by Erik Jones

In the midst of reaffirming the physical blessings to Isaac, God gives us this important description of Abraham. We learn that not only did Abraham obey what God explicitly told Him to do (for example, leaving his homeland and being willing to sacrifice Isaac), but that he also obeyed God’s commandments, statutes and laws.

This verse is especially significant because it shows that the laws of God existed long before they were given to Israel through Moses.

What is typically called the Mosaic Law was given to Israel at Mount Sinai. The giving of the law is recorded in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Some feel that this law was devised by Moses or only came into being at the time of Moses. The argument is that if the law was brought into existence thousands of years into human history at the time of Moses, then it is not a universal law and was abolished through Jesus Christ.

The verse we are considering today shows that this argument is false.

The commandments, statutes and laws of God existed long before Moses. God simply used Moses to record and codify those laws for Israel when they agreed to the covenant (Exodus 19:8). God is the ultimate Lawgiver (Isaiah 33:22; James 4:12).

Many examples exist of people having knowledge of God’s law prior to its codification on Mount Sinai. Two major examples are:

• Noah understood the laws about clean and unclean meats (Genesis 7:2). This law was later recorded in Leviticus 11.
• Joseph understood the commandment against adultery when Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him (Genesis 39:7-9).

To discover more evidence that the laws of God were in effect long before Moses and Mount Sinai, read our informative article “Were the 10 Commandments Around Before Moses?”

Tomorrow on the Daily Bible Verse Blog: “Jacob Receives the Blessings Through Deceit.”