In the last part of our series we read about an amazing event in the lives of Israelites who had been freed from slavery in Egypt only weeks earlier. God led the Israelites to set up camp near Mount Sinai and wait for Him to speak to them. Though the children of Israel had seen the great miracles God had performed on their behalf, they knew what God said through His prophet Moses. You will see the words, “the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,” multiple times prior to Exodus 20. This would be the first time the people of Israel would hear God speak to them directly. What did God say?

God’s Law

We find God telling Moses in Exodus 19 to warn the people not to “come up to Mount Sinai.” God said that if the people did, “many of them” would perish. Even the priests who came near to the Lord had to consecrate themselves, “lest the Lord break out against them.” Moses warned the people and the priests, then God began to speak –

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s. Exodus 20:1-17

How did the people of Israel react to what God said? They were afraid for their lives –

Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, ‘You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.’ And Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.’ So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was. Exodus 20:18-21

What the people heard God say was what we call The Ten Commandments. However, God was just getting started. He expanded on The Ten Commandments in great detail.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. You shall not make anything to be with Me—gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves. An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you. And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it. Nor shall you go up by steps to My altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.’ Exodus 20:22-26

Here are some of the legal details God gave to Moses to share with the Israelites.

  • Laws concerning servants
  • Laws concerning violence
  • Laws concerning animal control
  • Laws concerning property
  • Laws concerning moral and ceremonial principles
  • Laws concerning justice toward others
  • Laws concerning the Sabbath
  • Laws concerning the Feasts
  • Laws concerning angels and promises

So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words which the Lord has said we will do.’ And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, ‘All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.’ And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words. Exodus 24:3-8

Moses then ascended the mountain and spent more than a month with God. It was there that God gave Moses instructions concerning the Sanctuary – including offerings, the Ark of the Testimony, the Table for the Shewbread, and the Gold Lampstand. Next, God gave Moses details concerning the Tabernacle. You can read about the curtain in Exodus 26, and the altar, court, and care of the lampstand in Exodus 27.

Here are some other legal specifics God gave Moses from Exodus chapters 28 – 30:

  • Laws concerning garments for the priests (e.g. breastplate, ephod, robe, skillfully woven tunic, turban, and sash. 
  • Laws concerning consecration of priests
  • Laws concerning daily offerings
  • Laws concerning the altar of incense
  • Laws concerning ransom money
  • Laws concerning the bronze laver
  • Laws concerning the holy anointing oil
  • Laws concerning the incense

God informed Moses that He had called a man named Bezalel from the tribe of Judah and Aholiab from the tribe of Dan to oversee the artisans who would build the Tabernacle and everything that would be used in it (see above). God gave Moses more detailed information about keeping the Sabbath Day holy, then gave Moses two “tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God” (Exodus 31:18).

Christians and the Law

Many Christians I’ve known through the years have expressed little interest in reading or studying Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They often point to the writings of the Apostle Paul where he writes that Christians “are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14). They also point to Paul’s letter to the Galatians –

What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one. Galatians 3:19-20

I agree! However, I think it’s a mistake for Christians to take little or no interest in knowing the Law. Why? First, everything in the Bible points to Christ. That includes the Law of Moses. Here’s what Jesus taught His disciples following His resurrection from the dead –

Then He said to them, ‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.’ And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Luke 24:44-45

The Law of Moses, along with the Prophets and Psalms, concern Christ! Jesus opened the understanding of His disciples so that they “might comprehend the Scriptures.”

Here’s what Paul wrote at the end of his life. Keep in mind that the “Scriptures” Paul referred to was the Hebrew Bible; what we know as the Old Testament.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

All Scripture (including the Law of Moses) is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for –

  • doctrine
  • reproof
  • correction
  • instruction in righteousness

Why? So that the “man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” That’s what Paul wrote just before his death.

So, how do we balance what Paul wrote about the Law in Romans and Galatians with what he wrote Timothy many years later? Simple. “Rightly divide the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

I think Christians make many mistakes by how they understand and teach the Law of Moses. We are no longer “under” the Law, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t know about it. The Law is a tutor (schoolmaster) that brings us to Christ. The Law cannot save us from sin, but it shows us that we are sinners and need a Savior. We are totally lost without Christ. The Law shows us how lost we are and how hopeless we are without God’s love, mercy, and grace.

An exercise I recommend to Christians is study the Torah (Genesis – Deuteronomy), then study the Book of Hebrews, then study Romans and Galatians, then study the Gospels, and finally 2 Timothy. Once you finish studying all of those Holy Writings, you will have a better understanding of Christianity than most Christians. Why? Because you have studied the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27).

Of course, you should study every other Writing of Scripture, so the above is a recommendation for anyone wondering why they should bother studying the Law of Moses. As Jesus told the devil – “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). That doesn’t mean we revert to living under the Law. That’s a huge mistake. However, we see the Son of God more clearly through the Law. We better understand why He came to earth from Heaven. We better understand why He’s coming back one day. Studying the entire Bible, methodically and in context, will clear up most every problem or challenge we come across in our Christian life.

Next Time

Moses and his family started well in their journey to the Promised Land, but none of them got there. Why? We’ll look at that next time in our new series about The Old Testament Prophets.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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