The Angels and the Giving of
the Law of Moses
The Angels and the Giving of
the Law of Moses
We want to start off by saying that we do not believe that the Law of Yahuah (God) and the Law of Moses are one and the same we believe they are two different laws.
Secondly the Law of Moses was only a band aid so to speak to cover the wounds until the healer could come, that healer is Yahusha HaMashyach/ Jesus Christ.
Please see our article: “Why was the LAW given?” for a more in-depth understanding.
1. The Law of God is the 10 commandments or better rendered the 10 words, this is also the first covenant made with Israel as a nation at Mt Sinai.
In Deuteronomy Chapter 5 Moses calls this covenant the 10 words.
Notice in Deuteronomy 5:22 scriptures says that God added NO MORE God wrote them with His own finger on two tablets of stone.
The Apostle James calls the Law of God “The Royal Law”.
2. The Law of Moses is all the other laws outside of the 10 Commandments that were added as a witness against Israel for their breaking of the first covenant.
Deuteronomy 31:25 -26, 25 he (Moses) gave this command to the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahuah: 26"Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of Yahuah (the LORD) your God. There it will remain as a witness against you.
The book of the law was put next to or beside the ark of the covenant, it was to remain as a witness against Israel because they broke/transgressed Yahuah's (the LORD’s) covenant which is the 10 words please see Deuteronomy 4:13; Jeremiah 31:31-37; Hebrews 10:16-17
So many have asked about these other laws which are primarily ceremonial laws who actually wrote these? The Bible actually tells us who wrote the book of the Law it wasn’t God it was Moses:
Deuteronomy 31:9 And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and unto all the elders of Israel.
So this brings me onto my next point and to answer the question who gave the Law to Moses to write down?
There are five texts in the Bible that speak of the angels’ role in the giving of the law at Mount Sinai.
The first occurs in the last recorded speech of the 120-year-old Moses, at the start of the last but not least chapter of the first five books of the Old Testament his blessing of Israel where he tells us that he saw angels on Sinai thirty-eight years ago:
David made the other Old Testament reference to angels at the giving of the law:
The psalmist tells us that twenty thousand, even thousands of angels Moses refers to ten thousands (Deuteronomy 33:2) came as an army (chariots).
Like Moses, David also emphasises the impressiveness and awesomeness of the angels on the holy mount. (The psalmist’s reference to angels‖ makes it clear that the saints‖ or holy ones in Deuteronomy 33:2 are heavenly messengers.)
The first believer recorded in the New Testament as referring to angels at Sinai is the deacon, disputer, apologist and martyr, Stephen.
As part of his defence before the Sanhedrin, he stated that the Israelites received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it (Acts 7:53).
Here we learn that the angels were not only present at Mount Sinai but also that they had a role in the communication of the book of the law to Moses.
So, as we see in these last three verses from three different believers that it was NOT God that gave the book of law at all it was the angels that gave the book of the law commonly known as the Law of Moses and in most cases the Torah.
Most Messianic believers who try to say that Paul was a false prophet or that many are misinterpreting Pauls words have no leg to stand on as there are three other witnesses that mention that the book of the law was given by angels.
Paul, battling against the Judaizers, provides the fourth biblical reference to angels at Mount Sinai:
The word here rendered ordained has the same Greek root as that translated disposition in Acts 7:53.
The basic idea is that of arranging, ordering or appointing. Hebrews 2:2, our fifth and final text, tells us not just that the law was given in the presence of angels (Deuteronomy 33:2; Psalms 68:17) or that it was conveyed in an orderly way through angels (Acts 7:53; Galatians 3:19), but that the law was actually spoken by angels (to Moses):
What was communicated by the angels here?
Was it just the Ten Commandments or the whole body of law given at Sinai (Exodus 19:1 through Numbers 10:10)?
The answer is the latter, the whole body of the law.
First, not only the Ten Commandments were delivered at Sinai (Deuteronomy 33:2; Psalms 68:17).
We must remember that when Israel broke the Covenant at Sinai the book of the law was ADDED as a witness against them, but what was the book of the law ADDED to?
It was added to the already existing 10 commandments.
Second, in his critique of the Israelites who were still swishing to keep the Law of Moses, Stephen meant that Israel had broken all the law and not just the Ten Commandments.
Third, there is a comparison and contrast between the Old Testament law of Moses and the new covenant or gospel of Christ (Galatians 3:19; Hebrews 2:2).
Why should we have expected angels at Mount Sinai?
First, we read of them in connection with key events in the Bible, e.g., creation (Job 38:7), the birth of Jesus (Matthew 1-2; Luke 1-2), Christ’s resurrection (Matthew 28:2-7) and the Lord’s second coming (2 Thessalonians 1:7).
Second, angels frequently are present at theophanies or visible manifestations of God (e.g., Isaiah 6; Ezekiel 1) and this was the greatest theophany in the Old Testament with regard to time (almost a year; Exodus 19:1, cf. Numbers 10:11), viewers (a whole nation of some two million or more) and several impressive features (e.g., the earthquake, fire, clouds and voice of God).
Third, angels are often involved in revelation (Daniel 8-12; Zechariah 1-6; Revelation 1-22) and this is the greatest revelation in the Old Testament, both in terms of its amount‖ (Exodus 19:1–Numbers 10:10) and its foundational role.
Fourth, the good angels are especially interested in justice, a corollary of Yahuah’s (the LORD’s) law given at Sinai. All the unfallen angels live in the presence of the holy God and are all personally sinless and righteous.
They all know what it was like before sin entered heaven and earth.
They saw the fall of Satan and his angels (and God’s punishment of them) and the fall of Adam and Eve (and God’s judgment upon the human race and the earthly creation).
No angel has experienced or will ever experience forgiving mercy. The nature and history of the good angels and their role at the giving of the law are in full accord with the Bible’s presentation of them as ministers of God’s justice.
They are powerful and holy, often evoking, even in believers, fear or trembling or falling to the ground. Look out for this as you read God’s Word. Also you will find that in Scripture the justice they administer to the impenitent wicked is usually death!
That’s all the law of Moses was good for and that was sin and death,
Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.