2000-09-02 - The Giving of the Law

All the following are quotations from the late Dr. David L. Cooper from a book entitled Messiah His Final Call to Israel.

"By the painstaking, scientific labors of faithful archeologists some of the literary remains of ancient nations have been recovered and placed at the disposal of students in their quest for exact knowledge of the civilizations of the past. Among these documents are some legal codes. One of the most famous of these is the code of Hammurabi. Scholars have compared Hammurabi's code with the Mosaic legislation and have called attention to some striking similarities between certain laws of the two codes. Abraham and Hammurabi were contemporaries, as is seen in Genesis chapter 14, for conservative scholars are generally agreed that Amraphel of Genesis 14:1 is Hammurabi of the monuments. Moses, the great lawgiver of Israel, lived approximately four hundred years after Abraham and Hammurabi. The exact verbal agreements between certain laws of the two codes have led some scholars to say that Moses borrowed from Hammurabi. They are positive that some borrowing was done. According to them, Hammurabi did not borrow from Moses because he lived four hundred years before Moses' day. They are, therefore sure, that Moses borrowed from Hammurabi."

"Candor demands that one acknowledge the verbal agreement between these codes. Is there not another logical, more reasonable explanation than the one suggested above? The verbal agreements point positively to the position that there was some borrowing done; but by whom? and how? According to Genesis 26 'God had revealed a legal code to someone, for Abraham lived under it; because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws.' Originally Abraham lived in Babylonia. God called him out of that heathen environment and brought him into the kingdom of Melchizedek, whose capitol was Salem, the ancient name of Jerusalem. Melchizedek was king and 'priest of God Most High.' Since he was sovereign of the Kingdom of God on earth, as it existed at that time, the laws and statutes enforced were probably the laws mentioned in Genesis 26:5.'It is reasonable to suppose that Hammurabi was aquatinted with this primitive revelation and saw the value of certain laws. These he copied and incorporated into his code.'"

"When God called Moses to give a code to Israel, the Spirit of God led him to copy certain laws of this primitive revelation and to incorporate them into his code. Thus by hypothesis one can see how Hammurabi and Moses could have copied from God's primitive revelation. Moses in his quoting was under the guidance of the Holy Spirit; Hammurabi in his quoting was guided by human wisdom."

"From the crossing of the Red Sea, Israel's trek through the wilderness brought the people to Mt Sinai, which trembled before the omnipotence of the Almighty, which glowed with the glory of the Holy One of Israel, and which resounded and echoed with the living words of the God of Israel - The God of love, the God of redemption, and the God of Life."

Deut.33:2 "And he said, Jehovah came from Sinai, And rose from Seir unto them; He shined forth from Mount, and he came from the ten thousands of holy ones; at his right hand was a fiery law for them. The children of Israel having sanctified themselves according to the instruction that Moses had given them (Ex. 19:7-15) assembled in the plain at the foot of Mt. Sinai to hear God speak to man."

See Exodus 19:16-20:21

To be continued next week....
Psalm 122:6

In His Service,
Rick & Sandy

liv4yeshua@cfdevotionals.org
http://www.cfdevotionals.org