What is the law of God and how does it relate to prophecy? Edmund Heddle continues his series by unpacking this key topic...

Prophets are people with standards. They believe that certain standards of belief and behaviour have been laid down by Almighty God; standards which they, like the rest of mankind, are duty bound to live up to.

However, as prophets, they have the added responsibility of upholding these standards against a background of universal human rebellion by urging everyone, irrespective of their power or position, to full obedience.

In other words, a prophet is a person commissioned by God to make plain what his laws are, in order that people may comply with his requirements and so escape the otherwise grave consequences of disobedience.

Against a background of human rebellion, prophets have the responsibility to uphold God's standards of belief and behaviour and urge others to do the same."

Prophets' Warning

There is clear evidence from the Old Testament that both rulers and their people were warned by prophets sent by God to obey the laws they had received from Moses.

The prophet Ahijah warned King Jeroboam against following Solomon's bad example and urged him to obey God's laws and to keep his commandments (1 Kings 11:30-38). Another prophet, Azariah, encouraged King Asa to turn from idolatry and to start observing God's law, after a lapse of many years (2 Chron 15:1-15).

A summary passage following Israel's being sent away into exile says:

Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and by every seer, saying: Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets (2 Kings 17:13)

Another passage relates a similar situation when, years later, Judah was also taken away into captivity (Jer 25:4-6).

God's Concern

Jeremiah points out that God's intention in sending prophetic warnings was for their good, that "it might be well with them" (Jer 7:23). That such obedience would be "for their own good, and the good of their children after them" (Jer 32:39). The measure of God's concern is shown in an oft-repeated phrase which occurs nine times in Jeremiah (7:13; 7:25-26; 11:7-8; 25:3-¬4; 26:4-6; 29:19; 32:33; 35:14-15; 44:4): "Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets, daily rising early and sending them."

The King James translation preserves the picturesque quality of the phrase by rendering it 'rising up early and sending' (that is, rising up early and speaking/protesting/teaching). This is an attempt to render a Hebrew verb shakam, which means 'to incline the shoulder to take a burden, to load a burden on the back of a man or a beast': because this would be done in the early morning at the beginning of the day's work, it took to itself the significance of 'starting early in the morning'.

Many times in Jeremiah the verb 'shakam' is used: it is a verb which paints a beautiful picture of God getting up early in the morning and taking great care to dispatch his servants on their mission"

This beautiful picture of God getting up early to ensure that his prophets were dispatched on their mission of mercy to his people is not quite so striking when this word is rendered by 'persistently' (RSV), 'day after day, again and again' (NIV) or by 'eagerly and earnestly' (Moffatt). Prophets today need a similar dedication if they are to save others, whether individuals or communities, from the consequences of breaking God's laws. For if they allow people to go on despising God's laws this will inevitably result in a situation for which there is 'no remedy' (2 Chron 36:15-16).

God's Law Different

The Roman empire was held together not primarily by its Emperor as dictator, but by Roman law, that 'lex' which was so highly regarded by all true Roman citizens. But when we speak of the law of Moses, we are referring to something different. It is true that Roman law originally grew out of Roman religion. It was believed that the founders of the Roman state had entered into a pact with certain gods and that they would guard Rome, provided the lex was observed.

But by New Testament times, the religion of Rome had lost its hold on educated men and the lex was no longer vitally connected with religion. The Law of Moses, in contrast, was unchangeably connected with the worship of the one true God.

The Hebrew 'Torah'

The Hebrew word standing for God's law is 'Torah'. The root of this word is the Hebrew word to 'teach' which is a form of the verb 'to shoot', the idea being that a man might shoot an arrow to show direction. This is the word used for the Law of Moses and in contrast with the Roman lex, it conveys the idea of instruction, rather than legalism (the word 'legalism' is connected with 'lex').

At the heart of God's law is not legalism, but principles, revelation and words to govern a personal relationship"

The 'Torah' contains instruction, revelation and 'words', an element not to be found in any modern law book. The Ten Commandments were originally called 'These words' (Deut 5:22). Together these items give the principles that govern Israel's covenant relationship with Jehovah God and they imply a personal relationship between the teacher and the taught.

God's 'Segullah'

The introduction to God's law is a reminder of what he had done to bring Israel into existence as a nation. It was because of what he had done for Israel first that she in turn must obey his commands as the only fitting response to such undeserved kindness:

You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I brought you to myself. Now, therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples... (Ex 19:4-5); literally, you shall be my 'segullah'.

George Knight in his book Law and Grace explains the meaning of segullah: "In olden days a king was the ultimate owner of everything in the land he ruled. He owned every building, every farm...But that kind of 'owning' could give him little personal satisfaction. Consequently in his palace he kept a treasure chest of his 'very own', in which he delighted to store the precious stones and objets d'art which he loved to handle. This treasure box was his 'segullah'. The whole object of God's law is that Israel might be his 'segullah'. All nations belonged to him, but Israel was to be his peculiar treasure (compare 1 Peter 1:9). How strangely does the attitude of the Pharisees of Jesus' day contrast with all this when they tried to deduce from God's law regulations to suit every possible contingency in human life."

Ceremonial Law

We are learning that the voice of the true prophet is always the voice of the law of God, once for all declared through Moses. What then of those passages in the Old Testament where the prophets appear to reject the ceremonial system of blood sacrifices, preferring obedience to ceremony? "To obey is better than sacrifice" (1 Sam 15:22). "I desire steadfast love, not sacrifice" (Hos 6:6). "What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord... I do not delight in the blood of bulls...incense is an abomination to me...your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates" (Isa 1:11, 13-14).

These and other verses like them may seem to indicate a total rejection of religious ceremony on the part of the prophets. In the Isaiah passage the attack on the offering of sacrifices is very strong, but it is no stronger than the prophet's attack on the Sabbath (v13) and on prayer (v15). It cannot be that the prophet is repudiating the Sabbath or prayer. Rather he is saying that unless sacrifice is the expression of the heart's devotion of the worshipper it is of itself not only useless, but very offensive to the Almighty. The keeping of the Sabbath and the offering of prayer is also an offence if it is a cover up for sinful deeds and selfish ways.

Prophetic Theology

In their understanding of God and his ways, the prophets built on the earlier revelation given to Moses and did not question it. Peter Southwell in his book Prophecy (p63) says:

Prophetic theology is parasitic, it stood upon the shoulders of its predecessors and needed the older traditions for its sustenance.

However, having granted that the theology of the prophets is firmly based on the Law of Moses, they did not stop there but went on to speak of a coming king, a suffering servant, a new covenant, an abundant outpouring of God's Spirit and a glorious new age, when nature, as well as people would be totally renewed. They moved on from a law inscribed on tablets of stone to the law of God written in the hearts of His people.

The prophets' theology was firmly based on the Law of Moses; from here they spoke of a coming king, a new covenant, an abundant outpouring of God's Spirit and a glorious new age."

And when eventually Jesus came in fulfilment of the promises they had unveiled, he declared that the teaching of law and prophets would not be abolished - both were equally important and he would himself fulfil both (Matt 5:17). Prophets today must remember that they are responsible to proclaim the total Lord Jesus, who fulfils all that the law and the prophets have said about him.

Prophetic Continuity

As JA Motyer has pointed out in the New Bible Dictionary (p1045):

Prophets and prophecy form the greatest line of continuity between the Old and New Testaments. The prophetic line did not end with Malachi, so to speak, but with John the Baptist. This is the express teaching of our Lord: 'For all the Prophets and the law prophesied until John' (Matthew 11:13).

John continued the pattern of Old Testament prophecy as he insisted upon repentance for disobedience to God's law, and then combined both proclamation (forthtelling) and prediction (foretelling) as he spoke of the wrath to come but also of the grace to come (Luke 3:7, 16). The message that John had for his generation is that which today's prophets must pass on to their generation too.

Prophets to the Nations

The message brought by the prophets of the Old Testament was not delivered only to Israel and Judah. They also had things to say to the nations, small and great, of their day (see Isa 13:1-23:18). In the Book of the Revelation (Ch 10), the angel said to John: "Take the scroll and eat it; it will be bitter to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth..." John was told, "You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings." There are things to be said not only to the Church of those who believe, but also to the nations.

Prophets were not only sent to Israel and Judah, but also to the nations, small and great."

God said to the young Jeremiah: "I have appointed you a prophet to the nations...I have set you today over nations and kingdoms" (Jer 1:5, 10). This was by no means an easy task and at times it was a bitter one. But, as the angel told John, there is also a sweetness that increases the more we digest the law and the prophets.

There can never have been a time when the nations have so desperately needed to hear what God's prophets are commissioned to say. God's standards apply to all men everywhere. It is part of the prophet's calling to declare what they are and to tell of the grace that can write them on our hearts.

First published in Prophecy Today, Vol 2, No 1, 1986.