Paul tells us that the law was in operation before Sinai,
when he says “for until the law sin was in the world; but
sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death
reigned from Adam to Moses” (Romans 5:13, 14a). Before the
law “came ,“ the law was already in operation, for it was
already dealing death to sinners. (Similarly, before the New
Covenant “came, ” it was already in operation, for it was
already granting resurrection life to repentant men. ) At
Sinai, the law was given a definitive publication, but it was already
operating in the world, and was already known to men.(1)
Indeed, Paul says
“just as through one man sin entered into the world, and
death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because
all sinned” (Romans 5:12). In other words, the same law
which came at Sinai was operating in the Garden. This is the
connection between the Old (Adamic) Covenant and the Old
(Sinaitic) Covenant.’(2)
It is often thought
that at Sinai God set up something new, a new administration
of law, which had not been in force previously. We have seen
from Paul that this was not the case, for the law was in
operation in the Garden, and in the period between the Fall
and Sinai. We can also turn to passages in Genesis and in
Exodus before Sinai and see that people knew the law before
it was written down by Moses.
First
of all, we have
demonstrated that the laws of slavery were known and
functioned in the life of Jacob and in the interaction
between Moses and Pharaoh. Second, the law of
evidence concerning torn beasts (Exodus 22:13) is referred
to by Jacob in Genesis 31:39. Third, Exodus 21:1 and
24:3 call these laws mishpatim, and Abraham is said
to know the mishpatim in Genesis 18:19. Also, in
Genesis 26:5, Abraham is said to have “kept My charge, My
commandments, My statutes, and My laws .“ This is surely
more than the Ten Commandments !
Fourth,
Deuteronomy 22:28-29
does not order capital punishment n the case where a young
man forcibly seduces a young girl, but commands him to marry
her. This law was clearly being followed to the letter in
Genesis 34, which concerns the relations between Shechem and
Dinah. Because Simeon and Levi broke the not-yet-written
law, Jacob condemned their actions (Genesis 49:5 -7).(3)
Fifth,
the laws of sacrifice
were known, including the distinctions among various kinds
of sacrifices (Ex. 20:24, which comes before Leviticus 1-7).
Sixth, Noah knew the difference between clean and
unclean animals (Gen. 7:2), yet the rules for these
distinctions were not given in written form until Leviticus
11. Seventh, even though we do not read of God’s
commanding the people to have a tent of meeting until He
ordered the building of the Tabernacle, from Exodus 33:7-11
it is clear that there already was one. It was the place of
religious meeting and worship, and God talked with Moses
there, before the Tabernacle was built.
Eighth
and last, although
other examples can be found, the law of the Levirate,
requiring a brother to raise up seed for his childless dead
brother (Deuteronomy 25:5, 6), was clearly known and operative in
the history of Tamar (Gen. 38).
Of course,
unbelieving scholars use passages such as these to argue
that somebody rewrote the “original myths” of Genesis to
make them conform to the “later Mosaic legislation.” The
fact is, rather, that God had been telling his people all
along what He wanted them to do. The law was given many
times before Sinai; but it was definitively written down by
Moses, in connection with the preeminent redemptive event of
the Old Covenant period (Deuteronomy 4:2).(4)
Footnotes
1) In other words,
in one sense the pre-Sinaitic period was one of “no law,”
for law had not yet “come ,“ In another sense, however, the
law clearly was in the world, because sin is not imputed
apart from law, and sin was clearly being imputed, as the
fact of death demonstrates. Before Sinai, the law had
already but not yet come, This is parallel to the gospel,
which had already but not yet come during the Old Covenant;
and parallel to the consummation, which has already but not
yet come in the New Covenant era.
2) On how I am
using the terms ‘Old Covenant’ and ‘New Covenant,’ see
Appendix A.
3) Why did not
Jacob have them put to death for blasphemy (misusing the
covenant sign) and murder? Probably because he was not a
magistrate, and as a father did not have the power to pass
civil judgments. Jacob obviously feared reprisal from the
near kinsmen of the Shechemites, who could properly act as
avengers of blood. Perhaps we should see Jacob as
functioning as a sanctuary for his sons, just as Abram had
functioned as a sanctuary for Lot in Genesis 14.
4) "You shall not
add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away
from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your
God which I command you" (Deuteronomy 4:2).
