God Has Many Commands for Israel

Questions for Thought

Did God give the Israelites laws other than the Ten Commandments?
Are we required to obey the Ten Commandments today? Why or why not?
God made certain promises to Israel if they obeyed Him and other promises if they disobeyed. Did Israel obey or disobey? How do we know?
How important is it for us to teach God’s laws to our children and how often should we be doing so?

As noted in the previous blog, the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy will supply much of the materials for this blog. In addition to providing the reader with accounts of God’s people murmuring, these books contain the many laws God gave His people. We will only briefly cover some of these laws, so if you have never read those books, now is a great time to do so. Some of the reading may seem difficult and some of it may seem repetitive, but it is all there for a reason as known only to God.

Have you ever thought much about the many commands God gave His people in the Old Testament? We often see signs in people’s yards about the Ten Commandments and a lot of people can quote at least a few of those rules, but did you know according to both Jewish and Christian Bible scholars, there were over 600 commands given by God? These included commands for what to not do and commands for what to do. These commands were to be read out loud every seven years so every generation would know what God expected of His people. In Deuteronomy 31:9-13, Moses is recorded as having given the people the law of God and telling them it was to be read at the end of every seven years so their children would know the law.

Sadly, we can read in Judges 2:7-13 once Joshua died (the leader who took over leading the people at the death of Moses), and the leaders who had led with him died, the next generation did not know the Lord and ended up serving false gods. Now how in the world did that happen if the leaders were reading the law to the people every seven years? Obviously those responsible for teaching the people let down on their job. We can be guilty of the same today if we do not teach our children and anyone else who will listen about the mighty God we serve.

So what were these 600 plus laws? I am not going to be covering all of these commands, but there is a complete listing of them located in the jewishvirtuallibrary. These laws have been divided into several categories by religious writers. I see them as laws pertaining to man’s relations with God, man’s relations with others, and man’s relations with self. There are laws concerning what one must do and laws concerning what one must not do. Some of the laws were for the common person and some were for the religious leaders. Christians today are not bound by any of these laws found in the Old Testament because according to Colossians 2:14 found in the New Testament, when Christ died on the cross, He took this handwriting of ordinances or laws out of the way nailing them to His cross.

If these old laws have been taken out of the way, why would I even mention them? According to another passage in the New Testament, Galatians 3:24, this law was given as a tutor to bring us unto Christ so we could be justified by faith. There are many passages in the New Testament that may not make sense to us if we do not understand the Old Testament first. For example, in Matthew 22:35-40, the lawyer asked Jesus what the greatest commandment of the law was. Jesus told him the greatest command was to love God and the second greatest was to love your neighbor as yourself. If one did not have a working knowledge of the Old Testament, she would not know to what law the lawyer was referring. So I think it is very important to have a working knowledge of the Old Testament which includes these 600 plus commands from God.

In Exodus 19, God told Moses to tell the Israelites if they would obey Him and keep His covenant, they would be a special people to Him. Moses told the people and they agreed to do all the Lord told them to do. God told Moses to prepare the people to be ready because in three days, He would come down upon Mount Sinai and give His commands. Those commands are commonly called the Ten Commandments and they are given in Exodus 20 and in Deuteronomy 5. In order, those commands were:

1. The people were not to have any other gods other than the one God, the creator
2. The people were not to make any images to worship
3. The people were not to take the name of God in vain
4. The people were to remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy
5. The people were to honor their fathers and mothers so they would have a long life
6. The people were not to commit murder
7. The people were not to commit adultery
8. The people were not to steal
9. The people were not to bear false witness against their neighbor
10. The people were not to covet what others possessed.

Note seven of these were commands concerning what they people were not allowed to do and three were commands for what they were required to do. Also note the first four commands pertained to their relationship with God and the last six pertained to their relationship with mankind. In addition, when we get into the New Testament, we will find all of these commands except one are also directly or indirectly commanded there.

The one command of these ten that is clearly missing in the New Testament is the command to remember the Sabbath Day. Once Christ died and took away the law of commandments, Christians had a new day for worship and remembrance of their Savior. According to Acts 20:7, that new day is the first day of the week. Yet, knowing this Old Testament command to remember the Sabbath to keep it holy is important for a special principle was employed in giving this command. In giving the command, God simply said to remember the Sabbath. He did not say to remember every Sabbath, but as you read through the Old Testament, you will see every Sabbath is implied here. In Exodus 31:12-17, God expanded upon this command to Moses. God said whoever did any work on the Sabbath would be cut off from his people and anyone who defiled the Sabbath would be put to death. In verse 17 God indicated the Sabbath was a sign between Him and the children of Israel. God was very strict concerning His Sabbath command as can be seen in Numbers 15:32-36 where a man was picking up sticks on the Sabbath and God commanded he be stoned.

How do we apply the principle found in this account concerning the Sabbath law to our situation today? Well, in the New Testament we have commands from God, examples of what early Christians did, and implications that can be made from these commands and examples. Here is one example of how we use these Old Testament commands as examples. In Acts 20:7 is an account of Paul preaching to the disciples in Troas upon the first day of the week. The disciples had come together on that day to partake of the Lord’s Supper which was called breaking bread in verse 7. Jesus had previously shared with His disciples how to observe this Lord’s Supper as recorded in Matthew 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, and Luke 22:19-20. Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 reminded his readers of how Christ had begun this practice and in verse 26, he said as often as we eat the bread and drink the cup, we are remembering the death of Christ. How often? There is no specific command in the New Testament that says we are to observe the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week. But our only examples after Christ’s death of disciples observing the Lord’s Supper are upon the first day of the week and just as every week in the Old Testament had a Sabbath Day, every week today has a first day. By using the example of the disciples coming together on the first day of the week to partake of the Lord’s Supper and knowing how the command in the Old Testament to observe the Sabbath meant every Sabbath, we can infer we are to partake of the Lord’s Supper on every first day of the week. The same reasoning can be applied to the collection or offering. In 1 Corinthians 16:2, Paul said: “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him…” Paul did not say on every first day of the week, but again as every week had a Sabbath, every week has a first day, so we know we are to give upon the first day of the week into the offering. Interestingly, this verse also limits how the church is to make the money it needs. It is through the offering of the saints and not through fundraisers which are not supported by the New Testament. We will look at that subject more when we get into the work of the church.

All nine of these other Ten Commandments are also found either directly or indirectly stated in the New Testament. We will be covering them in more detail when we get to the New Testament.

A perceptive reader might note the commands to love the Lord and to love your neighbor as yourself are not part of the Ten Commandments yet as noted above, when asked which was the greatest commandment, those were the two Christ gave. So where are they? The first is found in Deuteronomy 6:5. In verse 1, Moses told the people these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it. In verse 7, Moses commanded the people to teach these laws to their children. The command given in verse 5 says to love the Lord God with all of your heart, and soul, and mind. In Leviticus 19:18 the Lord gave Moses the command to love one’s neighbor as himself. Thus Christ could say it was upon these two commands that everything else depended. If one loves God with her whole being and loves her neighbor as herself, she will keep all of God’s commands and enjoy doing it.

After giving the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, God expanded upon them to Moses as recorded in Chapters 21-31. Beginning in Exodus 25 God gave Moses commands concerning the building of the tabernacle and the production of the articles to be used in Old Testament worship. This worship was very showy and very physical with the many animal sacrifices and offerings. God was very specific in his commands concerning how to construct the movable tabernacle even telling Moses how many curtains and how many loops each curtain was to have. There were commands to create golden candlesticks, a brass altar, lamps, special clothing for the priests with beautiful stones set into a breastplate. In Chapter 29 God gave commands concerning offerings and in Chapter 30 there are commands concerning burning of incense, ransom money, and the oil to anoint the priests. Just as God was so very specific in His commands to Noah concerning building the ark, He was very specific in the many laws given to Moses.

As noted in the previous blog on Israel’s many complaints, it was while Moses was getting these many commands from God the people rebelled and had Aaron build them the golden calf. After Moses punished them by grinding the calf into powder and putting it in their water for them to drink, we find in Exodus 34 Moses went back to God with two new tables of stone in order to have the Ten Commandments inscribed again. On this trip, God gave even more commands for the people to obey including how the Israelites were not allowed to make covenants with the inhabitants of the land they were going to take. They were not allowed to marry into their families. They were given certain feast days they had to keep. Beginning in Chapter 35, the people began to bring offerings so they could obey the commands concerning constructing of their worship place. The book of Exodus ends with the people having completed the construction.

The book of Leviticus begins with God giving Moses commands concerning the many offerings the people were to make to God. There were commands concerning burnt offerings, meat offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings, and trespass offerings enumerated through Chapter 7. Beginning in Chapter 8, God gave Moses commands concerning the priests and their consecrations and duties. In Chapter 11 we have the commands concerning which animals the Israelites could and could not eat. Chapters 12-15 are concerned with ways to cleanse both people and houses. In Chapters 16-21 are commands concerning various other issues. In Chapter 22 are more laws for the priests and then Chapters 23-25 are laws about the different feast days.

Leviticus 26 is a very important chapter in which God emphasized the point of how He would be with the Israelites as long as they obeyed His commands. He promised them peace and fruitfulness and He promised to be their God and to have them as His people. But beginning in verse 14, God promised them if they did not obey Him, He would set His face against them and they would be killed before their enemies. He promised to punish them seven times more for their sins. He promised to bring a sword against them along with pestilence and to deliver them into the hand of the enemy. In verse 33 He said He would scatter them among the heathen. Then in Chapter 27 God gave more command concerning consecration of the people, animals, homes, and fields.

Before we leave Leviticus, we must look back at one other very interesting chapter I often use to show God means what He says. In Chapter 10 we have two sons of Aaron the high priest who were supposed to be obeying these commands from God. In verse 1 we find them offering incense along with strange fire. What was the strange fire? According to verse 1 it was fire which the Lord did not command. So these men were using a fire which God had not said for them to use. Many today would say: “What is the big deal?” They are worshiping God.” Well, the big deal is, God has not left us ignorant of what He wants in worship. He had been very clear in His commands, but these two decided to add something not commanded by God. The penalty, instant death. In verse 2 fire went out from the Lord and devoured them. Is there a lesson here for us today? While we no longer offer incense with fire to the Lord because it is not a command to us, we do offer worship to God. What worship do we offer? It must be approved by God or it is in vain. According to Matthew 15:9, Jesus said when we teach the commandments of men as our doctrine, it is vain worship. We will look at this idea much more in-depth when we get to the New Testament, but for now ponder on what worship is pleasing to God.

In addition to the many complaints of the Israelites that we looked at in the last blog, the book of Numbers records the travelings of the Israelites as they headed to the land of Canaan to possess it. Throughout the book you will find some of God’s commands repeated. In addition in Chapter 27 are special laws concerning who would receive a family inheritance if there were no male descendants. In this case the females would get the inheritance, but as noted in Numbers 36:3, they could not marry into a different tribe for if they did, their inheritance would go to that tribe.

The final book of Law, Deuteronomy, was given to the generation of Israel who had traveled the wilderness and was set to receive the Land of Canaan from God. In this book, Moses reviewed the whole journey for the people and reminded them of the many laws God had given them to obey. Beginning in Chapter 5, Moses restated the Ten Commandments and then in Chapter 6, he commanded the people to teach the law to their children. In Deuteronomy 6:7, Moses said to teach the law diligently unto their children. They were to talk about the law when they were sitting at home and when they were walking around, and when they were going to bed, and when they were getting up. They were to write the commands upon the posts of their houses and on their gates. Moses reminded the people of their rebellion in Chapter 9 and how God had been so forgiving in Chapter 10. Then in Chapters 11-27, he reviewed the commands of God and in Chapter 28, Moses reminded the people of the many blessing they would have if they obeyed God and the many curses they would have if they disobeyed Him.

Through Moses, God told the people in Chapters 29-30 how they would disobey Him and how they would be scattered. As a final warning in Chapter 30 beginning in verse 17, God promised Israel if she turned her heart away from Him and began to worship and serve other gods, He would see to it that she perished.

In the last chapter of Deuteronomy, Moses was allowed to view the Promised Land and then he died and was buried by God. If you remember, when God told Moses to speak to the rock and he instead hit it, God told him he would not be allowed to go over to the Promised Land. That is how serious God is about obeying Him. If Moses, who was God’s hand-picked servant who was allowed to speak with God, was not allowed to disobey God, then why do we think we can do what we please and still be acceptable? How can we get our children and friends to understand the importance of obeying all of God’s commands?

In the next blog, I had planned for us to see how Israel achieved the goal of taking the Promised Land. God told them He had given them the land, but yet, there was work they had to do in order to receive the land. But, I see a need for a quick summary and review in which we can put the events from Genesis through Deuteronomy together in one piece, so in the blog after next, we will look at taking the Promised Land.

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