Rules were made to be broken

You've probably all heard that saying before, spoken cavalierly and persuasively to try and get whoever else they can to go along with breaking whatever rule they have deemed unnecessary. What they may as well be saying is, "That rule is unnecessary, whoever made it up had a ridiculous reason for it, and I know better than them." When you look at it in those terms it doesn't sound quite as convincing. Especially when you think about the person saying it "knowing better" than anyone.

Maybe you've said that exact phrase a few times in your life. If I haven't actually said the phrase, I know I've acted on the principle of it plenty of times before. Like when I'm driving down a quiet straight stretch of road and I see a speed limit sign for "25 mph." In a fraction of a second I've thought "25 mph??? Seriously? You've got to be kidding me, that's ridiculous. Whoever decided that was insane. No way am I going under 25 mph here!" My older brother, who is now a responsible father and husband, and probably better at always obeying rules than I am, had a saying as a teenage driver. "No cop, no stop." We tend to think that unless the authority figure is present, we know better and can bend the rules or make our own. It's probably not likely that we actually DO know better. People are usually in an authority position for a reason and have a perspective on things we don't. But when it comes to the law of God, we CERTAINLY don't know better, and he DEFINITELY has a perspective on things we don't.

God has laid out some pretty strict laws here. They invade every area of the Israelites life. From what they eat, to how they cook it, to what they say and who they make deals with. He doesn't just give it to them and say "follow this or else," He enters into covenant with them. A covenant is a "solemn binding agreement". It always involves blood. It always involves a promise. And the breaking of the promise is punishable by death for the one who broke their end of it.

The Israelites read God's law and they agreed as a nation "Everything the Lord has said we will do, we will obey." Moses then sacrificed young bulls and sprinkled the blood on the altars representing the 12 tribes of Israel and the people themselves. This was a reminder or symbol of the blood required of them should they break their end of the covenant. God promised them that if they upheld the covenant, God would fight for them against their enemies, bless their food and water so they were never sick or lost their children or babies, and give them a "full life span". Wonderful promises indeed. And God would fully uphold His end of the deal. He always does.

We see the most amazing blessing of being in covenant with God at the end of Chapter 24. Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up the mountain and saw God. Wow. By being in covenant with God, we are able to come into his presence. Covenant removes the "enmity" between the two parties. Basically it puts them on common ground.

The problem is...our tendency to break the rules. Our tendency to think we know better. And when we break the covenant- someone's blood is required. I feel for the Israelites. I can't imagine living with the weight of all those laws, and the guilt of failing to keep just one. The fear of knowing I had brought the judgement of such a mighty God down on myself and my family. Thankfully, this wasn't the end of God's plan.

"Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant

with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,

not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day

I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt,

My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the Lord.

"But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,"

declares the Lord, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it;

and I will be their God and they shall be my people.

"They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying,

'Know the Lord,' for they will all know Me,

from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the Lord,

"for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Only the elders and leaders of Israel got to see God that first day after the covenant. Now we all have the opportunity to know God and come into His presence. The same God who went ahead of the Israelites to guard them and bring them to the place He prepared, who drove out their enemies and blessed them desires to do the same for you. Do you think you know better than Him? Lord help us to say, "We will obey."