The above questions can not be answered intelligently without a knowledge
of the character of the law, and of its relations to humanity, as well as
a knowledge of the relations of the ancient prophets. The law given at
Sinai as a “covenant,” with all the laws contained in the “Book of the
Law,” was political in character; that is to say, it pertained to a
community or nation. Such law is _always_ political in its character. The
ancient law pertained to the nation of the Jews. It was given to them as a
community, and to no other people. Moses said, “And the Lord spake unto
you out of the midst of fire: Ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no
similitude; only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant,
which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote
them upon two tables of stone.” Deut. iv, 12, 13. “And the Lord said unto
Moses, Write thou these words; for after the _tenor_ of these words I have
made a covenant _with thee_ and _with Israel_.... And he wrote upon the
tables _the words of the covenant_, the ten commandments.” Exodus xxxiv,
27, 28. “The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord _made
not_ this covenant with our fathers, but with us, who _are_ all of us here
alive this day.” Deut. v, 2, 3. “Behold, I have taught you statutes and
judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in
the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep, therefore, and do them; for
this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations,
which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is
a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great who
hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we
call upon him for? And what nation is there so great that hath statutes
and judgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you this
day.” Deut. iv, 5, 8.
The law or covenant, as written upon the two tables of stone, is given in
full in one place, and only one, in all the book of the law, and I will
now transcribe it from the fifth chapter of Deut. Here it is: “I am the
Lord, thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house
of bondage; thou shalt have none other gods before me; thou shalt not make
thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath
the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them or serve them, for I,
the Lord, thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children unto the third and fourth _generation_ of them that hate
me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my
commandments.
“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain; for the Lord
will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
“Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord, thy God, hath commanded
thee. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh is
the Sabbath of the Lord, thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work; thou,
nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor
thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy
gates, that thy man-servant and maid-servant may rest as well as thou; and
remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord,
thy God, brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched
out arm; THEREFORE, THE LORD, THY GOD, COMMANDED THEE TO KEEP THE SABBATH
DAY.
“Honor thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee;
that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee in the
land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
“Thou shalt not kill.
“Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
“Neither shalt thou steal.
“Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbor.
“Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor’s wife, neither shalt thou covet
thy neighbor’s house, his field, or his man-servant, or his maid-servant,
his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbor’s.
“These words the Lord spake unto _all your assembly_ in the mount, out of
the midst of the fire, of the cloud and of the thick darkness, with a
great voice; and he _added no more_. And _he wrote them in two tables of
stone_, and delivered them unto me.”
This is the covenant as it was written upon the tables of stone. It is, by
its facts, limited to the Jews, for they are the only people who were ever
delivered from bondage in Egypt. The abrogation of this covenant is
clearly presented in the following language, found in Zechariah, the
eleventh chapter and tenth verse: “And I took my staff, even Beauty, and
cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with _all
the people_. And it was broken in that day; and so the poor of the flock
that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the Lord. And I said unto
them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they
weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.” This language had its
fulfillment in the sale which Judas Iscariot made of his Lord and the
abrogation of the ancient covenant or law.
The prophets were not confined to the kingdom of Israel, or to any one
kingdom, nor yet to any one dispensation.
They bore the word of the Lord to all the nations, as we learn from such
language as this: “The burden of the word of the Lord to Ninevah, to
Sidon, to Tyre, to Idumea, to Babylon, to Samaria, to Egypt,” and to many
others. It is very remarkable that no such latitude or longitude of
relationships belongs to the ancient law. It was confined to the
Israelites.
The Heavenly Father spake not to the ancients by his Son, but by the
prophets. And much of that which they spake pertained to our own
dispensation and to our own religion.
Much, very much, of that which they gave lies in the very foundation of
our religion. We should always distinguish, _carefully_, between the Law
and the prophets, and between these two and the psalms, remembering,
however, that prophesy belongs also to many of the psalms. The abrogated
covenant, or law, that was done away, was written upon stones. It, with
all the laws which were after its _tenor_, was supplanted by the law of
Christ. It was added because of transgression _till Christ, _“the seed,”
should come. When he came it expired by limitation, and through his
authority the neighborly restrictions or limitations were taken off from
moral precepts, which were re-enacted by him.