The Law of God

Last week we referred to principles as applied to man in the earliest ages, concerning his amenability to law. We now refer to some facts proving that from the beginning man had a knowledge of the law of God. We shall find that the evidence corresponds to the reasoning of Paul in his letter to the Romans, and vindicates the judgements of God on the evil-doers of the first generations.

1. When God spake from Sinai, he first commanded, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." This commandment not only forbids the holding of gods in preference to him, but also having them before him or in his presence: this would exclude the worship of false gods from all parts of the universe, all parts being present, or "naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." In considering this commandment, we can appreciate the remark of the psalm, "Thy commandment is exceeding broad." Ps. 119:96. As every individual is continually a transgressor who does not love God with all his heart, and has not chosen him as chief good, every object of his pursuit is an idol preferred to God, whom he has rejected.

When Abraham's servant came to the house of Laban, he said, Come in, thou blessed of the Lord. Gen. 24:31. Afterward, when Jacob had served his appointed time for his wives, and desired to return to his own country, Laban requested him to remain because he had learned by experience that the Lord had blessed him for Jacob's sake. Chap. 30:27. Notwithstanding this acknowledgment of the true God, and that blessings proceeded from him, we find that he transgressed the first of God's commandments, and had other gods. When Jacob fled from Laban, he pursued him, but God appeared to Laban, and warned him not to touch Jacob; yet immediately after God had thus manifested himself to him, he accused Jacob of having stolen his gods. Jacob denied the charge, and said, with whomsoever thou findest thy gods let him not live. Chap. 31:24, 29, 30, 32. When the two sons of Jacob had slain the Shechemites, Jacob was told to go to Bethel and build an altar to God, who appeared unto him. And Jacob said to his household, and to all that were with him, "Put away the strange gods that are among you and be clean. . . . and I will make an altar unto God who answered me in the day of my distress." Chap. 35:1-4. Here it is not only evident that the first commandment was broken, but they understood that they were unclean in the sight of God, and not fit to approach the altar of God, while the strange gods were among them.

2. Idolatry is manifested in various ways, and the gods anciently worshiped were of various kinds; while some worshiped the sun and the host of heaven (Deut. 4:19; 17:3), others made to themselves images "fashioned with a graving tool." Ex. 32:4; Isa. 40:19, 20. Against this latter practice the second commandment was given: "Thou shalt not make any unto thee any graven image. . . . thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them." The gods that Laban had were of this kind: "And Laban went to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's." Gen. 31:19, 34, 35. The gods also that Jacob required his household to put away, were "among them, and in their hands." Chap. 35:1-5.

3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. No mention is made of this commandment or its transgression in the book of Genesis.

We will further notice this in connection with the fourth commandment, which we pass for the present.

5. Honor thy father and thy mother. There is no express mention of this precept in the book of Genesis. Ham was cursed for dishonoring his father. Gen. 9:21-25. Here we may properly apply the rule quoted from Paul, found in Rom. 5:13.

6. Thou shalt not kill. Whatever excuses may have been framed for others on the ground of ignorance, Cain has been universally considered a murderer. God dealt with him as a transgressor of a known law; and an inspired writer has declared that he was "of the wicked one, and his works were evil." 1 John 3:12. Lamech transgressed the same commandment, and judged himself more guilty than Cain. Gen. 4:8-11, 23, 24. God made known to Noah his disapprobation of this sin. Chap. 9:5, 6. Beyond this it might be urged that the principle of self-preservation would lead to human enactments, as safeguards for human life, and that mere regard for such laws deterred from the commission of this crime; but this reasoning will not hold good in the case of the Hebrew midwives, recorded in Ex. 1:16, 17. Here the command was to kill all the male children; but the midwives would not obey this human law, for "they feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them." Then they must have known that the law of man was contrary to the law of God. Though we have no formal giving of the law recorded in the history of Genesis, we have, as above, the most positive evidence that it was given and well known before it was spoken on Sinai.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Numerous passages in the book of Genesis show that this was known to be sinful by mankind in general. When Abraham denied his wife, and she was taken by the king of Gerar, the Lord suffered him not to touch her, and Abimelech said he had taken her in the integrity of his heart and innocency of his hands; and plead that Abraham had told him she was his sister; showing that he knew before that it would have been sinful to take another man's wife; and he said to Abraham, "thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin." Gen. 20:5-9; 12:12, 13, 18, 19; 26:6-10. When Judah was made acquainted with the trespass of Tamar in this respect, he said, "Bring her forth and let her be burnt." Chap. 38:24. In the absence of any revelation on this subject, it truly might be regarded as a singular fact that Judah had the same idea of the desert of this crime that the Lord revealed to Moses more than two centuries afterwards. See Lev. 21:9. Abimelech, king of Gerar, also took the wife of Isaac, supposing her to be his sister, and afterward said to Isaac, "One of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us." Chap. 26:9, 10. Positive testimony is afforded on this point by the case of Joseph. Refusing to comply with the immodest request of his mistress, he said, "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God.?" Chap. 39:7-9.

8. Thou shalt not steal. By reference to Gen. 30:33, it will be seen that Jacob and Laban understood the matter of this commandment. Laban reproved Jacob for stealing his gods. Chap. 31:19, 30.

Now Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them, and gave sentence that whosoever the gods were found with should not live. Verse 32, see also verse 39. When Joseph's messenger accused his brethren of having stolen his silver cup, they declared their honesty in that they had brought again the money which they had found in their sack's mouths, and said, "How then should we steal out of our lord's house silver or gold?" They made the same decision in this case that their father had made before them, namely: "With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, both let them die and we also will be my lord's bondsmen." Chap. 44:4-9.

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Nothing positive can be found in the book of Genesis relative to this particular commandment, but Joseph was wickedly imprisoned because his mistress bore false witness against him. Gen. 39:7-20.

10. Thou shalt not covet. The transgression of this commandment is also rather implied than plainly brought to view; but the fact that the transgression of the tenth must precede the violation of the eighth, and that the eighth was known and its violation considered worthy of death, is sufficient evidence on this point for the present, as we intend to offer proof that the whole ten were known and observed before the days of Moses.