THE LAW OF MOSES IN THE NEW AND OLD TESTAMENT. Part 1

THE LAW OF MOSES IN THE NEW AND OLD TESTAMENT. Part 1
(King James Expositor Study Bible).

(Old Testament).

Exodus 20:3-17 You shall have no other gods before Me (the manner in which this First Commandment is given indicates that each individual of the nation is addressed severally, and is required personally to obey the Law, a mere general national obedience being insufficient; this Commandment requires the worship of one God Alone, Jehovah; it implies, in point of fact, that there is no other God). 4 You shall not make unto yourself any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in Heaven above, or that is in the Earth beneath, or that is in the water under the Earth. 5 You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them who hate Me; 6 And showing mercy unto thousands of them who love Me, and keep My Commandments. (The prohibition intended here does not forbid the arts of sculpture, painting, photography, etc., or even to condemn the use of them, but to disallow the worship of God under material forms. Those who ignore this Commandment are guilty of the sin of idolatry. Also, many have tried to derive from Verse 5 that which they refer to as the “family curse”; however, let it be known and understood, every curse was addressed at the Cross of Calvary [Gal. 3:13-14]. As well, Jesus has perfectly kept all the Commandments, and all who trust Him, and what He did for us at the Cross, are participants of God’s gracious Mercy.) 7 You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His Name in vain (taking the Name of the Lord in vain pertains to all blasphemy, all swearing, all perjury and, in fact, all irreverent use of God’s Name in ordinary life). 8 Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labour, and do all your work: 10 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God: in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates: 11 For in six days the LORD made Heaven and Earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath Day, and hallowed it. (The seventh day was not so much to be a day of worship, as we think of such now, but rather a day of “rest.”Even the very beasts, pressed into man’s service since the Fall, shall rest. All were to observe this day. Everything pertaining to the Law of Moses, in some way, spoke of Christ. The “Sabbath”was no exception. It was meant to portray the fact that there is “rest”in Christ and, in fact, that there is rest “only in Christ”[Mat. 11:28-30]. So, when a person presently accepts Christ, they are in effect keeping the Sabbath, which speaks of the “rest”that we have in Christ —rest from self-effort to attain unto Righteousness. Even though there was no written command by the Holy Spirit to do so, gradually we find Believers, during the time of the Early Church, as recorded in the Book of Acts, making Sunday, the first day of the week, the day of our Lord’s Resurrection, their day of worship, etc., which is different than the Sabbath of old, because Christ has fulfilled in totality the old Jewish Sabbath.) 12 Honour your father and your mother: that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God gives you (honoring the father and the mother sets the stage for the honoring of God; the first five Commandments have to do with man’s obligation toward God, while the last five have to do with his obligation toward his fellowman). 13 You shall not kill (should have been translated, “Thou shalt do no murder”; God, in His Holy Word, commands magistrates to put evil men to death [Rom. 13:4]; that is not murder; to “kill”and to “commit murder”are two different verbs in the Hebrew Text). 14 You shall not commit adultery (regarding this sin, both man and woman are placed in the same category; our duty toward our neighbor is to respect the bond on which the family is based, and that conjugal honor which to the true man is dearer than life; marriage, according to the original institution, makes the husband and wife “one flesh”[Gen. 2:24]; and to break in upon this sacramental union was at once a crime and a profanity; it is a sin against man and against God). 15 You shall not steal (as it regards our neighbor, we are to respect his property; we simply don’t take that which doesn’t belong to us). 16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour (false witness is of two kinds, public and private; we may either seek to damage our neighbor by giving false evidence against him in a court of justice, or simply culminate him to others in our social intercourse with them). 17 You shall not covet your neighbour’s house, you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is your neighbour’s (covetousness addresses what causes the evil deed; this Commandment teaches men that there is One Who sees the heart; to Whose Eyes “all things are naked and open”; and Who cares far less for the outward act than the inward thought or motive from which the act proceeds).

(New Testament).

1. Thou shall have no other gods before me.

Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus said unto him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind (this is the foundation of all the Law, and as well, applies to the present Day of Grace). 38 This is the first and great Commandment (Love of God must be “first”before anything else can be claimed). 39 And the second is like unto it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself (as one loves their neighbor, accordingly, one loves God). 40 On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets (this includes the New Testament, as well!).

2. Thou shalt not make upon any graven image.

1 John 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. (This does not refer here to the heathen worship of idol gods, but of the heretical substitutes for the Christian conception of God, or anything that pulls us away from Christ and the Cross.)

Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

Matthew 5:33-37 Again, you have heard that it has been said by them of old time (such phraseology means that the Word of God had been twisted to mean something it did not say), You shall not forswear yourself, but shall perform unto the Lord your oaths (Vss. 33-37 have to do with the Third Commandment, “You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain”[Ex. 20:7]): 34 But I say unto you (proclaiming the true meaning of the Law), Swear not at all; neither by Heaven; for it is God’s Throne (this has nothing to do with profanity, but rather of flippantly using God’s Name): 35 Nor by the earth; for it is His footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King (not only must the Name of God not be flippantly used, but as well, His Creation is off limits also). 36 Neither shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black (man is God’s highest creation). 37 But let your communication be (verbal communication with others), Yes, yes; No, no: for whatsoever is more than these comes of evil (the followers of Christ must stand out by their truthfulness, honesty, and integrity; subterfuge and doubletalk are out).

James 5:12 But above all things, my Brethren, swear not, neither by Heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath (refers to the fact that the Lord is guiding every Believer, even in times of trial, and correspondingly we must not lose Faith, thereby, taking matters into our own hands): but let your yes be yes; and your no, no; lest you fall into condemnation. (Even though we do not understand the reason for the situation, whatever it might be, we aren’t to question the Lord!)

Remeber the Sabath day and keep it Holy.

Hebrews 4:4, 8 For He (God) spoke in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise (Gen. 2:3), And God did rest the seventh day from all His Works. (God ceased from the Work of Creation simply because the Creation was finished.) 8 For if Jesus (should have been translated, “Joshua”) had given them Rest (refers to the fact that even though Joshua was able to lead Israel into the land of Canaan by the Power of the Holy Spirit, this was only a symbol of the True Rest which was to come, namely the Lord Jesus Christ), then would He (God) not afterward have spoken of another day (meaning the Law could not bring about what was desired, but definitely did point to that which was to come, namely the Lord Jesus Christ).

Matthew 12:8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day (rejected by the nation as Messiah the King, He now presented Himself to them as Elohim the Creator of the Sabbath).

Luke 4:16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up (makes vivid the fact that Jesus was Very Man, even as He was Very God): and, as His custom was (in our language presently He was faithful to Church), He went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read (it was common to ask visitors to expound on the Word).

Mark 2:27 And He said unto them (its original construction contains the idea that He said these things over, and over; it took some talking to get the idea across to their minds, which were warped with a warped theology), The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath (the force of the argument is this: the Sabbath was made on account of man, not man on account of the Sabbath; the Sabbath was a day of rest; it was meant to point to the “spiritual rest”which would come in Christ):

5. Honour thy father and thy mother.

Ephesians 6:1-3

DUTIES OF CHILDREN

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. (This means to be under authority. As well, it refers to parents who know God. If not, they are to be obeyed as far as possible, but not in that which violates the Scripture.) 2 Honour your father and mother (all of this is important because family Government is designed to be an imitation of the Government of God); (which is the first Commandment with Promise;) 3 That it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth ([Deut. 5:16; Ex. 20:12], as should be obvious, failure to obey carries a penalty).