Lesson 3: Books of the Law – Discovery

As we study these books of the Law, we need to understand there is a difference between a law and a principle. For example, a law is “speed limit 50” and the principle is “drive safely.”

God gave us laws and rules at the beginning – maybe much the same as we give laws and rules to young children. For example, if we would tell a young child they must love their parents, most children would have very little concept of what such love must look like. Loving their parents is a principle. But if we tell that same child they must do what Mom says or go where Dad sends them or not to put toads or spiders in Mom’s pockets or not to leave toys at the foot of the stairs where Dad comes down early in the morning – we have given the child laws or rules. A younger child will understand the rules, and later, as a teenager, will also understand how the principle of loving their parents was demonstrated by following the rules.

God also taught the human race in steps just as we teach our children in such steps. As the child grows and remembers, so the human race also began to grow and remember so things about God could be passed along to later generations. It was nearly 1500 years after Creation before the first books of the Bible were written, and then another nearly 1500 years before the last book was written. In the study of Scriptures this is called “progressive revelation.” And the picture of it can be seen, for example, as we begin teaching a child math by first teaching them to count, then to add, then to subtract and divide, and finally we can progress into higher math functions.


As we study the books of the Law, we need to understand this difference between Law and Principle too. What God gave to Moses as laws in these 5 books were again given to people as principles by Jesus in Matthew 5-7, and then even more so in Jesus’ ultimate principles stated in Matthew 22:37-40 where Jesus condensed all of the Law and the Prophets into two statements of principle: First, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. Second, love your neighbor as you love yourself.

*What is the principle in Matthew 12:34? How we think controls how we act.