In school, I noticed that teachers would often repeat the concepts they felt were most important, and became fairly good at predicting what would be on the tests based upon what was emphasized and repeated in class. Anyone who has read the Bible, even just by skimming, knows that God employs tons of repetition in the books of law (throughout the Bible actually). To get a better understanding of which concepts God emphasizes throughout the books of law, I am creating a table that cross-references laws, commands, and events across the 5 books of law. This is not a comprehensive list (there may be other verses with the books of law pertaining to each topic that I have missed). Note, the content page may not display properly in e-mail or RSS feeders; if you can't view the graphs or references, please view the original page.

The feast days are one of my favorite things to study as they have so much meaning packed in to layers. From symbolism pointing forward to Messiah, to spiritual meaning for our everyday life, to a memorial to the salvation of Israel from Egypt, there’s so much to understand here. As such verses about these feasts can be found in every book except Genesis.

These might be the most recognizable laws among believers and non-believers alike. Each of these is discussed across several books, with the Sabbath, murder, and adultery being the only three to appear in all five books. Interestingly these three also summarizes the overarching message of the Bible. The Sabbath appears before sin and is a callback to YHWH’s perfect creation, to holiness. Murder is a violation of life—throughout the Bible YHWH commands us to choose life and death is synonymous with sin. Throughout the Bible idolatry is also described as adultery, because the opposite of adultery is faithfulness. We are called to return to perfection (New Jerusalem/Heaven) by choosing life and rejecting sin through faithfulness in the Messiah (who defeated death, was/is/will be perfect, and is faithful to His flock).

Sacrificial law and the priesthood were crucial to the salvation of Israel. Without Messiah to serve as both the sacrifice and the priest, Israel needed guidance on how to perform these tasks themselves. This makes up the bulk of was is discussed in the books of law, which correlates to the fact that our salvation is most important.

From the very beginning, YHWH had concerns about what we hate—so much so that the only command and restriction given in the garden was about what Adam and Eve were allowed to eat! Seeing that these commands existed as far back as Genesis is part of what really spoke to me when I was researching how the dietary laws apply to us today.

Two of the most important laws in these books are the laws about how we treat the oppressed—the poor, the orphans, foreigners, etc.—and the ones that tell us the law is a sign of our allegiance to YHWH. Despite being discussed less than some of the laws above, this is foundational to the message and comes up repeatedly throughout the history of Israel. Keeping God’s commands was to set Israel apart from other nations. Despite some of the laws reading a bit bizarre in our modern mindset, the Israelite’s law was quite progressive for its time. Other nations would have marveled at Israel had they actually treated the poor and the oppressed the way YHWH commanded. Instead they continually fell in to idolatry and did not keep His law.