Israel’s Neighbors – The Law of God: Questions and Answers

Israel’s Neighbors
The Law of God: Questions and Answers

God offered the wisdom of His Law to all Israel’s neighbors.

Question: Who must obey the Law of God?

“See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’” Deuteronomy 4:5, 6

The Law of God encodes the wisdom of God, which is the way of life. As all Israel kept and did the Law of God they would become a wise and understanding people, unlike the Egyptians from whom they had fled and the Canaanites whom they dispossessed.

God was not hostile to the nations surrounding His people, except as they made themselves enemies of His will. He allowed strangers and sojourners to live within Israel and commanded that they should enjoy the same privileges and protections of His Law as His redeemed people, even though they were not fully members of the covenant community. Strangers and foreigners should also expect to come under the same judgment of the Law so long as they were in the land.

God also foresaw that, as the people of Israel were faithful in their obedience, their wisdom would stand out as a light to the nations, creating a desire in those nations to enjoy the benefits of that wisdom for themselves. In 1 Kings 10 we see how representatives of the nations trooped up to Jerusalem year after year, seeking the wisdom of God and bringing gifts of submission and gratitude to King Solomon. He freely taught those emissaries what the wisdom of God required, roundly impressing and, doubtless, helping many of those nations to a fuller experience of life. Solomon’s actions are echoed in Micah 4:1-8, foretelling a day when all the nations of the world would stream up to the mountain of the Lord’s house in order to learn the ways of His Law.

From the beginning of His Law, therefore, it is clear that God intended the nations of the world to enjoy the benefits of wisdom and life, encoded in His Law, if only to a limited extent (concerning which we shall have more to say later this week).

Got a question about the Law of God? Write to T. M. at tmmoore@ailbe.org, and your answer might appear in this series of In the Gates columns.

Visit our website, www.ailbe.org, and sign up to receive our thrice-weekly devotional, Crosfigell, featuring writers from the period of the Celtic Revival and T. M.’s reflections on Scripture and the Celtic Christian tradition. Does the Law of God still apply today? Order a copy of T. M.’s book, The Ground for Christian Ethics, and study the question for yourself.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T. M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.