THE REVEALED LAW

I remember an excellent lecture in Seminary as if it were yesterday. The professor basically reported the contents of a book by a gentleman named Mendenhall. I have never been able to lay my hands on his book, yet I have used the lecture from memory in my government classes for twenty years. According to Mendenhall's archeological report, several archaeological experts were driving through the French controlled northern Palestine in the twenties of this century. As they drove, they noticed that every few miles there would be a single solitary hill higher than the surrounding terrain. Not realizing any good geological reason for such a strange phenomenon, the gathered the resources to dig into the top of one of these.

Quickly they discovered that these tells, as they came to be called, were in reality mounds of ancient ruins containing a dozen or more levels of destroyed villages that dated back to the dawn of human construction in that area. One tell in particular contained information of great value. This was the tell in which the administrative records of the "king" or prince of Mari were found. It would be like finding the court house records of any county court house. Except, these were clay tablets with primitive scratchings on them. It took some time to decipher them, but when they were, property records, banking and perhaps even insurance records were found.

However, the most important find was the Suzerain Agreements between the Prince and the large number of lesser villages which owed him allegiance. Like all legal documents these agreements were recorded in a precise outline. That outline included six items:

1. Preamble: This identified the Prince and the proper relationship between the parties involved.
2. Historical Prologue: This portion recited the blessings of the Prince's rule and reminded the villages how they had been protected and aided.
3. Stipulations: This portion laid down the taxes due, the military services required and the obligations of the villagers.
4. Safe Deposit & Public Reading: This requirement allowed copies of the agreement to be kept by the village and required an annual reading to the public.
5. Divine Witnesses: This portion arranged the gods and goddesses of the Prince, village and homes in the appropriate hierarchy of strength and power.
6. Blessings & Curses: Finally, these documents ended with the promised outcomes if the villagers supported or resisted the rule of their Prince.

The Lord our God would be King of His people, and He certainly may if He so chooses to obligate us by contracts similar to those in use by moral pagans who sought to impose a rule by law within their princely houses. What does our catechism say today about the nature of the moral law? Nothing more than the fact that the moral law and the revealed law are one in the same. Of course, Israel would be held to a stricter accounting than the pagan nations around her.

But the terminology would be familiar enough for any fallen humans to appreciate. Yet, not everyone has listened and learned! In our New Covenant reading a rich young ruler is challenged to go beyond keeping the law that he thinks he well understands. Like many "righteous" pagans who have appreciated the wisdom of the moral law related to the second tablet of the commandments, the rich young ruler is not willing to honor the God and King revealed in Christ in a manner fitting the four commandments of the first tablet. In other words, Jesus quickly identified the false god of mammon which the rich young ruler put ahead of the Creator God revealed in Jesus Christ. Jesus then challenged the young man to put away all that kept him from worshiping the true God revealed in Christ Jesus. This, we sadly see is not to be, at least in this encounter. This man will not be humbled easily. He will not put away the things of earth to accept the One from heaven. There is a high tragedy here, very many people respect the commandments, but will not accept the God who gave them.

Today, the tragedy is heightened because our culture is even abandoning the commandments because they came from a Creator God. And not only will they avoid Him at all costs, but run from each and every minimal requirement He might lay upon them! No God, no commandments, no rule by law. How tragic to live in such times that even the righteous pagans of Rome and Greece would abhor? God may speak, but the world would rather not hear Him. In fact the world is running so far and so fast from Him that He must judge the nations and punish the worldly, secular, humanist insurrection that has gone so far these last hundred and fifty years.