And God spoke all these words, saying:
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
“You shall have no other gods before Me.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image — 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; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
“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.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Ex 20:1-17, NKJV“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
Matt 5:17-19, NKJV
The Law. A very small word for a very large concept. What exactly is “The Law”?
Merriam Webster defines Law as follows (primary definition):
1. a (1) : a binding custom or practice of a community : a rule of conduct or action prescribed or formally recognized as binding or enforced by a controlling authority (2) : the whole body of such customs, practices, or rules (3) : COMMON LAW
b (1) : the control brought about by the existence or enforcement of such law (2) : the action of laws considered as a means of redressing wrongs;also : LITIGATION (3) : the agency of or an agent of established law
c : a rule or order that it is advisable or obligatory to observe
d : something compatible with or enforceable by established law
e : CONTROL, AUTHORITY
From a societal perspective, outside of futuristic movies, it is hard to imagine a successful society without law. Law (civil and criminal) is generally meant to define and maintain societal norms and to allow culture to exist in a semblance of peace and safety. Law is meant to preserve and protect. Is this the law that Jesus was referring to? The Bible does indeed discuss civil and criminal law in some detail. Let’s take a look at some examples:
“He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death. However, if he did not lie in wait, but God delivered him into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.
“But if a man acts with premeditation against his neighbor, to kill him by treachery, you shall take him from My altar, that he may die.
“And he who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
“He who kidnaps a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death.
Ex 21:12-16, NKJV“And if a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls in it, the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money to their owner, but the dead animal shall be his.
“If one man’s ox hurts another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and divide the money from it; and the dead ox they shall also divide. Or if it was known that the ox tended to thrust in time past, and its owner has not kept it confined, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead animal shall be his own.
Ex 21:33-36, NKJV
These passages, describing punishment and restitution for both criminal and civil concerns, show the detail that the Holy Scripture goes into regarding acceptable civil responsibility. This is certainly part of the Law. But is it what Jesus was referring to when He said that He came to fulfill?
Perhaps what He meant was the Ten Commandments:
And God spoke all these words, saying:
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
“You shall have no other gods before Me.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image — 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; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
“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.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Ex 20:1-17, NKJV
This seems to make sense. These Commandments are quite encompassing, covering behavioral expectations regarding human relationships with both God and other humans. In fact, Jesus often had cause to mention these commandments. Let’s examine an exchange between Jesus and a young rich man during Jesus’ ministry:
Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.'”
Luke 18:18-20, NKJV
Notice that Jesus seems to point to the Commandments as the way to inherit eternal life. If so, it would seem obvious, then, that this is indeed the Law that Christ was referring to when He said He came to fulfill the Law. (Note that Jesus did not quote the entirety of the Ten Commandments – only the ones that deal with human relationships! We may discuss this in a later blog.) But if this is the Law that He came to fulfill, then He was leaving out a huge segment of the Jewish scriptural Law – the Levitical Law. These laws, the primary focus of the book of Leviticus, concern the offerings and sacrifices of the Jewish faith. They were every bit as important and binding on the conscience as the Ten Commandments, and the expanded criminal and civil law.
Let’s take a look at examples of Levitical Law:
Now the LORD called to Moses, and spoke to him from the tabernacle of meeting, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When any one of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of the livestock — of the herd and of the flock.
‘If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the LORD. Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him. He shall kill the bull before the LORD; and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood and sprinkle the blood all around on the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of meeting. And he shall skin the burnt offering and cut it into its pieces. The sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar, and lay the wood in order on the fire. Then the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat in order on the wood that is on the fire upon the altar; but he shall wash its entrails and its legs with water. And the priest shall burn all on the altar as a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD.
“If his offering is of the flocks—of the sheep or of the goats—as a burnt sacrifice, he shall bring a male without blemish.
Lev 1:1-10, NKJV‘When anyone offers a grain offering to the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour. And he shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it. He shall bring it to Aaron’s sons, the priests, one of whom shall take from it his handful of fine flour and oil with all the frankincense. And the priest shall burn it as a memorial on the altar, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD. The rest of the grain offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’. It is most holy of the offerings to the LORD made by fire.
‘And if you bring as an offering a grain offering baked in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil. But if your offering is a grain offering baked in a pan, it shall be of fine flour, unleavened, mixed with oil. You shall break it in pieces and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering.
Lev 2:1-6, NKJV
Levitical Law is likely one of the least understood topics in Scripture. In many of today’s cultures, the idea of burning flour and spices or pouring oil on flour cakes as an act of worship is, at best, simply strange; while sacrificing animals would be looked at as a cruel and savage act. Many students might then ask – how could this be the Law that Jesus was trying to fulfill? We will explore the idea of Levitical Law, and its significance in the life of Christ over the next several blogs.
So we now have Scripturally based civil and criminal law, The Ten Commandments, and Levitical Law as potential aspects of Jesus’ fulfillment. But there is still more to this idea of the Law than we have yet discussed. At the time that Jesus walked upon the earth, the Scripture was limited to what Christians know as the Old Testament. The New Testament that Christians embrace today was not written until many years after Jesus was crucified. Understanding this, it’s important to know how Jews have historically approached their Scripture, the Christian Old Testament.
In Judaism, throughout history, the Scripture, or “Tanakh” (תנ”ך), has been categorized between three components. These components are The Torah (תורה) (the first five books from Genesis to Deuteronomy), the Nebi’im (נביאים), which consists of the prophetic books, and the Ketuvim (כתובים), or the “Writings”. The word Torah, in English, is translated “Law”. Let’s take some time to process this.
What this means is that the Tanakh is composed of the Torah (Law), the Nebi’im (Prophets) and the Ketuvim (Writings). So the Jewish faith considers the Holy Scriptures to include the Law, the Prophets and the Writings.
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
Matt 5:17-19, NKJV
Suddenly, this passage takes on a significantly greater scope! Was He saying that He was going to fulfill the civil and criminal law? The Ten Commandments? The Levitical Law? What was Jesus saying He came to fulfill? All of it. The entire Tanakh – the Holy Scriptures! In our next blog, we will begin to look closely at each aspect of the Law, and how Jesus fulfills the entirety. But before we close, I’ll leave my readers with a question.
The Ketuvim, or the “Writings”, consists of three groups of books:
• The Poetic books (the Sifrei Emet – Psalms, Proverbs and Job)
• The Five “Scrolls” (the Hamesh Megillot – Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther)
• The “other” books (Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles)
If Jesus did, indeed, come to fulfill the entire Tanakh (The Law, the Prophets and the Writings), then why did He just call out the Law and the Prophets? Did He mean to leave out the Writings? Did He NOT come to fulfill these books? Pray, read and see if you can come up with a reason why Jesus would not mention the Writings.
May God richly bless you in your studies!
YouJi