Why Did Jehovah God Issue Laws and Commandments to Israelites in the Old Testament？

Since our ancestors Adam and Eve were corrupted by Satan, sins have come to this word and thus the entire humanity is living in sin. But people at that time didn’t know what sin was or what the consequence of sinning was, much less how to worship God. Therefore, God carried out the work of the Age of Law.

God says: “Earliest mankind was newly born of Jehovah; they were the Israelites. They had no understanding of how to revere God or how to live on earth.”

“During the Age of Law, Jehovah laid down many commandments for Moses to pass on to the Israelites who followed him out of Egypt. These commandments were given by Jehovah to the Israelites and bore no relation to the Egyptians; they were meant to restrain the Israelites, and He used the commandments to make demands of them. Whether they observed the Sabbath, whether they respected their parents, whether they worshiped idols, and so forth—these were the principles by which they were judged sinful or righteous. Among them, there were some who were struck by Jehovah’s fire, some who were stoned to death, and some who received Jehovah’s blessing, and this was determined according to whether or not they obeyed these commandments. Those who did not observe the Sabbath were stoned to death. Those priests who did not observe the Sabbath were struck by Jehovah’s fire. Those who did not show respect to their parents were also stoned to death. This was all commended by Jehovah. Jehovah established His commandments and laws so that, as He led them in their lives, the people would listen to and obey His word and not rebel against Him. He used these laws to keep the newborn human race under control, the better to lay the foundation for His future work.”

“God first used these simple regulations and principles to set limits for man, so that on earth man would have a normal life of worshiping God, would have the normal life of man; such is the specific content of the beginning of His six-thousand-year management plan.”

God took the laws and commandments as principles to measure if someone was righteous or sinful. These laws and commandments allowed people to know what sin was and constrained their behavior. People got to know what they could do and what they couldn’t do and how to worship God. They also came to understand if they observed the laws, they would be blessed; if they violated the laws, they should make offerings to God, otherwise, they would receive God’s curse and punishment. That is the first step of God’s work of saving mankind.

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