Why did God give so many rules to his people?

Hey, this is Shari from Bible Project.

In this episode, we're reflecting on the wisdom and purpose of God's commands,

with the message from Tim Mackey on Deuteronomy 4, 5 through 9.

And stay tuned, because after the scripture reading,

we'll consider some inspiring examples of God's wisdom and respond in prayer together.

Listen in.

Hey everybody, this is Tim Mackey at the Bible Project.

And if you are reading through the story of Israel in the Old Testament,

you know that the first few books are packed with hundreds of ancient laws that God gives to the

people of Israel. And the fifth book of the Bible is called Deuteronomy.

It's a Greek title that means another second law.

And you're thinking, really, like, did we need more laws?

There's hundreds already.

But in the early part of Deuteronomy, chapter 4, there's this important paragraph

that gives a really helpful perspective on the purpose of all of these laws in the Bible.

But first, an important piece of cultural background that's really helpful.

So in the ancient Near East, collections of laws, like the ones we have here in the Torah,

they are common among Israel's neighbors.

You can actually go online and read some of the great ancient law codes of Assyria or Babylon

or the Hittites.

And what's interesting is that these law codes were not created for use in their court systems.

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