What does the Law cover? Why should Christians care about the Law following Jesus’s death and resurrection? What should believers make out of the Law today?

These are just some of the questions that have divided Jews and Christians over the centuries. For Jews, the Law is God’s divine guidance and a way of life to be preserved, so that their covenant with God can be maintained. Yet, this could not be further from the Christian understanding of the Law today.

Drawing heavily from post-Jesus writings such as Paul, Christians’ understanding of the Law’s purpose starkly contrasts that of Jews today. I am willing to bet good money that most believers skim past the Torah (I used to do that too) and merely accept Paul’s propositions that 1) it is impossible to be made righteous from keeping the Law; 2) the Law’s purpose is to reveal our sinfulness, not bring salvation; and 3) those who choose to rely on keeping the Law to be saved are cursed. There’s plenty of apologetic sources on the Internet (see here, here, and here) that parrot these same arguments and point to the same verses (see below). Arguments to support Paul’s point often point to Jesus’s fulfilment of the Law, whatever they think that means. Interestingly, these same arguments never quote the full paragraph of Jesus’s words not to relax even one of these commandments of the Law.

For no human will be justified before him by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:20 NRSVUE)

For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.” (Galatians 3:10-14 NRSVUE)

Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:19-20 NRSVUE)

But what is the Law in the first place? One of the main reasons why I am writing this blog and this post is to push myself as a believer not to parrot the same old answers espoused by theologians and apologetics. Instead, I want to critically examine each of the sections that talk about the Law from the perspective of their respective authors in their own time, without placing a unifying framework on these readings that span nearly a thousand years.

What I did over the past year was to comb through the Pentateuch meticulously to compile all the laws stipulated into one single document (it’s over 50 pages long!). Verses that espoused essentially the same law were grouped together, and I tried my best to group laws of similar themes together in sections (e.g. laws regarding sex, or laws regarding food). For anyone interested in this document, let me know in the comments!

So, what did I find?

The Law communicates God’s extreme holiness

And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you the name, ‘The Lord,’ and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one shall see me and live.” (Exodus 33:19-20 NRSVUE)

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession. (Deuteronomy 7:6 NRSVUE)

One major theme that keeps popping up repeatedly is how God is so holy, He demands special treatment. For example, in the episode of the burning bush, Moses had to take off his sandals to enter holy ground (Exodus 4). Nobody could see His face and live (Exodus 33:19-20). When the tabernacle was constructed, a sanctuary was allocated solely for the Ark of the Covenant called the Holy of Holies where no one could enter other than the High Priest once a year on the most holy day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur (the day of Atonement). The veil in front of the space serves as a barrier to distinguish God’s domain from the rest of the tabernacle. Touching the Ark was punishable by death (2 Sam 6:7) – Levites had to carry it via long poles (Exodus 25:12-15).

Consequently, God extends His holiness to the people He has chosen. Just like the above, His people were to observe many rules to preserve their “cleanliness” and purity. Some of these laws that most will be familiar with are kosher food laws (Leviticus 11) and removing uncleanliness in the case of bodily discharges (Lev 15), childbirth (Lev 12) or handling dead bodies (Num 19:11-22). In addition, God also expects worship in specific ways…

Because God is so holy, His people should worship God in specific ways

“Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old regularly each day. One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer in the evening,”… it shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there.  (Exodus 29:38-42 NRSVUE)

A huge chunk of the Pentateuch is dedicated to specific practices to observe for offerings and priestly rituals, sometimes with an awful lot of repetition. Unlike all the other laws given to govern people and running society, the most detailed instructions are given in three areas: priestly rituals, offering sacrifices and observing festivals. I believe this is no accident, for such practices indicate that His people absolutely must not worship the Almighty callously nor carelessly.

Here are some interesting tidbits I observed while combing through these sections of the law. For example, for the festival of booths (Lev 23:34-42), the law spells out exactly what needs to be sacrificed for the eight days of the procession. In total, I counted approximately 580kg of flour (348 tenths), 380L of wine (66.75 hins), 71 young bulls, 15 rams, 105 lambs and 8 male goats. That is A LOT of agricultural products to give, especially for a society that is set in the wilderness. And this is on top of the daily offerings God demands of His priests (Tamid, see Num 28:3-8).

While we probably will never know whether these quotas were realized in ancient times, the sheer quantity of sacrifices needed to please the Lord is, in my opinion, a testament to the sheer reverence demanded from His people, as well as the sheer abundance He is willing to bless in response to His people’s obedience.

The Law demands God’s people to be set apart from the nations around them

You shall not follow the practices of the nation that I am driving out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them. But I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God; I have separated you from the peoples.’…You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from the other peoples to be mine. (Leviticus 20:23-26 NRSVUE)

To be holy means to be set apart (Hebrew: Kadosh). A key purpose of the Law is to ensure that this distinction between Israel and her neighbors will be forever preserved, even as the Lord promises them victory over the nations in the Promised Land (Exodus 23). Within this promise, Israel is further called to do several rituals including more offerings (Num 15:2-14), but especially to annihilate completely seven particular groups: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites (Deut 7:1-6).

Why such vengeance, especially considering that the law also espouses fair treatment to aliens (Lev 19:33)? We don’t exactly know what these seven nations practice, but it is almost certain to encompass certain polytheistic practices. Hence, most readers will infer that one major distinction between ancient Israel and its neighbors is its monotheistic practices, which can explain why God is so bent on destroying foreign influence. However, that is only half true – Israel is called to monoidolatry (acknowledges other gods, but worships only one), which is different from monotheism (only one God exists).

There exists a whole bunch of seemingly arbitrary laws in the Pentateuch that may serve to set Israel apart from other nations (e.g. lack of sorcery or prostitution, see Lev 19). But without adequate knowledge of the customs of the foreign nations surrounding Israel, it is hard to say if compassionate practices such as “not reaping the fields to the edge” (Deut 24:19-21) were indeed unique to Israel.

The Law sets expectations of how a society ruled by God should function

Compared to the sections on priestly rituals and offerings, the law is much less specific on areas regarding societal functioning. Nevertheless, there exists several laws that outline how should Israelites handle cases of property damage (Exodus 22), marriage (Deut 25), slander (Exodus 23) and judicial proceedings (Deut 17). On an individual level, several arcane laws govern how Israelites should dress (Deut 22:11), plant crops (Deut 22:9), obey parents (Deut 21:18-20) and charge interest (Lev 25:36).

While some of the laws may appear to suggest God as a charitable and grace-giving deity, others are slightly less…comfortable to digest. For example, it is a common trope among apologetics that ancient practices of slavery in Israel weren’t that bad, as slaves could be freed should the slaveowner inflict permanent damage (Exodus 21:26-27). Unfortunately, a lot of these laws strongly favored Hebrew slaves (i.e. Israelites who willingly enter slavehood for a contracted period of time), and slaves obtained from foreign nations were offered much less protection. If unlucky, their entire bloodline could be subjected to slavery (Lev 25:44-46) for generations, filled with near-death beatings (as long as they don’t drop dead immediately, see Exodus 21:20). Clearly, these laws, divinely instructed or otherwise, were made to favor the Israelites over the nations around them.

It is for the better that almost all of these laws are not carried out today, especially laws regarding chattel slavery. However, the fact that these laws were even set at one point in time by a nation supposedly ruled by a holy God will continue to leave a black stain on the history of Judaism and Christianity for the rest of time.

The Law can and should be observed to gain God’s blessings

You must therefore be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn to the right or to the left. You must follow exactly the path that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land that you are to possess. (Deuteronomy 5:32-33 NRSVUE)

“Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe. (Deuteronomy 30:11-14 NRSVUE)

How does one remain righteous as an ancient Israelite?

Part of the reason why there exists so many rituals on sin and guilt offerings is because God fully expects people to stumble. Thus, God offers multiple avenues to make up for them via offerings, rituals and interventions by the High Priest. As long as one genuinely repents and undergoes the right rituals to acknowledge his/her mistakes, that person is deemed righteous again (of course, assuming he/she actively avoids breaking them in the first place).

In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, Paul goes on the offensive, saying that those who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, for those who do not observe the entirety of the law are cursed (Gal 3:10). Implicitly, this means Paul didn’t think anyone could be righteous by observing the entire law. Yet, this creates a disparity between what God said in the Pentateuch to observe the law exactly (Deut 5:32-33) to ensure that His people will remain in good favor and enjoy His blessings forevermore. Even Moses didn’t think the law was impossible to follow (Deut 30:11).

Next post, I will continue my examination into the NT on what Paul (and by extension, modern believers) thought the purpose of the law was, and whether they are supported by the scriptures of the past.