Earlier text: The Law of God.

The LORD forbade any man* being seen throughout the mount, because of their recent transgression, lest his glory should consume them. This will give all to understand how GOD regards the transgression of his commandments. If the people could not look upon his glory, which appeared upon Sinai the second time, as he again wrote his law, how will the wicked, who have trampled upon the authority of GOD, bear his burning glory as they meet the great LAWGIVER over his broken law?

“And he hewed two tables of stone, like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed by before him and proclaimed, The LORD, the LORD GOD, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty,291 visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”

GOD did not mean in this threatening that the children should be compelled to suffer for their parents’ sins, but that the example of the parents would be imitated by the children. If the children of wicked parents should serve GOD and do righteousness, he would reward their right-doing. But the effects of a sinful life are often inherited by the children. They follow in the footsteps of their parents. Sinful example has its influence from father to son to the third and fourth generation. If parents indulge in depraved appetites, they will in almost every case see the same acted over in their children. The children will develop characters similar to their parents’; and unless they are renewed by grace, and overcome, they are truly unfortunate. If parents are continually rebellious, and inclined to disobey GOD, their children will generally imitate their example. Godly parents, who instruct their children by precept and example in the ways of righteousness, will generally see their children following in their footsteps. The example of GOD-fearing parents will be imitated by their children, and their children’s children will imitate the right example their parents have set before them, and thus the influence is seen from generation to generation.

As the LORD impressed upon the heart of Moses a clear sense of his goodness, his mercy and compassion,292 he was filled with transports of joy, which led him to worship God with profound reverence. He entreated that the LORD would pardon the iniquity of his people, and take them for his inheritance. Then God graciously promised Moses that he would make a covenant before all Israel to do great things for his people, and that he would evidence to all nations his special care and love for them.

God then charged Moses to make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither they should go, lest they should be insnared thereby. But they should destroy their idol altars, break their images, and cut down their groves, which were dedicated to their idols, and where the people assembled to hold their idolatrous feasts, given in honor of their idol gods. He then said to them, “Thou shalt worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is JEALOUS, is a jealous GOD.” God claims, as his due, supreme worship. He gave special directions in regard to his Sabbath. “Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest. In earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.” The LORD knows that Satan is continually at work to lead his people to transgress the law of God, and he condescended to be very definite in his directions to his erring people, that they might not err, and transgress his commandments for want of knowledge. He knew that in the busiest season of the year, when their fruits and grains293 were to be secured, they would be tempted to transgress the Sabbath, and labor on sacred time. He would have them understand that their blessings would be increased or diminished according to their integrity of soul, or unfaithfulness in his service.

God is no less particular now in regard to his Sabbath than when he made this requirement of the children of Israel. His eye is upon all his people, and over all the works of their hands. He will not pass by unnoticed those who crowd upon his Sabbath, and employ time for their own use which belongs to him. Some professed Sabbath-keepers will intrude upon the Sabbath in doing those things which should have been done previous to the Sabbath. Such may think that they gain a little time, but instead of being advantaged by robbing God of holy time, which he has reserved to himself, they will lose. The LORD will afflict them for their transgression of the fourth commandment, and that time they thought to gain, by intruding upon the Sabbath, will prove to them a curse. God’s prospering hand withdrawn will cause a decrease in all of their possessions, instead of an increase. God will surely punish the transgressor. Although he may bear with him for a while, his punishment may come suddenly. Such do not always realize that judgments are from God. He is a jealous God, and requires heart service and perfect obedience to all his commandments.

“And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come nigh him. And Moses called unto them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him, and Moses talked with them. And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh, and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai. And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. But when Moses went in before the LORD, to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone; and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.”

Those who trample upon GOD’s authority, and show open contempt to the law given in such grandeur at Sinai, virtually despise the LAWGIVER, the great JEHOVAH. The children of Israel, who transgressed the first and second commandments, were charged not to be seen anywhere near the mount, where GOD was to descend in glory to write the law a second time upon tables of stone, lest they should be295 consumed with the burning glory of his presence. And if they could not even look upon the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, because he had been communing with GOD, how much less can the transgressors of GOD’s law look upon the SON of GOD when he shall appear in the clouds of heaven in the glory of his FATHER, surrounded by all the angelic host, to execute judgment upon all who have disregarded the commandments of GOD, and have trodden under foot his blood!

The law of GOD existed before man was created. The angels were governed by it. Satan fell because he transgressed the principles of GOD’s government. After Adam and Eve were created, GOD made known to them his law. It was not then written, but was rehearsed to them by JEHOVAH.

The Sabbath of the fourth commandment was instituted in Eden. After God had made the world, and created man upon the earth, he made the Sabbath for man. After Adam’s sin and fall nothing was taken from the law of God. The principles of the ten commandments existed before the fall, and were of a character suited to the condition of a holy order of beings. After the fall, the principles of those precepts were not changed, but additional precepts were given to meet man in his fallen state.

A system was then established requiring the sacrificing of beasts to keep before fallen man that which the serpent made Eve disbelieve,296 that the penalty of disobedience is death. The transgression of God’s law made it necessary for CHRIST to die a sacrifice, and thus make a way possible for man to escape the penalty, and yet the honor of God’s law be preserved. The system of sacrifices was to teach man humility, in view of his fallen condition, and lead him to repentance, and to trust in God alone, through the promised REDEEMER, for pardon for past transgression of his law. If the law of God had not been transgressed there never would have been death, and there would have been no need of additional precepts to suit man’s fallen condition.

Adam taught his descendants the law of God, which law was handed down to the faithful through successive generations. The continual transgression of God’s law called for a flood of waters upon the earth. The law was preserved by Noah and his family, who for right-doing were saved by a miracle of God in the ark. Noah taught his descendants the ten commandments. The LORD preserved a people for himself from Adam down, in whose hearts was his law. He says of Abraham, “He obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

The LORD appeared unto Abraham, and said unto him, “I am the Almighty God. Walk before me, and be thou perfect, and I will make a covenant between me and thee,297 and will multiply thee exceedingly. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee.”

He then required of Abraham and his seed circumcision, which was a circle cut in the flesh, as a token that God had cut them out and separated them from all nations as his peculiar treasure. By this sign they solemnly pledged themselves that they would not intermarry with other nations; for by so doing they would lose their reverence for God and his holy law, and would become like the idolatrous nations around them.

By the act of circumcision they solemnly agreed to fulfill the conditions of the covenant made with Abraham on their part, to be separate from all nations, and be perfect. If the descendants of Abraham had kept separate from other nations, they would not have been seduced into idolatry. By keeping separate from other nations, a great temptation would be removed from them to engage in their sinful practices, and rebel against God. They lost in a great measure their peculiar, holy character, by mingling with the nations around them. To punish them the LORD brought a famine upon their land, which compelled them to go down into Egypt to preserve their lives. But God did not forsake them while they were in Egypt, because of his covenant with Abraham. He suffered them to be oppressed by298 the Egyptians, that they might turn to him in their distress, and choose his righteous and merciful government, and obey his requirements.

There were but a few families that first went down into Egypt. These increased to a great multitude. Some were careful to instruct their children in the law of God. But many of the Israelites had witnessed so much idolatry that they had confused ideas of God’s law. Those who feared God cried to him in anguish of spirit to break their yoke of grievous bondage, and bring them from the land of their captivity, that they might be free to serve him. God heard their cries, and raised up Moses as his instrument to accomplish the deliverance of his people. After they had left Egypt, and the waters of the Red Sea had been divided before them, the Lord proved them to see if they would trust in him who had taken them, a nation from another nation, by signs, temptations, and wonders. But they failed to endure the trial. They murmured against God because of difficulties in the way, and wished to return again to Egypt. To leave them without excuse, the Lord himself condescended to come down upon Sinai, enshrouded in glory, and surrounded by his angels, and in a most sublime and awful manner made known his law of ten commandments. He did not trust them to be taught by any one, not even his angels, but spoke his law with an audible voice in the hearing of all the people. He did299 not even then trust them to the short memory of a people who were prone to forget his requirements, but wrote them with his own holy finger upon tables of stone. He would remove from them all possibility of mingling with his holy precepts any tradition, or of confusing his requirements with the practices of men.

He then came still closer to his people, and would not leave them, who were so readily led astray, with merely the ten precepts of the decalogue. He required Moses to write as he should bid him, judgments and laws, giving minute directions in regard to what he required them to perform, and thereby guarded the ten precepts which he had engraved upon the tables of stone. These specific directions and requirements were given to draw erring man to the obedience of the moral law which he is so prone to transgress.

If man had kept the law of God, as given to Adam after his fall, preserved in the ark by Noah, and observed by Abraham, there would have been no necessity of the ordinance of circumcision. And if the descendants of Abraham had kept the covenant, which circumcision was a token or pledge of, they would never have gone into idolatry, and been suffered to go down into Egypt, and there would have been no necessity of God’s proclaiming his law from Sinai, and engraving it upon tables of stone, and guarding it by definite directions in the judgments and statutes given to Moses.

Moses wrote these judgments and statutes300 from the mouth of God while he was with him in the mount. If the people of God had obeyed the principles of the ten commandments, there would have been no need of the specific directions given to Moses, which he wrote in a book, relative to their duty to God and to one another. The definite directions which the LORD gave to Moses in regard to the duty of his people to one another, and to the stranger, are the principles of the ten commandments simplified, and given in a definite manner that they need not err.

The LORD said of the children of Israel, “Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my Sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols, wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live.” Because of continual disobedience, the LORD annexed penalties to the transgression of his law, which were not good for the transgressor, or whereby he should not live in his rebellion.

By transgressing the law which God had given in such majesty, and amid glory which was unapproachable, the people showed open contempt of the great LAWGIVER, and death was the penalty. “Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them. But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness; they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.301 And my sabbaths they greatly polluted. Then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.”

The statutes and judgments given of God were good for the obedient. “They should live in them.” But they were not good for the transgressor, for in the civil law given to Moses punishment was to be inflicted on the transgressor, that others should be restrained by fear.

Moses charged the children of Israel to obey God. He said unto them, “Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.”

The LORD instructed Moses definitely in regard to the ceremonial sacrifices, which were to cease at the death of CHRIST. The system of sacrifices foreshadowed the offering of CHRIST as a LAMB without blemish.

The LORD first established the system of sacrificial offerings with Adam after his fall, which he taught to his descendants. This system was corrupted before the flood by those who separated themselves from the faithful followers of God, and engaged in the building of the tower of Babel. They sacrificed to gods of their own make instead of the God of Heaven. They did not offer sacrifices302 because they had faith in the REDEEMER to come, but because they thought they should please their gods by offering a great many beasts upon polluted idol altars. Their superstition led them to great extravagances. They taught the people that the more valuable the sacrifice, the greater pleasure would it give their idol gods, and the greater would be the prosperity and riches of their nation. Hence human beings were often sacrificed to these senseless idols. Those nations had laws and regulations to control the actions of the people which were cruel in the extreme. Their laws were made by those whose hearts were not softened by grace, and while they would pass over the most debasing crimes, a small offense would call forth the most cruel punishment from those in authority.

Moses had this in view when he said to Israel, “Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my GOD commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. 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 GOD so nigh unto them, as the LORD our GOD is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so303 righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?”

GOD was a wise and compassionate lawgiver, judging all cases righteously, and without partiality. While the Israelites were in Egyptian bondage, they were surrounded with idolatry. The Egyptians had received traditions in regard to sacrificing. They did not acknowledge the existence of the GOD of Heaven. They sacrificed to their idol gods. With great pomp and ceremony they performed their idol worship. They erected altars to the honor of their gods, and they required even their own children to pass through the fire. After they had erected their altars they required their children to leap over the altars through the fire. If they could do this without their being burned, the idol priests and people received it as an evidence that their god accepted their offerings, and favored especially the person who passed through the fiery ordeal. He was loaded with benefits, and was ever afterward greatly esteemed by all the people. He was never allowed to be punished, however aggravating might be his crimes. If another person who leaped through the fire was so unfortunate as to be burned, then his fate was fixed; for they thought that their gods were angry, and would be appeased with nothing short of the unhappy victim’s life, and he was offered up as a sacrifice upon their idol altars.

Even some of the children of Israel had so304 far degraded themselves as to practice these abominations, and GOD caused the fire to kindle upon their children, whom they made to pass through the fire. They did not go to all the lengths of the heathen nations; but GOD deprived them of their children by causing the fire to consume them in the act of passing through it.

Because the people of GOD had confused ideas of the ceremonial sacrificial offerings, and had heathen traditions confounded with their ceremonial worship, GOD condescended to give them definite directions, that they might understand the true import of those sacrifices which were to last only till the LAMB of GOD should be slain, who was the great antitype of all their sacrificial offerings.