Do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you. Just obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you. [Deuteronomy 4.2]
Moses was giving a little history lesson to Israel in this part of the Bible. Here are a couple little sentences (in introduction of the Ten Commandments) that seem to have slipped past the Jewish nation in subsequent years. In fact, Israel's deviation from the directive of this scripture passage drew the ire of Jesus the Messiah:
Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him, “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.” Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? [Matthew 15.1-3]
I don't recall ever noticing Moses' direction here to avoid adding or subtracting from the Ten Commandments, but I have noticed it today!
Like any law, given enough time and space, humans require it to be further explained and modernized. If there exists the least bit of rebellion (a desire to test the boundaries) in the person who further explains a given law, their translation becomes tainted with tolerance. With enough passing of time, enough 'explanation of explanation', and the human tendency to tolerance factored in, the true directive and meaning of the original law is easily obscured if not lost all together.
It was the very problem described above that became a conflict with Jesus. One well-known point of conflict between Jesus and religious leaders was the treatment of the Sabbath. The religious leaders seemed to want the Sabbath to suffocate man, where Jesus interpreted the Sabbath to help man. Where the religious leaders were focused on strict adherence to not only the basic Fourth Commandment but also their far-reaching interpretations of it, Jesus indicated that the Sabbath was for man and not the other way around. Therefore, any further explanation from Jesus about the Sabbath allowed that which was for man. Jesus very much operated in love for mankind and the religions leaders operated in love for themselves.
There is much more that could be discussed about the Sabbath (or day of rest), but I will let that be another post on another day. Suffice it for this post to say that God's people did not do so well following Moses' instruction in Deuteronomy 4.2!
Father, I know in my own life that my interpretations of interpretations of what I have felt you originally spoke to my heart on any given direction have only confused and bewildered and overwhelmed me. I think that never was Your intention! Help me to "just obey" what You speak to my heart without all the need for testing my boundaries on it with explanations!
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