrifice, and saved it from degenerating into a mere heaping up, as in Egypt, of altars with mere loads of food. The rules of the peace offering, clothing it always with a spiritual motive (see Leviticus 7:12,16), raised it to a level far above the sacrifice of that class among the surrounding cultures, guarding it against their licentious festivity (compare Hosea 2:11-13; 4:13,14; Amos 2:8; 5:21-23) and gross ideas as to the part of God in the feasting.

(3) The Law Truly a Torah.

In every one of its departments the Law proved itself to be indeed a torah directing God's people to higher and higher standards, both of faith and of duty, so they would be prepared for the gospel of Christ, who Himself said of the old Law, "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled" (Matthew 5:18 the King James Version). Meanwhile we have, in the teaching of the prophets, not a counter influence, not a system rivaling the Law, but its unfolding, both inspired of God, both instruments in His progressive revelation. "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams" were the words of Samuel, a faithful servant of the Law, and himself a frequent offerer of sacrifice. What the Law was to the heart of devout Israelites in the prophetic age is seen in the fervent words of Psalm 119.

LITERATURE.

Driver, Driver, Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament, with which should be read Moller, Are the Critics Right? and Orr, Orr, The Problem of the Old Testament; A.B. Davidson, Theology of the Old Testament; J.B. Mozley, Ruling Ideas in Early Ages; Rule, Old Testament Institutions, Their Origin and Development; Kurtz, Sacrificial Worship of the Old Testament; Hoonacker, Le sacerdoce levitique; Edouard Naville,

La decouverte de la loi sous le roi Josias; H. Clay Trumbull, The Blood Covenant; Milligan, Resurrection of our Lord (274, on "blood-offering").

Ulric Z. Rule

Last modified: Wednesday, August 8, 2018, 10:23 AM