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“So the law was put in charge of us until Christ came that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24).

Last week we looked at the covenants God made with Noah and Abraham, two of the four important Old Testament covenants. The third important covenant is that with Moses commonly called the Law of Moses. This can be misleading, looking at this covenant as a legal document exclusively. The Hebrew word is Torah and means instruction. Now that is different from a legal document, though there are elements of law in this covenant. Again, using Rick Marrs illustration, the law is like a father who puts together a new bike for a child while explaining what he should and should not do while riding it. The law is a loving Father (God) giving to His child (Israel) instructions in how to live in His presence.

The law of Moses embodies the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham. There were three promises in the Abraham covenant; seed, land, and blessings. The seed can be seen in laws that show who are the true seed of Abraham. What we need to keep in mind is that there are two aspects to this seed, singular and plural. Paul argues the latter in Galatians three that this seed, singular, is Jesus. The land promise would be fulfilled by obeying or hearing God which would bring life to the land. The blessings aspect was for Israel to be a holy nation.

Moses would continue to appeal to or keep calling on the covenant with Abraham. Each covenant flows out of the previous one and is God responding to the problems humans have brought into the world by our sinfulness. We saw in Noah an individual chosen by God, then Abraham as a family and then a nation. Here how God explains that nation aspect: “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6). Notice the similarity between Abraham’s covenant and Moses’. Both are based on righteous and holy living. This does not mean flawless living. The sacrificial system certainly reflects this. It is a gracious relationship more than a legal demand. We need to be careful that we are not reading the law of Moses through legalistic eyes.

Let’s look at some texts in which Moses calls on Abraham. The first is found in Deuteronomy 4:37-40. Here Moses reminds or explains to Israel that God loved their ancestors and because of that brought them out of Egyptian slavery “by his Presence and his great strength.” Deuteronomy appears to be a sermon given to Israel while on the east bank of the Jordan River preparing to enter Canaan. Notice that it is because of God’s love for their ancestors, recalling the covenant made to Abraham some four hundred years earlier. The land they are about to enter is their inheritance, again referring to Abraham. Notice also that it wasn’t Israel’s power or greatness; God delivered them from nations “greater and stronger than you.”

Then Moses gave a charge to the people. “Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the Lord your God gives you for all time.” Sound familiar? Living a holy life brings long life in the land. We can read this as a legal document (and again there are legal elements in it) or we can read it as a loving Father speaking to His children on how they should live in His presence (1). Looking back over the forty years from the time they left Egypt until this moment, their lives were anything but holy. Everyday we saw a loving Father provide for them yet Israel continually rebelled against God. Judgment came in that only two of all who left Egypt would cross the Jordan River into the inheritance. As long as Israel walked with God, they were blessed. Holiness becomes an important element in all of this (2).

“Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors” (Deuteronomy 8:1). This is stated again in 10:10-11. Then Moses asks a question: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you?” He answers that they are to “fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good” (verse 12-13). If we read through the New Testament, would we not see the same things? We state that we live under a covenant of grace, and we do. What we see in the covenant with Moses is a covenant of grace. God wanted their hearts. “Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer” (verse 16). This is seen throughout the prophets and on into the New Testament or Covenant (3).

“For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord you God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess” (30:16). Here we see the covenant of Abraham restated as to what God desires of His people (4). The purpose of this covenant as well as all the covenants is relationship. God desires to be among His people but it requires holy living. We find that in the New Covenant as well. How we read the Torah is important. Israel came to read the Torah as a legal document, that is, if they do what it says in its forms, then everything is alright, then we can do whatever we want. Isaiah 1, Amos 5, Micah 6, and other texts and prophets address this in very negative terms. What is the greatest commandment was a questioned asked to Jesus. The answer was to love God and love one’s neighbor. When challenged with who was one’s neighbor, Jesus contrasted a legalistic reading with a relationship response in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).

The Torah is instruction in how to live a holy life before God. It recognized that flawless living was not possible so we see the sacrificial system. Even Paul recognized that the law was good (Romans 7:12). The problem continues to be sin. We will look at the fourth covenant next week, Lord willing.

George B. Mearns

(1) Look at the Passover that Hezekiah observes and his request to God in 2 Chronicles 30 which shows that God is interested in relationship above the legal demands that did not seek Him.

(2) Lord willing, we will look at holiness in another article.

(3) See Romans 2.

(4) See Romans 10:6-13 which references Deuteronomy.