Numbers 36:13 –
These are the commands and regulations that the LORD gave to the people of Israel through Moses while they were camped on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River across from Jericho.
And we are finished with Numbers. As we close out this last chapter I searched for something deep to expand on, unfortunately the chapter just goes into detail on inheriting land and keeping it with the tribes. Just like any set of legal documents, they eventually need to be expanded. In this case the people came to Moses with specifics on an inheritance which did not take into account keeping the land within the tribes. So God and Moses needed to expand on the law and clarify it.
Today we see this in our own legal system where the laws have become so complex you really do need a lawyer to keep on top of them. Lawyers will pick holes in the law defending cases, “law makers” will then try to patch up the holes by making new laws or clarifying old ones. After 200+ years our nation continues this cycle of criminals weaseling out of offenses and law makers trying to prevent others from doing the same. Ironically today is actually the opposite; the weasels are making their actions legal.
Case in point is the current banking mess. In the early 90’s the S&L crisis hit and destroyed many. The people responsible paid and went to jail. In today’s mess, the culprits appear to have lobbied and had laws relaxed so they will get off “scot-free”! That is one positive thing about Moses and God writing the “law”, it is not biased by human greed!
Now this is where the legalism comes into the Hebraic Law. Throughout the Torah you have legal type laws, like the division of the land and penalties for crimes, which help maintain an orderly society. Then you have “laws” of what you can or cannot eat, which are more guidelines on keeping the people healthy. Murder is clearly a sin, but is eating pork a sin? Christianity today seems to parse out what works in the OT, like tithing. We take Peters vision and use it to justify eating “unclean foods”, where in scripture it was interpreted to mean accepting everyone to salvation not just the Jews. So where are the lines between guidelines in the Hebraic and actual “laws” that are sins?