Thou shalt not steal.
IX
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
X
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor"s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor"s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his a.s.s, nor anything that is thy neighbor"s.
[Ill.u.s.tration: CHRIST"S SERMON ON THE MOUNT
"Whosoever shall do and teach them ... shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 5:19.]
THE LAW OF G.o.d
It is a common saying, "The majesty of the law." It means that the character and genius of a government are embodied and expressed in its laws. The words of Inspiration declare to us the majesty of the law of the Most High.
The Character of G.o.d"s Law
The infinite perfection of the divine character is reflected in it.
"The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." Ps. 19:7.
As G.o.d is holiness and justice and goodness, so also is His law.
"Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." Rom. 7:12.
Its Office
The law of G.o.d gives knowledge of the righteousness of its great Author.
"Hearken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law." Isa. 51:7.
It marks every departure from righteousness as sin.
"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4.
It is not a code merely for the regulation of outward conduct. It is the moral law--the primal standard of righteousness established by the Creator for His creatures. There is not an impulse of the inmost soul that is not reached by it. It is the word which, living and powerful, is "sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Heb. 4:12.
Face to face with this holy law, we hear in it the voice of G.o.d saying, "Be ye holy; for I am holy." Every soul must confess its guilt before the searching power of G.o.d"s law. All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. "Guilty!" we confess. Left alone with our guilt, there could be no ray of hope.
"The threatenings of the broken law Impress the soul with dread; If G.o.d His sword of vengeance draw, It strikes the spirit dead."
Thank G.o.d, we are not left alone; help is laid upon One mighty to save.
"But Thine ill.u.s.trious sacrifice Hath answered these demands, And peace and pardon from the skies Are offered by Thy hands."
G.o.d"s Law from the Beginning
The law of G.o.d existed from the beginning. When Adam sinned, he transgressed this holy law; for "sin is the transgression of the law."
G.o.d"s law was not committed to writing until the days of Moses, when the Lord began to make His written revelations to the children of men. But from Adam to Moses the precepts of the law of G.o.d were teaching righteousness and convicting of sin.
"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death pa.s.sed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (for until the law [the giving of it at Sinai] sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses.)" Rom. 5:12-14.
The declaration of this scripture is: Without the law there can be no sin. But sin and death were from Adam to Moses, in whose day the law was spoken on Sinai; therefore the law of G.o.d was in force from the beginning. Its precepts were witnessed to by every preacher of righteousness raised up by G.o.d in the days before the deluge and in the patriarchal age following. Of Abraham the Lord says,
"Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws." Gen. 26:5.
The Lord called His people out of Egypt, that they might keep his law.
His message to Pharaoh was, "Let my people go, that they may serve Me."
Ex. 9:1. He delivered them from bondage by His mighty arm, and cleft the Red Sea to lead them forth to obedience, as the psalmist said,
"He brought forth His people with joy, and His chosen with gladness:...
that they might observe His statutes, and keep His laws." Ps. 105:43-45.
In Egyptian bondage the children of Abraham must have lost much of the purity of G.o.d"s truth; yet the Lord held them under obligation to know His law--the Sabbath precept particularly--before they came to Sinai, or ever He had proclaimed the law in their hearing. He tested them in the matter by the giving of the manna, as He said,
"That I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law, or no." Ex.
16:4.
From the beginning, G.o.d"s holy law demanded the loyal obedience of every human being.
Proclaimed Anew at Sinai
The Lord had delivered the people of Israel from Egyptian bondage that they might serve Him and make His ways known to the nations. This was according to the promise made to Abraham. To them was committed the written revelation of G.o.d, and through them was to come in the fulness of time the promised Messiah.
[Ill.u.s.tration: MOSES BREAKING THE TABLES OF THE LAW
"He wrote them upon two tables of stone." Deut. 4:13.]
While the Lord at this time "made known His ways unto Moses," and there was begun the written revelation which grew into "the volume of the book," the Holy Scriptures, one portion of revelation was not left for the prophet of G.o.d to speak or for the inspired pen to write. The Lord proclaimed His holy law with His own voice, and gave to men a copy "written with the finger of G.o.d." Moses said of this:
"The Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And He declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and He wrote them upon two tables of stone." Deut.
4:12, 13.
This display of majesty and glory indescribable was designed to teach how sacred and holy is the law, and to cause men to fear to transgress its precepts. Ex. 20:20.
It was not for themselves alone that the law was committed to Israel.
They were to teach the truth to others. As the New Testament says, it was greatly to their advantage that "unto them were committed the oracles of G.o.d." Rom. 3:2. But they "received the lively oracles to give unto us." Through obedience to the divine law, they were to be a light to the nations.
"Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath G.o.d so nigh unto them?" Deut. 4:6, 7.
An interesting comment upon these words is supplied by a speech of Phalerius, librarian to Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt. Urging the king by all means to secure copies of the sacred books of the Jews for his great library in Alexandria, Phalerius said: