Compiled by
Rev. Nancy Becker
The First Law
The first law that we read of in the Bible is the simple one that was given to Adam and Eve in Paradise, when God told them not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and bad. And in this first instance, a penalty was spelled out: Death to the offender.
It showed for the first time what God’s sentence would be for those who chose to rebel against Him. And as such, it became a primary goal for the one who was likely the first universal rebel, Lucifer, as the serpent, to have this rule broken. So, Lucifer set out to challenge God by lying to the first humans. It’s interesting that God’s law to Adam and Eve was so simple. Once again, no negative thoughts of the possibility of murder, theft, rape, or any other wrongdoings were mentioned, because it wasn’t necessary. Adam and Eve were innocent of any misdeeds, in fact, that were completely unaware that misdeeds were even possible, but there was just the one command – do not eat of the tree of knowledge.
Tempted by the serpent into believing that they would become like God if they ate of the tree – they did so and afterward they became ashamed. They looked upon each other’s nakedness and felt shame and covered themselves with fig leaves and even tried to hide from God. But He called them and knowing what they did He expelled them from Eden and sent them out into the harsh world to lead a mortal life, including eventual physical death. Now, they and their children to come would know cold and hunger and pain and hard work.
The First Murder
The worst crime that is possible for us to commit is murder. And as might be expected, the second sin mentioned in the Bible was murder – when Adam and Eve’s eldest son Cain murdered his brother, Abel. Cain was a farmer and tended the fields while his younger brother Abel was a shepherd. Cain and Abel made offerings to God. Cain offered a portion of his crops and Abel offered slaughtered sheep. God rejected Cain’s offerings of the fruits of his crops. But God accepted the animal sacrifices brought by Abel. Cain was furious and so jealous of his brother that he lured Abel into the field and murdered him. God’s penalty on Cain wasn’t death, but the curse of having to live a hard life, to wander and be a vagabond.
There was no law until then that forbade murder. There was just the good example set by God’s love, and what we call ‘conscience’ or good sense, to tell all intelligent living creatures what was right and wrong. Yet, as the Bible tells us, murder and other human vices continued to increase to the point that, as it says, God saw all the badness that men were doing on the earth and that it was increasing, and the motivation of their hearts was twisted toward evil.
So, except for the righteous man Noah and his family, God destroyed all of humanity and much of the animal kingdom. From the time of Adam to Noah, the law of God was not given, although through conscience men had an intuitive knowledge of good and evil. (Romans 5:12-13).
In Genesis chapter 6 verses 5-7 (5) “And God seeing that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that all their heart was bent upon evil at all times (6) And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” (7) He said “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth from man even to beasts from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air for it repenteth me that I have made them.”
And in Genesis 6: vs 8 Noah found grace before the Lord.
And in the following days as God grew tired of the wickedness of men, Noah and his family grew in grace in the eyes of the Lord. So when God decided to send the great flood He wanted to save Noah and his family and God told Noah to build the ark and to bring two of every living creature on board. It rained forty days and nights and when it was done God gave the rainbow as a sign that He would never destroy the man by water again.
However, left without divine law, mankind grew not better, but worse. So God decided to give laws, first to Noah, and later, more especially, to Moses.
Also it is said of the Noachian Laws, a Jewish Talmudic designation for seven biblical laws God had given to Adam and to Noah before the revelation to Moses on Mt. Sinai and consequently they are said to be binding on all mankind.
Beginning with Genesis 2:16, the Babylonian Talmud listed the first six commandments as prohibitions against idolatry, blasphemy, murder, adultery, and robbery and the positive command to establish courts of justice (with all that this implies). After the Flood a seventh commandment, given to Noah, forbade the eating of flesh cut from a living animal (Gen. 9:4). Though the number of laws was later increased to 30 with the addition of prohibitions against castration, sorcery, and other practices, the “seven laws,” with minor variations, retained their original status as authoritative commandments and as the source of other laws. As basic statutes safeguarding monotheism and guaranteeing proper ethical conduct in society, these laws provided a legal framework for alien residents in Jewish territory. Maimonides thus regarded anyone who observed these laws as one “assured of a portion in the world to come.” Throughout the ages scholars have viewed the Noachian Laws as a link between Judaism and Christianity, as universal norms of ethical conduct, as a basic concept in international law, or as a guarantee of fundamental human rights for all.
God’s Laws After the flood
Here’s what God said in Genesis 9:3-6, ‘All living and slithering animals can serve as meat for you. I have given them all to you as though they were green vegetation. But you must not eat flesh with its blood of life. Otherwise, I will require your blood at the hand of all the wild animals. I will also require a man’s life at the hand of his human brothers. Whoever spills the blood of men will also have their blood spilled, because I made man in the image of God.’
So, there were just two evil actions that God said would provide bad results.
They were:
1. The blood of animals was not to be eaten (it was to be poured out as some sort of a sacrifice to God), otherwise the violator would be liable to be killed by wild animals
2. Every man who murdered another was liable to be killed by fellow humans.
Since these instructions were given to the common forefather of all post-flood humans – Noah, they are obviously still valid, regardless of traditions, modern ideas, and so-called ‘politically-correct’ thinking.
One of the most interesting stories to outline what human life and its goodness was like before there were any laws from God on such matters, is the story of the actions and thinking of Jacob’s son, Joseph, who served as a slave in the house of an Egyptian named Potiphar.
Potiphar’s wife was attracted to Joseph and she tried to seduce him. Yet, Joseph resisted and ran away from her. Why? Because, even though he was slave, he was loyal to his master who had put him in charge of his house and Joseph explained . . “So, how could I do such a bad thing and actually sin against God?” taken from Genesis 39:7-9).
God apparently hadn’t yet given a law forbidding adultery. However, Joseph used his good sense of propriety in understanding that having sex with another man’s wife (especially his master’s) was wrong. So, no law was required for a righteous man to make the right decision. Unfortunately for Joseph, the wife was furious at his refusal of her charms and reported that he had forced himself on her. And the good Joseph was jailed.
So Why the law?
As we have seen, without law mankind became worse and worse until God deemed it was necessary that they be destroyed. After the flood, God told Noah and his sons that they may eat the flesh of animals without the blood, and that they will be punished for murder. Later, God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mt Sinai
The Ten Commandments
And God spoke all these words: Exodus 20: 2-17
(2) I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;
1. (3) Do not have any other gods before me.
2. (4) You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. (5) You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
3. (7) You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
4. (8) Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. (9) For six days you shall labour and do all your work. (10) But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. (11) For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.
5. (12) Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
6. (13) You shall not murder.
7. (14) You shall not commit adultery.
8. (15) You shall not steal.
9. (16) You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. (17) You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
And of course through all of the years since, laws have become an integral – and sometimes overbearing – part of our lives. Like when the seat belt laws first came out I was against it. I felt my rights were being infringed upon to force me to wear a seatbelt or suffer the punishment under the law . I must admit that if it hadn’t been made a law – I probably would not be wearing one – even though it has been proven to save lives.
From Village laws to town and city laws and state and country and even international…there are rules and regulations to govern just about every aspect of our lives – but these are not from God they are man-made laws – created to keep the peace, and I must admit, necessary in a world gone riot.
Perhaps my favorite quote from the Bible is in The Epistle of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Romans:
In Romans: Chapter 13: 8-10 Paul said: 8 Owe no man anything except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the Law. 9 For “Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not covet.”; and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” 10 Love does no evil to a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the Law.
WOW! Saint Paul the Apostle may have been the first flower child. But, I honestly believe that people of all faiths and all religions of good intentions and love for the Creator, can agree with what Paul said.
