Legality of the Ten Commandments by H. M. Kelley

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 2, 1915

Legality of the Ten Commandments

By H. M. Kelley

H. M. KELLEY

LAW, technically speaking, is a rule of civil conduct prescribed by legislative authority, but is a word illimitable, in both its popular and its technical sense. In a constitutional form of government all rules and enactments promulgated by legislative authority emanate from the supreme charter or constitution. They may be laws, but are not the fundamental law. They are authoritative, but not absolutely authoritative. They are superficial, not supreme. They possess only delegated or limited authority, and are subject to the constitution. The constitution is, therefore, the supreme law, and possesses the only absolute authority. The righteousness and breadth of the law depend upon the wisdom and disposition of the legislators. The universal weakness of the human race and the unrighteousness of individuals give rise to the liability of unrighteous laws, and it is expedient at times to repeal them. In a constitutional form of government this is permissible, due to the fact that legislators possess only delegated authority; while in an absolute monarchy, the decision of the king or emperor is final, and from that there is no appeal.

The proper purpose of law is easily understood. The only basis of any law is the general good of the community which is to be governed by it. The Supreme Court of the United States has expressed its opinion on this point: “All laws, all political institutions, are dispositions for the future, and their proposed object is to afford a steady and permanent security to the interests of society.” (Rector, etc., of Christ Church vs. Philadelphia County, 24 Howard, 302.) An edict purporting to be law, but working “injury of the persons and property of its subjects, is not law.” (Hurtado vs. California, 110 U. S., 536.)

Bearing these thoughts in mind, let us turn our attention to the law of God.

The Ten Commandments

The decalogue is the most comprehensive code ever written. It holds first place in the collection of legal documents, and is absolutely universal. It took material form when ancient Babylonia was yielding to Egypt its place as the great law-developing nation; but it is evident, for various reasons, that the ten commandments are not the outgrowth of Babylonian jurisprudence. It is true there is a striking similarity between the law of Moses and the code of Hammurabi, but there are strong reasons for believing that Babylonia would never have been the great law-developing nation that it was had it not been for the principles of the ten commandments, which, no doubt, had been committed to the people of God from the beginning.

It was a very remarkable occasion when the divine code was delivered to the children of Israel. “The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from Mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law.” Deut. 33:2. “The Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the 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. 4:12, 13.

It will be observed that this royal document came not from any earthly potentate, but from the King of kings. “Ten thousand saints,” or angels, were present when it was delivered to the Israelites, but for all people. So important was the divine law, that not even the angel Gabriel was permitted to write or even deliver it to God's representative on earth. It is not strange that this law is so comprehensive and explicit in revealing the divine will to men. It is the revelation of the infinite mind, the supreme source of legislative authority.

This divine document is law in the broadest sense of the term. It is supremely authoritative, being the divine charter of God's kingdom on earth. The Author of this distinct code was and is infinitely wise and just; and because it is the mind of God toward us materialized, the document is infinitely comprehensive and just. God is God because he is infinite: and any deviation from infinity would reduce him to the level of the finite, and rob him of the Godhead. This is infinitely impossible.

The ten commandments, being the direct representation of the infinite mind, are necessarily infinite, infinitely comprehensive. Then, because they are infinitely comprehensive, it is absurd to say they are limited in power, authority, or to any dispensation. To do so would place them on an equality with the laws of men, which would be an insult to the Majesty of heaven. It would virtually be changing “the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man.”

The law of God, being infinitely comprehensive, is also universal. “Let them be confounded and troubled forever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish: that men may know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high over all the earth.” Ps. 83:17, 18. His jurisdiction extends to the ends of the universe, and he rules over all kingdoms of men. All nations owe allegiance to the government of heaven and are subject to the requirements of God's law, but are not authorized to legislate in favor of or against it. The governments of earth are limited in this respect the same as the State legislatures are limited by the federal Constitution. The laws of men become obsolete, and it is expedient at times to change them; but the law of God is applicable in all ages and under all conditions.

Men are prone to treat the decalogue with a great deal of disrespect. When a rule of law is settled, the courts are not at liberty to disregard it, even though they consider it inconvenient or unjust. The remedy in such a case is to be found in the legislative department; but men seem to feel at liberty to disregard the claims of the ten commandments, and set them aside with impunity. If they consider them inconvenient or unjust, they should refer them back to the legislative department—to God and the “ten thousand saints” who handed them down.

There is one other way by which the no-law advocates can seek to evade the law of God, according to a ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States. In Hurtado vs. California (110 U. S., 536) it is said that “arbitrary power, enforcing its edicts to the injury of the persons and property of its subjects, is not law, whether manifested as the decree of a personal monarch or of an impersonal multitude.” Those who desire, are at liberty to seek to evade the obligations of the ten commandments on this ground. But it is incumbent upon them to prove, first, that God is arbitrary; and, second, that he enforces his law to the injury of his people and their property. Where is the man that will so speak against God?

Statutory Documents

Having shown that the ten commandments are authoritative, it seems advisable to study their relation to certain statutory documents. Some Bible students seem to be unable to observe the difference between the ten commandments and the legal writings of Moses. It is not incorrect to speak of the statutory documents of Moses as the Mosaic law, for statutes are laws in a certain limited sense; but it is decidedly incorrect to speak of these statutes as the distinct law of God. They grew out of certain conditions existing under the theocracy

immediately after the children of Israel had left Egypt, and were distinctly characteristic of their forms of worship. Their faith in the living God was so nearly destroyed by their association with the idolaters of Egypt, that they were unable to look away from the material things of earth for the fulfillment of spiritual promises; and to overcome this difficulty, they were authorized to use various symbolical representations in their worship.

To regulate the various ceremonies in this theocratic system of worship, it was necessary to give definite legislative instruction. The Pentateuch abounds with statutes written by Moses for this very purpose. These statutes were inspired, and were the Lord's expressed will toward the children of Israel for that particular time and because of local conditions peculiar to themselves, as I have shown. These statutory documents were recognized as the law of Moses, but they came to be spoken of as the law of God, which was not incorrect; but they were not the fundamental law.

These laws were in no sense universal, but were designed to meet local conditions. When these conditions changed, when type met antitype, the statutes relating to the ceremonies pertaining thereto became obsolete; but the student makes a fatal mistake when he confuses these writings with the ten commandments, which were in no sense typical or figurative. Since no change of the law is anywhere intimated, but strong statements to the effect that the law can never change were frequently used by the Saviour, we must conclude that all arguments to the contrary are vain, and that “all his commandments are sure. They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.” Ps. III: 7, 8.

Greenfield, Ind.