Following The Ten Commandments, God reveals a series of additional instructions. The NIV version of the Bible translates these as ‘laws’ in 21:1, but the word might better be translated as ‘ordinances,’ ‘judgements’ or ‘rights.’ They describe the rights that those living within Israel should expect to have and the ways that the people should be governed by their leaders.

These were not intended to be a complete list of all instructions or rights. There were already several codes of law that people in the ancient near east were familiar with. Moses’ ordinances sometimes added to those codes, sometimes corrected them, sometimes cancelled parts of them, and sometimes improved on them, but they didn’t repeat them. Practices and customs that were already known and widely practiced are not necessarily included here unless God wanted to change them in some way, which explains why some basic subjects are not covered.

These ordinances were examples of the ways that God’s commandments might apply in everyday situations that people might face in those days. By understanding how God intended his specific laws to be applied in these examples, God’s people could learn the wider principles on which the commandments were based and discover how to apply them in all areas of life.

Today, these ordinances can be useful for Christians in the same way as they were for Moses and the Israelites. They demonstrate God’s principles of justice, righteousness, obedience and holiness. As we read them, may the Holy Spirit lead us into a deeper understanding of how these principles should apply in our own lives today.

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NEWBOLD COMMUNITY CHURCH