Why did God give Israel the law at Sinai?
The law was not a ladder Israel climbed to earn God's favor; it was given to people God had already redeemed from Egypt. Spoken from the smoking mountain, it formed a rescued mob into a covenant nation and revealed the holy character of the God who saved them. Jesus did not abolish it but fulfilled it, and under the new covenant its deepest demand is written not on stone but on hearts.
This question arose from studying What does the Exodus show us about God?.
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What the Scripture says
Redemption came first; the law second
Before a single commandment sounds, God identifies Himself as Redeemer: 'I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.' The order is everything. Israel is not saved because they kept the law; they receive the law because they are saved. Grace precedes obligation at Sinai just as it does in the gospel, which is why obedience answers deliverance instead of purchasing it.
“I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to myself.Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.
A covenant constitution revealing God's character
God offers Israel a calling before He gives them rules: if they obey His voice they will be 'my own possession from among all peoples', 'a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation'. Each commandment then shows what holiness looks like in daily life, since it mirrors the character of the One who spoke it. The law is less a fence around Israel than a portrait of God, drawn for a nation meant to display Him.
Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine;Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
The terrifying mountain and the mediator
At Sinai there were 'thunders and lightnings' and 'the whole mountain quaked greatly'. The people begged Moses, 'Speak with us yourself, and we will listen; but don’t let God speak with us, lest we die.' The fear taught them that sinners cannot stand unmediated before absolute holiness. Yet Moses answers, 'Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you'; reverence and trust were meant to stand together. The whole scene cries out for a better Mediator.
On the third day, when it was morning, there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of an exceedingly loud trumpet; and all the people who were in the camp trembled.And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.
Mount Sinai, all it, smoked, because Yahweh descended on it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
They said to Moses, “Speak with us yourself, and we will listen; but don’t let God speak with us, lest we die.”And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.
Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, and that his fear may be before you, that you won’t sin.”And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.
Jesus fulfills, He does not abolish
Jesus says plainly, 'I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill.' Then, in the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, He deepens every commandment until it reaches the heart: murder becomes hatred, adultery becomes lust, and the standard rises to 'just as your Father in heaven is perfect.' Paul agrees that faith does not cancel the law but establishes it, because in Christ the law finds what it always aimed at: a righteousness God gives, not merely commands.
“Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill.Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be! No, we establish the law.Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
The law as tutor, and the promise written on hearts
Paul calls the law a guardian for God's children on the way to maturity: 'the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ'. By exposing sin it drove Israel, and drives us, toward the promised remedy. That remedy is the new covenant, where God pledges, 'I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it'. The same law, once carved on stone tablets below the smoking mountain, comes home to the heart by the Spirit.
So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
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Why did Israel worship a golden calf?→“He received what they handed him, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said, “These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.”What was the tabernacle for?→“Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all of its furniture, even so you shall make it.And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.”What did the sacrificial system teach Israel?→“For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life.For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.”Why did Israel wander for forty years?→“Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it!”And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.”Why did God let Israel go hungry in the wilderness?→“You shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not. He humbled you, and allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know; that he might teach you that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of Yahweh’s mouth.And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.”What did Moses set before Israel at the end?→“Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live.And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.”Must Christians keep the Sabbath?→“He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.”Explore further
Does James contradict Paul? Is it faith or works?→Our Walk with Him trail“for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”How is the new covenant different from the old one?→Jesus Christ trail“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people: and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know Yahweh; for they shall all know me, from their least to their greatest, says Yahweh: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”Hold onto these
Verses to meditate on
“I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
“Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill.Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
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