Lesson for April 30, 2025
The Mosaic Law
Lesson 10
The Judgments
The Judgments included all of the governmental functions for the nation of Israel. Every principle and function related to governmental operation within the client nation was given to them in written and oral communication. This included a detailed explanation of freedom, authority, privacy, rights, property, privileges, marriage, divorce, military policy, taxation, diet, health, sanitation, quarantine, criminal law, trials, punishment, laws of evidence, and capital punishment. (Exodus 21:1-23:9) Here are a few examples of the laws.
Dietary Laws
(Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy 14)
The animals they could eat were divided into four major categories:
- Cloven hooved and chewed its cud (Leviticus 11:3; Deuteronomy 14:6). Examples were sheep, cattle, goats, and deer. Leviticus 11:4–7 specifies which land animals they were not allowed to eat, like camels, rabbits, pigs.
- Aquatic creatures, as long as it had fins and scales (Leviticus11:9; Deuteronomy 14:9) Shellfish, such as clams, oysters, lobsters, crabs, and shrimp, were considered “unclean” and not to be eaten. (Leviticus 11:10–12).
- Birds, such as chicken, ducks, turkeys, and geese, could be eaten. Birds of prey and scavenger birds were not to be eaten. (Leviticus 11:13–19; Deuteronomy 14:11–18)
- Insects, like locust, katydid, crickets, and grasshoppers, could be eaten. (Leviticus 11:20–23) Flying insects that had four legs were unclean and not to be eaten. (Leviticus 11:20–23)
Laws Regarding the Poor
(Leviticus 19:9-11)
As an agricultural society, the Law required the Israelites to leave a portion of the harvest for the poor. When harvesting the fields, the edges were not to be gleaned. Grapes that fell to the ground at harvesttime were to be left for the poor.
Page 2, The Mosaic Law
Robbery and Theft Laws
(Leviticus 19:11)
It was forbidden to steal from another person. It was also forbidden to deal unfairly with another, which was a form of stealing.
Laws Related to Dealing with Others
(Leviticus 19:17-18)
Hatred, holding a grudge, and vengeance were forbidden under the Mosaic Law. The law of loving your neighbor as yourself was the alternative.
Laws Regarding Witchcraft
(Leviticus 19:31)
Mediums and spiritist were not to be sought after.
Unruly and Disobedient Children
(Deuteronomy 21:18-21)
Children who were rebellious and disobedient to their parents and could not be controlled, were handed over to the elders of the city for punishment.
Dress and Attire Laws
( Deuteronomy 22:5)
Men were to wear men’s clothing and women were to wear women’s clothing. If they did not follow this law, it was a direct act of disobedience and rebellion against God.
The Mosaic Law had everything necessary for ensuring the freedom of its citizens. The principle of the Law distinguished between criminal and civil, and developed the laws of evidence and assigned just punishment for criminal acts and violation of civil law. No one could be convicted unless there were two or three witnesses who independently presented the same facts before the court. Criminals were punished immediately. There was no such thing as “rehabilitation of a criminal.” Punishment was so severe, as to restrain criminality. Part of the Judgment codes was capital punishment, which was first seen in the Scriptures in Genesis 9:5-6 and incorporated into the Mosaic Law in Exodus 21:12; Numbers 35:30; and transferred to the Church Age in Romans 13:3-4.
The Mosaic Law had a purposeful, workable, and fair system of taxation. Tithing was the system of taxation for both believers and unbelievers. There was a separate system of offerings for believers only. (Deuteronomy 18:1; Nehemiah 13:10, Malachi 3:8-10) The offerings of believers were not assigned any percentage. There were three income tax systems in Israel. There was a ten percent income tax for the maintenance of the Levitical priesthood, in Numbers 18:21, 24; Leviticus 27:30-33. There was a ten percent temple tax for feasts and sacrifices, in Deuteronomy 12:18; 14:22-24. There was a ten percent income tax every third year for the poor, in Deuteronomy 14:28-29. In total, taxes were 25-30% under the Mosaic Law.
Malachi 3:8-11 describes income tax evasion. Corrected translation, “Will a man defraud God? Yet you are defrauding Me. But you say, `How have we defrauded You?’ In tithes [taxation] and offerings [spiritual giving by believers only]. You are cursed with a curse; for you, the entire nation, are defrauding Me. ‘Bring your entire tithe [income tax] to the treasury, so that there may be food in My house [client nation], and test Me now in this,’ declares the Lord of the hosts, see if I will not open for you the windows of Heaven, and pour you out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. Then I will rebuke the devourer [anything that would destroy the economy, like insects/pests or invading armies] for you, so that it may not destroy the production of the ground, nor will your vine in the field cast off its grapes.’ Says the Lord of hosts.”
Great blessing occurs to a client nation, when its citizens faithfully pay legitimate income taxes. Spiritual giving has never been a certain percentage. In the spiritual code, the offerings of believers are private matters between a believer and God. No percentage was involved. No one was to give so that it deprived their family.
The Mosaic Law included the function of free enterprise and profit and rejected all forms of socialism and the welfare state. It did include charity for those in need. However, charity has always been a valid part of the spiritual life, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The Mosaic Law and its principles form the pattern and policy for good government. It demonstrates the proper place of authority and its proper use. It teaches the importance of fair taxation, universal military training, proper justice, and the importance of freedom, privacy, property, and life.
Conclusion
The Mosaic Law was a demonstration of spiritual death and showed the way to spiritual life by directing unbelievers to Christ as Messiah (Savior). (Galatians 3:24) The Mosaic Law is called a minister of condemnation, not a minister of spirituality (righteousness) in II Corinthians 3:9. The doctrine of the impeccability of Jesus Christ includes the fact that He kept the Mosaic Law perfectly and ended the Mosaic Law as a way of life for Church Age believers. Jesus Christ condemned the legalistic distortions of the Mosaic Law and the Pharisees who sponsored those distortions. (Matthew 23) He also observed every code of the Mosaic Law. He kept Codex One (The Ten Commandments) by His submitting to the authority of His parents, the government, and living a moral life. He kept Codex Two (The Ordinances) by living a sinless life. He kept Codex Three (The Judgments) by keeping the Laws of Divine Establishment. (Matthew 22:21)
Salvation has never been by keeping the Mosaic Law. (Galatians 2:16). Keeping the Mosaic Law is not spirituality, and it is not the Christian Way of Life. (I Corinthians 13; Romans 8:2-4; Galatians 5:18, 22-23)