That there were laws in operation before the Mosaic Covenant was given can be proved from the words of Moses spoken before he had recived the Law: “And Moses said unto his father in law, Because the people come unto me to enquire of God: when they have a matter, they come unto me, and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God, and his laws” (Ex. 18:6).
Although we have no record of the giving of these “statutes” and “laws”, many of them are referred to, or alluded to in the Genesis narrative. The following are some of them:
- To fill the earth and have dominion (Gen. 1:28)
- Permission to eat of the trees (Gen. 2:16)
- Not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:16)
- Names of animals as determined by Adam (Gen. 2:19)
- The Law of marriage, monogamy (Gen. 2:24, Mat. 19:5-8)
Whilst some of these may be regarded as “local”, that is pertaining to only to man in Eden, they were nevertheless standards by which the behaviour of man might be regulated. The following are laws of a more general scope, following the Fall:
- To maintain a separation between the righteous and the godly (Gen. 3:15, Gen. 6:24)
- Man must work for food (Gen. 3:19)
- Sacrifice must be offered, and a place for sacrifice to be appointed (Gen. 4:3)
- A law of protection for Cain (Gen. 4:15)
- Murder condemned (Gen. 4:9-13)
- Against violence (Gen. 6:13)
- Law of Faith (Gen. 15:6, Rom. 3:27)
- A distinction placed between clean and unclean animals (Gen. 7:2)
- Flesh could be eaten (Gen. 9:3)
- Blood not to be eaten (Gen. 9:3)
- Only clean animals to be offered in sacrifice (Gen. 8:20)
- Against seeing father’s nakedness (Gen. 9:22-27)
- Priesthood established (Gen. 14, Exo. 19:22)
- Circumcision, and the cutting off of the uncircumcised (Gen. 17:1-14)
- To command/instruct children (Gen. 18:12)
- Against the sin of Sodom (Eze. 16:49)
- Pride
- Lack of care for the poor
- Self indulgence
- Haughtiness
- Idlesness
- Sexual perversity
- Against adultery (Gen. 20:3)
- Covenant making (Gen. 21:27)
- Against marriage with the uncircumcised
- Law relating to Oath making (Gen. 24:41)
- Birthright (Gen. 34:7)
- Against fornication (Gen. 34:7)
- Preparation/cleansing before worship (Gen. 35:2)
- The Drink offering (Gen. 35:14)
Each of these statutes were incorporated into the Law of Moses, which was “added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made (Gal. 3:29), that is, to regulate the behavior of the Israelites, and to teach them the standards that would be seen and fulfilled in the promised Seed.
Christopher Maddocks
