{"id":53444,"date":"2021-04-02T11:52:56","date_gmt":"2021-04-02T18:52:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=53444"},"modified":"2021-04-02T11:52:56","modified_gmt":"2021-04-02T18:52:56","slug":"origin-mosaic-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/","title":{"rendered":"The Origin of the Mosaic Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

My Gospel Dictionary online course has a new lesson on “Law<\/a>.” In it, I briefly explain why the Mosaic law was given. The reason is simple: God wanted a personal relationship with each Israelite based on love, but the Israelites rejected this offer and wanted a mediator (Moses).<\/p>\n

\"MosaicWhen people reject a relationship with God, the only way for God to (1) Guide their behavior and (2) Teach them that a relationship is best, is to give them law. God knew, and Moses knew, that law would only make things worse, but it was given nonetheless to teach the Israelites (and us) a lesson.<\/p>\n

What lesson?<\/p>\n

That a relationship based on love is FAR better than a religion based on law.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Along with taking the lesson on law in my Gospel Dictionary course<\/a>, you can also read more about this idea here: Overview of Exodus\u2013Deuteronomy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here is a brief summary of the conversation that occurred between God and the Israelites from Exodus through Deuteronomy:<\/p>\n

God:<\/strong> I want a relationship with ALL of you, based on love, forgiveness, and reconciliation.<\/p>\n

Israelites:<\/strong> Yeah\u2026. We\u2019ll take religion based on law and sacrifice please, with Moses as our mediator.<\/p>\n

God:<\/strong> \u2026 Really? Well, okay. Here\u2019s the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20)<\/p>\n

Israelites:<\/strong> Yay! \u2026 Uh, wait (Exodus 32). We can\u2019t keep these very well. The problem is that they\u2019re sort of vague. And the rivalry and violence keeps increasing. I know what our problem is\u2026 We need more laws, more sacrifices, and more religion!<\/p>\n

God:<\/strong> \u2026 Really? I don\u2019t think that\u2019s going to work, guys, but okay. Here\u2019s some more laws, if that\u2019s what you want instead of a relationship with me.<\/p>\n

\"\"Israelites:<\/strong> Yay! Now we know what to do! Uh, wait (Leviticus 17). We can\u2019t keep these very well. They don\u2019t answer all of the questions or speak to every situation we encounter. And the rivalry and violence keeps increasing. I know what our problem is \u2026 we need more laws, sacrifices, and religion!<\/p>\n

God:<\/strong> \u2026 Seriously? That\u2019s your conclusion from this? Well, okay. Here\u2019s some more laws, if that\u2019s really want you want instead of a relationship with me.<\/p>\n

Moses:<\/strong> Hey! How\u2019s this whole religion thing working for you? If you keep it, it will be great! But when you don\u2019t do it (as we should know by now, we won\u2019t), then it will only result in more chaos, rivalry, and violence (Deuteronomy 30\u201331).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The history since then is that the 613 commandments in the Pentateuch became over 6000 laws in the oral tradition, and quite a few more than that in the religious and legal tradition. All of these myriad laws has only led to greater rivalry and violence. In other words, the law only led to greater sin (Which is exactly what Paul says in Romans 7:1-13).<\/p>\n

Want to learn more? Take the lesson on law in my Gospel Dictionary course<\/a> and read an article about this idea here: Overview of Exodus\u2013Deuteronomy<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When people reject a relationship with God, the only way for God to (1) Guide their behavior and (2) Teach them that a relationship is best, is to give them law. God knew, and Moses knew, that law would only make things worse, but it was given nonetheless to teach the Israelites (and us) a lesson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2230,2231,2296],"tags":[1269,2672,2268],"class_list":{"0":"post-53444","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-redeeming-scripture","8":"category-redeeming-theology","9":"category-z","10":"tag-law","11":"tag-law-of-moses","12":"tag-mosaic-law","13":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nThe Origin of the Mosaic Law<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I briefly explain why the Mosaic law was given. The reason is simple: God wanted a personal relationship with each Israelite based on love, but the Israelites rejected this offer and wanted a mediator (Moses).\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Origin of the Mosaic Law\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I briefly explain why the Mosaic law was given. The reason is simple: God wanted a personal relationship with each Israelite based on love, but the Israelites rejected this offer and wanted a mediator (Moses).\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Redeeming God\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/290798794274804\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/290798794274804\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-02T18:52:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/law-of-god.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"441\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeremy Myers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@redeeminggod\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@redeeminggod\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeremy Myers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jeremy Myers\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c\"},\"headline\":\"The Origin of the Mosaic Law\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-02T18:52:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-02T18:52:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/\"},\"wordCount\":502,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/law-of-god.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"law\",\"law of Moses\",\"Mosaic law\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Redeeming Scripture\",\"Redeeming Theology\",\"z\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/\",\"name\":\"The Origin of the Mosaic Law\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/law-of-god.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-02T18:52:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-02T18:52:56+00:00\",\"description\":\"I briefly explain why the Mosaic law was given. The reason is simple: God wanted a personal relationship with each Israelite based on love, but the Israelites rejected this offer and wanted a mediator (Moses).\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/law-of-god.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/law-of-god.jpg\",\"width\":441,\"height\":350,\"caption\":\"Mosaic law from God\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Origin of the Mosaic Law\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/\",\"name\":\"Redeeming God\",\"description\":\"Liberating you from bad ideas about God\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c\",\"name\":\"Jeremy Myers\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eddb31e43c2836234b746787cbef8f12?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eddb31e43c2836234b746787cbef8f12?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jeremy Myers\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"description\":\"Jeremy Myers writes about Scripture and theology in a way that redeems God and people from the prison of religion. He is a popular author and blogger and often gives away free eBooks to his blog subscribers.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/290798794274804\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/redeeminggod\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Origin of the Mosaic Law","description":"I briefly explain why the Mosaic law was given. The reason is simple: God wanted a personal relationship with each Israelite based on love, but the Israelites rejected this offer and wanted a mediator (Moses).","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Origin of the Mosaic Law","og_description":"I briefly explain why the Mosaic law was given. The reason is simple: God wanted a personal relationship with each Israelite based on love, but the Israelites rejected this offer and wanted a mediator (Moses).","og_url":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/","og_site_name":"Redeeming God","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/290798794274804","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/290798794274804","article_published_time":"2021-04-02T18:52:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":441,"height":350,"url":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/law-of-god.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jeremy Myers","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@redeeminggod","twitter_site":"@redeeminggod","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jeremy Myers","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/"},"author":{"name":"Jeremy Myers","@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c"},"headline":"The Origin of the Mosaic Law","datePublished":"2021-04-02T18:52:56+00:00","dateModified":"2021-04-02T18:52:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/"},"wordCount":502,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/law-of-god.jpg","keywords":["law","law of Moses","Mosaic law"],"articleSection":["Redeeming Scripture","Redeeming Theology","z"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/","url":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/","name":"The Origin of the Mosaic Law","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/law-of-god.jpg","datePublished":"2021-04-02T18:52:56+00:00","dateModified":"2021-04-02T18:52:56+00:00","description":"I briefly explain why the Mosaic law was given. The reason is simple: God wanted a personal relationship with each Israelite based on love, but the Israelites rejected this offer and wanted a mediator (Moses).","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/law-of-god.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/law-of-god.jpg","width":441,"height":350,"caption":"Mosaic law from God"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/origin-mosaic-law\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Origin of the Mosaic Law"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/","name":"Redeeming God","description":"Liberating you from bad ideas about God","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c","name":"Jeremy Myers","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eddb31e43c2836234b746787cbef8f12?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eddb31e43c2836234b746787cbef8f12?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jeremy Myers"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"description":"Jeremy Myers writes about Scripture and theology in a way that redeems God and people from the prison of religion. He is a popular author and blogger and often gives away free eBooks to his blog subscribers.","sameAs":["https:\/\/redeeminggod.com","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/290798794274804","https:\/\/x.com\/redeeminggod"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}