All I Hear is, “Thou Shalt Not!”

All I Hear is, “Thou Shalt Not!”

I was in a discussion with someone a few weeks back who became frustrated with the conversation and blurted out, “All I ever hear is the ‘Thou shalt not’ parts of the Bible! It’s like God is just sitting back and waiting to smack us around!” I had to admit; it doesn’t always look like God has a plan for us. But that’s where faith in God’s Will kicks in.

Where’d All the Rules Come From?

Imagine for a minute that you’re in a beautiful garden. You’re the only one there and have the run of the entire thing. You can do, say, and act in any way you want. The only rule given is, “Don’t eat the fruit on that tree over there.” Now, there are over a billion trees in the garden, all dripping with beautiful, ripe fruit. So why would you grab a handful of “don’t do that” from the one tree you’ve been told not to? Yup, humans are born idiots.

We’re all born with a thing called “free will.” It’s sort of a game of Truth or Consequences, only in this game, it’s do the right thing or pay the consequences. If we choose to do the right thing, we grow closer to God and His Will or plan he has mapped out for us. What is His Will? It’s that thing He knows we will be the best at and what will make us the happiest in our lives. But if we choose to do the wrong thing, we’re putting our own desires above what God wants for us. That’s called being selfish.

There Used to Be One Rule: Where’d the Rest Come From?

God allowed humans the opportunity to come back to Him and His Will on their own, but humans became more and more selfish. So, He destroyed the world with a flood and allowed Noah to start all over again. Unfortunately, going rogue had become a part of human life. God decided to take one people and train them up to do the things that would eventually bring them back to Him and His desire for us—to be reunited with Him and His Will for us. Unfortunately, those people—the Israelites— continued down the wrong road and ended up as slaves in Egypt.

Eventually, God decided they were ready to take on a few rules that would bring them back to Him. He sent a man who was a part of them but raised as an Egyptian—Moses. When Moses brought them out of Egypt and to Mount Sinai, they had picked up even worse habits from the Egyptians. Giving them another chance, God wrote a list of only ten things that he wanted humans not to do in hopes that they would come back to Him. The list of ten were:

1. I am Yahweh, your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the place of slave labor. You will have no gods other than me.
2. You must not make yourselves any image or any likeness of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the waters under the earth; you must not bow down to these gods or serve them. For I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God and I punish the parent’s fault in the children, the grandchildren, and the great-grandchildren, among those who hate me; but I show faithful love to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments.
3. You must not misuse the name of Yahweh your God, for Yahweh will not leave unpunished anyone who uses his name for what is false.
4. Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy, as Yahweh, your God, has commanded you. Labor for six days, doing all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath for Yahweh, your God. You must not do any work that day, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servants male or female, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your animals, nor the foreigner who has made his home with you; so that your servants, male and female, may rest, as you do. Remember that you were once a slave in Egypt and that Yahweh, your God, brought you out of there with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; this is why Yahweh, your God, has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
5. Honor your father and your mother, as Yahweh your God has commanded you so that you may have a long life and may prosper in the country which Yahweh your God is giving you.
6. You must not murder.
7. You must not commit adultery.
8. You must not steal.
9. You must not give false evidence against your fellow.
10. You must not set your heart on your neighbor’s spouse; you must not set your heart on your neighbor’s house, or field, or servant man or woman or ox, or donkey, or any of your neighbor’s possessions.

So, what did the people do? Well, Moses hadn’t even come down the mountain yet, and the people had already broken over half of the few rules God made! Moses was so upset that he threw the two stone tablets of the rules to the ground and smashed them. In short, God was fed up. He had given humans the opportunity to come back to Him and gave them only ten rules! They couldn’t even follow those!

What Did God Do?

God put His foot down. He basically grounded the Israelites for the next 1400 years in hopes that by giving humans a play-by-play “do and don’t” list of 613 rules, they would finally learn exactly what they needed to do to reunite with Him.  God was hoping that by doing the external things, they would begin to internalize what they needed to do to come back to God. Things like “Thou shalt not eat pork or even touch swine.” Now, I don’t know about you, but eating a pork chop or well-barbequed ribs is a highlight of my week! What does God have against pigs?

It’s not the pig God has issues with; it’s what they symbolize and what man had turned them into. First, swine were typically what ate the trash of any community or town. They were the first step in recycling. Second, if the pork is not fully cooked or eaten raw, you run a high risk of contracting trichinosis, which makes you deathly ill. Another issue was swine were the largest group of animals sacrificed to the pagan gods. So, in essence, God was saying, “Don’t have anything to do with the animal that can bring you bodily or spiritual ruin.”

What Changed?

In a Word, Jesus. After about 1400 years of living the external laws, Jesus came into the world and lived the laws perfectly, showing what it looked like to internalize them. Yes, He was both divine and human, but… that’s for another discussion. He proved that the laws could be lived. And He did the most amazing thing. He flipped the external laws—some say “Thou shalt not” laws into the “Thou shalt” laws! He took all 613 rules and broke them down into two that you must abide by:

Matthew 22: 37-40

1. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.
2. And the second is like unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

That’s it! Jesus took all the individual rules, the “Thou can’ts” and turn them into two “Thou musts!” He took, lived, and broke down all 613 laws into two categories: Give back to God what He deserves (which is your total love and admiration), and treat every person as you want to be treated—no exceptions. Dorthy Day had a great quote for this. She said, “I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least.” So, the next time you feel like there are way too many rules, remember, there are really only two that break down to “Do the right thing. All else is not good for you.”