My Life and Books (13) God’s Law is Enough

God created humans and all the world, so he knows and understands us perfectly. This puts him in the best place to design laws that work effectively.

For the LORD is our judge,
The LORD is our lawgiver,
The LORD is our king;
It is he who will save us (Isaiah 33:22).

God has infinite wisdom, so his laws will be perfect for us.

Paul understood that the law is a tool for dealing with people who disrupt the peace of society. This is a crucial verse.

We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers (1 Tim 1:7-9).

The law is used properly when it is used to restrain the evil that harms society. The law is not for the righteous. It is not for Christians. We must understand that the law is for thieves, murderers, adulterers and perjurers who would disrupt the peace and harmony of society. The righteousness of Jesus cannot deal with these people while they are hostile to him. Until they are transformed by the love of Jesus, laws restrain their evil and prevent them from harming other people.

God’s law provides a way of restraining the harm that is caused by people who are willing to harm others. His law is the best for every human society. What could be better for the functioning of society than a set of laws that are holy, just and good (Rom 7:12)? Any other laws will be suboptimal. They will be partly unjust and not always good. Why would any society want to have suboptimal laws? God’s law is the best because he is God.

God’s law is good. He is just and good, so his law is the best basis for a harmonious society. This was an amazing discovery. I was surprised to discover that God has provided the law that every society needs.

Purpose of Law
Going into the land, the people of Israel needed to know how to live together in close proximity with each other. They did not need guidance for living while they were slaves in Egypt because Pharaoh’s taskmasters controlled every aspect of life. The situation would be different once they had a land of their own, with no emperor to control them. Several things should be noted about the guidance that God gave them.

• An executive branch was not established in the Law. This means that there was no one to enforce the laws. Obedience to the law was fully voluntary.

• No legislative assembly was established in the Torah. God provided the laws that his people needed. His laws are better than human laws. He has given us his laws, so we do not need a legislative assembly to create human laws.

• Judges emerged from amongst the people. They were not appointed. They emerged as the people took their cases to the wise people in their midst. Those who did well were eventually recognised as judges.

• Crime - the main problems would be theft and violence. The law provided restitution and exclusion as tools for dealing with these crimes.

• Economic/social issues – God gave Guidance for Economic Life. These guidelines were voluntary. No one had authority to enforce them. They would be fulfilled as an outcome of love.

• Defence – military leaders were temporary, and participation in defence was voluntary.

Purpose of God's Law

I have just a published an article on the Purpose of God's Law on Substack. This is an important topic for all God's people.

God provided the law so that people could live together in harmony. In the modern world, people still have problems with each other and disputes over property, so this need has not disappeared. We still need the Law of Moses.

Interpretation of Moses' Laws

The following principles are important for interpreting and understanding the judicial laws of Moses.

• The scriptures were breathed by the Holy Spirit. We do not know how they were written down, and we do not know how involved Moses was in the process of recording God’s law, but that does not matter, because the Holy Spirit was at work. He got the stuff that he wanted recorded into the books of Moses. This provides our principle of interpretation. The best way to understand the judicial laws of Moses is to seek what the Holy Spirit is saying.

• The judicial laws must be interpreted through the lens of Jesus’ life, ministry and teaching Jesus. His life ministry was a full and complete revelation of the character of God. The gospels will help us understand how God’s laws should be interpreted and applied. Even Moses would not have fully understood what he received from God, because he did not know Jesus.

• The Old and New Testaments were both inspired by the same Holy Spirit, so they will be consistent with each other. Jesus never repudiated the judicial laws, so they must contain a message that is consistent with his gospel. If they seem to be inconsistent with the New Testament, then we have misunderstood them, or the translators have mistranslated them.

• We must not use the behaviour of the Israelites to interpret the judicial laws. They had been slaves in an empire ruled by a cruel dictator and in their new land they were surrounded by evil and violent nations. Therefore, their behaviour often fell short of God’s standard. We cannot take their behaviour as normative, because it was often immoral, not God’s will.

• Archaeological information from the surrounding nations is not very useful for interpreting the judicial laws. Some of these nations will have copied God’s law, because they recognised his wisdom, but they are controlled by principalities and power who hate God, so they will have distorted it. For example, the practices of the Babylonians will not provide many insights into the meaning of God’s law.

• Hebrew is not a precise language like Greek. The words are sparse, and can take many meanings. Hebrew is a very old language, so the meaning of many Hebrew words is uncertain. We should choose the meaning that is consistent with the New Testament.

• We cannot rely on the interpretations and translation of Jewish scholars, because they have a tendency to justify Israel’s history of violence and war. This causes them to cast a violent shadow over the law. The Israelites frequently rejected the Holy Spirit, so that often misunderstood God’s law. Their interpretations are unreliable, because they often choose the harshest possible meaning of a passage, whereas we need one that is consistent with the gospel. We have a huge advantage in understanding the judicial laws of Moses, because we can read them with the insight of the Holy Spirit and the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus.

• The Jews were scattered among the nations for a couple of millennia, and were controlled by the laws of those nations, so they had no need for the judicial laws. In this situation, it was more important to maintain their cultural distinctiveness, so they tended to focus on the cultural markers, such as sabbath and diet, and ignored the judicial laws, because they did not need them. Not surprisingly, they were gained more expertise on the former than the latter.

• Christian translators have tended to copy the Jewish translators, because they assume that they have a better knowledge of Hebrew. Unfortunately, their translations are often tinged by the cruelty and violence, because they did not know Jesus.

• Most Christian translators and interpreters of the Old Testament have focussed on pushing a distinction between law and grace. They have been content to make the Old Testament seem harsh and cruel, because it makes the gospel look better. They do not understand that the law is grace and has a different objective from the gospel.

I will often push the boundary of the meaning of some well-known passages. That is deliberate, because I am translating and interpreting them in a way that is consistent with the gospel. I believe that is the best way to understand what the Holy Spirit is saying. (More in Government of God.)

Positive Laws are Dangerous

God’s law is often criticised for being negative, but God has good reason for giving his law in a negative form. Few Christians understand this, but negative laws enhance freedom. The authorities have no authority until a crime happens, if law is phrased negatively. Those who do not commit crimes are free. Consider the eight commandment.

You shall not steal.

This law has no implication for the behaviour of anyone who does not steal. The law has a penalty, but it only applies to thieves. The authorities can only apply this law to those who steal. People who do not steal are free to do what they like with their money. This gives us great freedom. Once I accept that stealing is out of bounds, I can ignore this law and get on with my life. I can do what we like, without any fear of the authorities. A negative law has no relevance for those who do not want to not break it.

A positively stated law gives the authorities much greater power and greatly reduces freedom. Consider a positively stated law.

You must give all spare money to the poor

This law would gives the authorities the right to monitor and challenge every financial transaction. They would have authority to check on every person who spends money. Freedom to do what I like with my money would be gone.

God’s law does not give the authorities responsibility for forcing people to lead virtuous lives, although some Christians would like them to do that (eg prostitution laws). The law cannot change human nature, so it cannot eliminate sin. The only solution to sin is being born again by the Holy Spirit in response to the gospel of Jesus. God does not expect his law to eliminate sin. He gave the law to provide societies with a way to restrain the very worst effects of sin, not to make people good. Negative laws are best for that purpose. In contrast, modern authorities like to control every aspect of life. This is why many man-laws are in a positive form. Most Christians prefer man-made laws, so it is not surprising that they do not understand the benefits of negative laws.

Israel (3) - Light to the World

The covenant with Moses on Mount Sinai was the first opportunity for the descendants of Abraham to bless the world. God gave Moses a system of law and government that would have been the envy of the surrounding nations, if the Israelites had made it work. They could have spread great blessing to the world, by exporting it to the nations.

Israel was called to be a light to the world. They could not give spiritual peace to the world, because they did not have it themselves. The temple sacrifices were a sideshow that did not achieve anything. They pointed forward to Jesus perfect sacrifice, so they only worked for people with faith that God would bring a better solution for sin. Abraham understood this truth.

Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness (Rom 4:9).

Israel could not give spiritual peace, but they could be a light by demonstrating God’s ideal system of government. This was their real calling in the Old Testament age.

God gave the law to Moses to enable the children of Israel to establish a peaceful society. Their role was to demonstrate how voluntary judges applying God’s law allows a peaceful and prosperous society to emerge. The observance and implementation of God’s law was meant to impress the nations.

See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today (Deut 4:5-8).

Israel’s main purpose was to demonstrate God’s unique system of government. God’s law applied by good judges, together with temporary military leaders can restrain the worst effects of sin and allow a safe, peaceful society to emerge, even in a sinful world. Many of the nations would have copied this model, but they never saw it demonstrated, because Israel never took this role seriously. God had given them a unique system of government with voluntary judges applying God’s law, but instead of celebrating God’s calling, they envied the surrounding nations and demanded a king.

Although they were choosing an inferior form of government, God eventually gave in and allowed Israel to have a king. They got one or two good ones, but most were duds. That was bad, but by copying a system of government from nations, they lost their distinctiveness and purpose. The Queen of Sheba saw Solomon’s wisdom, but she did not see God’s method of government. If she had, she would have been really amazed.

Israel’s failure is still affecting us. Because God’s system of government was never seriously tried, most people do not take it seriously. Most Christians are still fascinated with worldly government systems and do not even know that God has revealed his ideal form of government.

Israel is unlikely to recover this role. The responsibility for demonstrating good government now rests upon Christians. Hopefully, some will take up this calling and be a light to the world for godly government.

Law Released

Isaiah 2:2-4 is a great prophecy of peace. It is repeated again in Micah 4:1-5. The prophecy ends with a marvellous vision for the future.

They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore (Is 2:4).

The prophecy explains the reason for this great transformation.

The law will go out from Zion
the word of the LORD from Jerusalem (Is 2:3).

Most Christians assume this will be fulfilled when Jesus returns to rule the world from a throne in Jerusalem. But this is not want the prophecy declares. The reason for the peace between the nations is that God’s law gets out of Jerusalem.

God gave his perfect law to Moses more than 3000 years ago. Since then it has generally been ignored by the nations. Most Christians hate God’s law and assume that it is only for Israel. God’s law has been locked up in Jerusalem.

The law is the word of the Lord for nations and government. Peace between the nations will emerge, when God’s law gets out of Jerusalem and is accepted by the peoples of the nations as the only true basis for good government.

DANG (7) - Making Laws

Most people believe that we need the government to make laws.

God is our law-giver (Is 33:22). God's Law is the best that anyone can get.

Human laws are limited in what they can achieve. Laws can restrain the worst evil, but that is all. There are more than enough laws in the world, and many are ignored. I doubt that we gain much from inviting politicians to make more laws.

God and Government

Christians believe that God is the King of all Creation.

How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth (Ps 47:11)!

For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods (Ps 95:3).

The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over
all (Ps 103:19).

The fact that God is a king means that he is very interested in the principles of government. Governing is the main role of a king. God is the king above all kings, so he must be the world’s top authority on good government.

If God is an expert on government, we would that he has shared his wisdom about government in the scriptures. The only place in the scriptures where he gives a full system of government is in Exodus and Deuteronomy. If we want God’s wisdom about government, we have to go back there.

The essence of government is good law. Every culture recognises the need for good laws. If God is an expert on government he must be an expert on law. He wants good government on earth, so we would expect him have revealed a good system of law to us. He is perfectly wise, so his laws will be the best laws available.

I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame (Ps 119:46).

The law of the LORD is perfect (Ps 19:7).

God’s system of perfect law is revealed in Exodus and Deuteronomy, all ready for us to use.

Modern debates about government focus on the election of governments. The emphasis is on developing a good system for writing laws. If God has already provided the best laws available, this is a waste of effort. Human legislators will always produce sub-optimal laws, so arguments about how politicians should be appointed are irrelevant. God has already given us the perfect laws that are essential for good government.

Prophets and Law

The most popular pages by far on my website Kingdom Watcher are the pages on prophetic ministry. In a way this is odd, because good teaching on the role of the prophet is two a penny.

If the interest is a sign that God is raising up prophetic people all over the world, I am glad. I presume that most are a prophetic voice in their church. Hopefully a few of these are being raised up to be prophets to their nation, but I am not certain.

The Old Testament prophets were the guardians of God’s law. They prosecuted kings for their failure to obey the law. Every prophet speaking at the national level must use God’s law as a standard for testing the behaviour and actions of rulers, kings and politicians. To be an effective voice to their nation, these prophets must have a sound understanding of God’s law.

The strange thing is that the least popular pages on my website (again by far) are those that deal with law and government. The most important revelations I have about God’s standards are on these pages, yet almost no one clicks the link from the pages on prophetic ministry to the pages on law and government. This is really disturbing. It suggests that those called to be a prophetic voice in their nation do not understand the connection between their ministry and God’s law.

A prophet who is not rooted in God’s law will end up following after some fashionable secular voice. They can easily become the servant of particular political party. Without a clear standard, these prophets will be blown around by every wind of change.

Politics and Law

We cannot begin to say anything coherent about the relationship between Christianity and poltics, if we do not have a clear theology of law. Politics is all about designing laws, so God's law must have some relevance.

Therefore, I am surprised how few Christians are interested in even thinking about a theology of law. Most want to pontificate on politics, but they just jump to political solutions with a proof text. Few are interested in serious thinking about the role and source of law.

Judicial Laws of Moses (15) - Thats All

Biblical justice is limited to:

• Theft or damage to property
• Physical injury to a human person.

These two types of offence are the only ones specified in the Judicial Laws of Moses. There is nothing else. This makes God’s Judicial Law very simple and easy for everyone to understand. It means that we do not need a Congress or Parliament turn out hundreds of new laws every year. We do not need laws books with hundreds of pages of detailed legislation. All we need is wise judges, who can decide in any situation, whether a victim was harmed by assault, or if their property was harmed or stolen.

We do not need hundreds of legislators to pass laws specifying the penalty for every conceivable crime. All we need is wise judges who can work out in any situation what would be necessary to fully restore the victim to the situation in which they were in before the crime occurred.

The simplicity of these Judicial Laws demonstrates the brilliant wisdom of God. In twenty-five verses, he gives a set of laws that will function in any culture in any time. The laws give provide a standard that allows judges to decide when a crime has occurred. They are just as applicable in a modern industrialised culture as in a simple agrarian culture. They also give principles that allow judges decide the appropriate restitution that should be made to compensate for the crime in any culture or type of economy.

Human law makers have worked for hundreds of years and produced numerous statutes, but they have not been able to produce a system of judicial law that works well. What human law makers have failed to do, God did three thousand years ago using just a thousand words.

Oh, how I love your law!
I meditate on it all day long.
Your commands make me wiser than my enemies,
for they are ever with me.
I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your statutes.
I have more understanding than the elders,
for I obey your precepts.
Righteous are you, O LORD,
and your laws are right.
The statutes you have laid down are righteous;
they are fully trustworthy(Psalm 119:97-100,137-138).

This full series is here

Judicial Laws of Moses (14) - Limited Justice

The judicial laws of Exodus 22:12-22:16 have just two objectives.

• Protection of Property
• Protection of Human Life
  

God has specified only two types of sin for which remedy or punishment can be imposed by a human court. In a biblical system of justice, judges are limited to dealing with two types of activity.

• Theft or damage to property
• Physical injury to a human person.

The first type of sin is actions that harm the property of other people. This ranges from theft to careless actions that harm to another person’s property. The following are specifically mentioned in the judicial laws.

• Stealing another person’s property (Ex 22:1).
• Breaking into another person’s house (Ex 22:2).
• Allowing animals to wander and destroy another person’s crop (Ex 22:5).
• Allowing fire to spread and destroy another person’s property (Ex 22:6).
• Losing money that has been handed over for safekeeping (Ex 22:7). (This is an important principle for banking).
• Careless care of another person’s property that results in damage (Ex 22:10-13).
• Damaging animals or equipment that has been borrowed. (Ex 22:14-15).

The second type of sin consists of actions that injure the body of another person. This covers the range from an accidental assault to murder. The following are specifically mentioned in the judicial laws.

• Assault (Ex 21:18-19).
• Murder with intention to kill (Ex 21:14).
• Manslaughter (Ex 21:13).
• Assaulting a parent is particularly serious, because God requires children to honour their parents (Ex 21:15).
• Kidnapping is a serious assault, because it involves theft of another person’s life (Ex 21:16).
• A serious curse can do as harm a person’s body more than a blow with a fist (Ex 21:17).
• Assaulting and employee (Ex 21:20-21).
• An innocent bystander being injured by men fighting with each other (Ex 21:22-25).
• Allowing an animal or machinery to hurt another person (Ex 21:28-32).
• Leaving a hazard unguarded that hurts another person (Ex 21:33-36).
• Sexual seduction is a serious of assault (Ex 22:16-17).

The Bible has no distinction between criminal law where crimes are enforced by the state in criminal courts and civil law where breaches are pursued by individuals in civil courts. The concept of an offence or crime against the state simply does not exist in the scripture. The only distinction is between sins that affect property and those that harm the person. God is offended by both types of sin and his judges are responsible for dealing with both types of offence.

Judicial Laws of Moses (13) - Justice and Mercy

The remedy for a personal injury involves two principles:

• Justice
• Mercy.

The justice principle specifies that the person committing the assault should have done to him what he has done to his victim. This would be perfect justice, but would produce a lot of violence.

The mercy principle allows the person assaulted to make a payment sufficient to compensate the victim for the injury to his body. The principle is defined here with reference to a person whose actions have taken the life of another.

If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him (Ex 21:30).

The Hebrew word for ransom is “kopher”, which means cover or shelter. The figurative meaning is ransom, price or satisfaction. The ransom is a money payment that that provides shelter from the justice principle. The person who has caused another die should really pay with his life, but the payment of a ransom protects him from the full consequences of his actions. The offender does not have physical harm done to his body, but will still have to pay a heavy penalty.

The family of the victim are better off, because they receive financial compensation for their loss. The money paid will improve their lives, whereas harming the other person would only produce emotional satisfaction. Justice is still achieved, but everyone still living is better off.

Judicial Laws of Moses (11) - Personal Injury

The second half of Exodus 21 deals with protection from personal injury. The modern terms are assault and murder. Murder is the most serious form of assault. These laws are expressed in the same way as those that deal with protection of property.

If a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning… (v.14).
If men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist… (v.18).
If a man hits his manservant or maidservant with a rod… (v.21).
If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely… (v.22).
If a man hits a manservant or maidservant in the eye and destroys it… (v.26).
If a bull gores a man or a woman to death… (v.28).
If a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it… (v.33)
If a man's ox butts another's… (v.35).

These laws define the scope of assault. The most serious assault is murder. The more common assault is one person striking another with his fist or a weapon. The definition of assault includes a careless action that causes another person to come to harm. It extends to harm done to animals.

These laws against assault are universal in application. They are not directed to a particular people, but to all people everywhere.

Judicial Laws of Moses (10) - Restitution

Restitution is specified as the remedy in all situations where personal property is damaged or stolen. The Hebrew word translated as restitution is “shalam”. It is used 18 times in these verses about property, although this is sometime lost in the translation. Twice the word is doubled for emphasis. Its basic meaning is “be safe” or “be made complete”. By implication it can mean “reciprocate, make amends, end, finish, full, make good, repay, recompense, requite, make restitution, restore”.

The person stealing or damaging the property of another must “make good” the harm done. They must “restore” the situation to the way it was before they committed their crime. The well-known Hebrew word for peace (shalom) comes from Shalam, so it has a strong sense of restoring peace to a situation that has been disrupted. Everything harmed must be put right.

The seduction of a young woman is also a form of theft.

If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed, and lies with her (Ex 2:16).

He has stolen the most precious thing that she has. Loss of virginity might prevent her from finding a good husband. The man who has robbed her of this potential must compensate here financially for what she has lost. He must also compensate here for any physical or emotional harm as well. He must pay the full cost of restoring her to the position that she was in before he intervened in here life.

Judicial Laws of Moses (9) - Protection of Property

Exodus 22:1-16 deals with protection of property. These laws define the nature of theft and specify appropriate remedies. These laws are all expressed in the same way.

If a man steals an ox or a sheep… (v.1).
If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed over, or lets his beast loose and it feeds in another man's field…(v.5).
If a man gives to his neighbor money or goods to keep safe, and it is stolen from the man's house…(v.7)
If a man gives to his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep safe, and it dies or is injured…(v.10).
If a man borrows anything of his neighbor, and it is injured or dies, the owner not being with it… (v.14).

The structure of these laws is quite different from the “You shall not steal” in the Ten Commandments. The latter is limited to a particular group of people represented by the word “you”. The statements above are not limited and apply to any person who undertakes the action specified. These laws against harming property are universal and not limited to the children of Israel.

Taking something that belongs to another person is forbidden. The scope is not limited to theft, but includes any careless action that harms another person’s property. Breach of contract is also prohibited.

Judicial Laws of Moses (8) - Laws for Everyman

Recently I found the key I have been looking for. That key is a phrase in the book of Exodus. Whereas most laws in Exodus are addressed to Israel, I noticed that a section of laws in the middle of the book seem to be addressed to a universal man. They all begin with the expression, “If a man” (kiy ish). These laws are not addressed to Israel, but to all men. This set of universal laws begins at Exodus 21:12 and ends at Exodus 22:17.

This section of law also stands out as being different, because it is expressed in the third person. Most of the other laws in Exodus are expressed in the second person, ie you shall not steal, you shall not murder. Moses used ”you”, because he was addressing Israel and announcing laws for his listeners and their descendents. . The Ten Commandments are all written in the second person, as they were spoken to Israel.

The laws beginning at Exodus 21:12 are written in the third person, ie if he does something, he shall receive this penalty. This mode of speech is used to when referring to someone who is not part of the conversation. It points to a third person, who is not the speaker (I) and not the listener (you). Moses used the third person here, because this section of laws are for all people and not just for those who participate in the covenant made on Mount Sinai.

In Exodus 22:18-19 Moses switches back to the second person and stops using the expression “if a man”, which indicates that he changed back to speaking just to Israel. Therefore, the commands about witchcraft and bestiality in these verses are only applicable to Israel. They are not part of the universal judicial laws.

The third factor that distinguishes the section of laws between Exodus 21:12 and Exodus 22:17 is that the subject of the verb is always “a man” or “men”. There is no definite article, so the reference is not to a particular man, but to any man. These seem to be laws for all men or “everyman”.

The use of the third person and “man” or “men” as the subject of the command marks off a set of laws that apply to all people in all societies everywhere. These laws are not just for Israel. The penalties for failure to comply with these laws are specified in a timeless way. I will refer to them as the Judicial Laws, as God intends them to be applied by judges in every society and culture.
The Judicial Laws of Moses cover two areas of life.

• personal injury
• protection of property

This full series is here

Judicial Laws of Moses (7) - Looking for the Key

God is our lawgiver. His law is found in the Bible. However, while some of the laws in the Bible have a universal application, others are just for Israel. The principles outlined yesterday are helpful, but they do not allow us to sort out the judicial laws that apply to all people in every age. We need a key to identify the laws that are still relevant now.

I searched many years for a key to identifying the universal, judicial laws in the Torah. I have learned to love the book of Moses. I obtained many wonderful insights into the ways of God. I identified much that was only applicable to Israel before the ministry of Jesus. I discovered that Leviticus is exclusively for Israel. Exodus and Deuteronomy are harder to handle, because they seem to be a mixture of laws for Israel and universal laws. A key is needed to separate these two types of law.

This is a really important question. My answer tomorrow.

Judicial Laws of Moses (6) - Principles of Interpretation

We need a principle of interpretation to help us decide which parts of the law still apply. Several of the principles that have been considered do not work in practice.

1. One common approach is to say that only those parts of the Torah that are confirmed in the New Testament are still applicable in this age. This appears sensible at first glance, but it does not really resolve the problem. Some issues covered by the Torah are not dealt with in the New Testament.
2. A common principle of interpretation is to raise the Ten Commandments above other laws. They are the very well known, but they are not very helpful for deciding what is relevant to our world. They hang on many courthouse walls, but they are mostly ignored. Very few Christians could list all ten, and fewer still would want them applied. They are not the key that we need.
3. Some commentators have suggested that laws connected to land were nullified when Israel lost the land in AD 70. This criterion does not really work, because “connection to the land” is impossible to define.

Several principles help us to interpret the Torah.

1. History has a Place. The creation account in Genesis is really important for understanding the origins of the world. The history of God’s dealing with the patriarchs and the children of Israel are important for our warning and encouragement (1 Cor 10:6,11).
2. Significant parts of the Torah were specifically for Israel. Many of these were fulfilled by Jesus, so they are not binding on Christians. These laws were specifically for Israel, so they do not apply this side of the cross.
3. Leviticus is not universal. The book was specifically directed to the nation of Israel. It begins with God directing Moses to speak to the Israelites.

Judicial Laws of Moses (4) - Book of the Law

The first five books of the Old Testament are called the Torah. This Hebrew word is often translated as law, but a better translation would be “instruction” or “teaching”. The Torah contains God’s instruction to the children of Israel about the way they should live.

A common Old Testament expression is the “Words of the Law” (Dabar, Torah). Moses was told to write the Words of the Law.

After Moses finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end, he gave this command to the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD: "Take this book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God. There it will remain as a witness against you (Deut 31:24).

He read from this book to the people.

Assemble the people—men, women and children, and the aliens living in your towns—so they can listen and learn to fear the LORD your God and follow carefully all the words of this law (Deut 31:12).

Joshua also read from the Words of the Law.

Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—just as it is written in the book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly (Joshua 8:34-35).

Moses and Joshua taught the children of Israel from the Words of the Law.

Sometimes the Torah is called the “Book of the Covenant”.

Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, "We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey" (Ex 24:7).

Another title is the “Book of the Law”.

Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, without turning aside to the right or to the left (Jos 23:6).

The Torah contains instructions for life.