The first five books of the Bible are known as the Torah, or the “Law,” since it is within this set of books that we find Leviticus, the law of the priests of the tribe of Levi, and Deuteronomy, the so-called second law. They are marvelous documents, containing much of the instruction that, if you believe in the Bible, God has given to His people. However, they contain hundreds of laws that, nowadays, only the most traditional of Jews even attempt to observe. Why is that? And why is it that, for the most part, Christians are content to rely on Jesus’ observation that: 

  [Mat 22:37] Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  

[Mat 22:38] This is the first and great commandment.

[Mat 22:39] And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

[Mat 22:40] On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Well, to understand that, you have to understand something about Abraham’s covenant with God, as recorded in chapters 16, 17 and 21 of the book of Genesis (KJV): 

  [Gen 16:1] Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.  

[Gen 16:2] And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.

[Gen 16:3] And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.

[Gen 16:4] And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

[Gen 16:5] And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me and thee.

[Gen 16:6] But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.

[Gen 16:7] And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

[Gen 16:8] And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.

[Gen 16:9] And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.

[Gen 16:10] And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.

[Gen 16:11] And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.

[Gen 16:15] And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.

[Gen 16:16] And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.

[Gen 17:1] And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

[Gen 17:2] And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.

[Gen 17:3] And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,

[Gen 17:4] As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.

[Gen 17:5] Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

[Gen 17:6] And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.

[Gen 17:7] And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.

[Gen 17:8] And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

[Gen 17:9] And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.

[Gen 17:10] This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.

[Gen 17:11] …and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you….

[Gen 17:15] And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.

[Gen 17:16] And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.

[Gen 17:17] Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

[Gen 17:18] And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!

[Gen 17:19] And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son, indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

[Gen 17:20] And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.

[Gen 17:21] But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

[Gen 21:1] And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken.

[Gen 21:2] For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

[Gen 21:3] And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.

[Gen 21:4] And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him.

[Gen 21:8] And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.

[Gen 21:9] And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.

[Gen 21:10] Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.

[Gen 21:11] And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son.

[Gen 21:12] And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

[Gen 21:13] And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.

[Gen 21:14] And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

[Gen 21:15] And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.

[Gen 21:16] And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept.

[Gen 21:17] And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.

[Gen 21:18] Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.

[Gen 21:19] And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.

[Gen 21:20] And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.

[Gen 21:21] And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.

The remainder of the book of Genesis tells the story of God’s test of Abraham in the land of Moriah; Isaac’s marriage to Rebekah and the conflict between their sons Esau and Jacob; and the story of Jacob’s son, Joseph, and his adventures in Egypt. Exodus tells the story of Moses and the Israelites’ departure from Egypt, the ten commandments that form the core of the Mosaic law, and a variety of other moral and religious laws. Leviticus contains the ritual of sacrifice and rules governing the investiture of priests, distinctions between the clean and the unclean, and laws of holiness or purity; while Numbers describes Moses’ and Aaron’s census of the Israelites by clan and family, the consecration of the Levites, the Israelites’ rebellion against Moses, and a wide variety of laws ranging from the requirement that the Israelites put tassels on the hems of their clothing to the sacrifices to be offered on the various feast days. Finally, Deuteronomy chronicles Moses’ review of the Israelites’ history, his admonishment to love God “with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength,” and the blessings to follow those who keep the commandments and curses to fall on those who don’t.  

Now, the Law of Moses, particularly as contained in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, was both elaborate and strict; and it was that Law that the Pharisees and Sadducees were trying to get the Jewish people to observe when Jesus was born and when he preached in Galilee. And it was rigid adherence to the letter of that Law that he had to overcome in order to spread his message of love to the world.  

It is in this regard that St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians is instructive: 

[Gal 4:1] Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;  

[Gal 4:2] But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.

[Gal 4:3] Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world;

[Gal 4:4] But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law,

[Gal 4:5] To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

[Gal 4:6] And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

[Gal 4:7] Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

[Gal 4:8] Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.

[Gal 4:9] But now, after that ye have known God, …how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

[Gal 4:21] Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

[Gal 4:22] For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman.

[Gal 4:23] But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the free woman was by promise.

[Gal 4:24] Which things are an allegory [i.e., a story with a deeper meaning]; [and from the New Jerusalem Bible]: these two women stand for the two covenants. The one given on Mount Sinai — that is Hagar, whose children are born into slavery; now Sinai …represents Jerusalem in its present state, for she is in slavery together with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and that is the one that is our mother….

[Gal 4:28] Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.

[Gal 4:29] But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

[Gal 4:30] Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman.

[Gal 4:31] So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

[Gal 5:1] Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

[Gal 5:3,4] For I testify again to every man that …whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

[Gal 5:5] For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

[Gal 5:6] For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

[Gal 5:14] For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

The question of “And who is my neighbour?” is, of course, amply answered by the story of the Good Samaritan. The question of “And what is love?” is a little more difficult. However, one simple rule is to be found in St. Paul’s letter to the Romans:  

[Rom 13:10] Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.