The Law Pattern of Moses
1327 words long.
Published on 2024-04-27
The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
- Psalm 19:7
Beginning at the End.
When I began to pour my energies into unraveling the mysteries of the Bible's wisdom, I did not begin with the Ten Commandments. I began with Job, detoured through Matthew, then plunged into Ecclesiastes and Proverbs, before finally settling upon the Psalms and the tablets of Moses. A wiser person than I would have taken a more direct route. The Law of Moses, and in particular the Ten Commandments, are the foundation of Lady Wisdom's house. My clever mind reveled in what I perceived to be the subtle, sweet richness of those other springs. I did not credit Moses with setting before us ideas so elevated that those other books in comparison are mere stepping stones up to its heights, puddles besides its sea.
To the modern reader, the metaphorical mazes of the wisdom lore are literary sugarcoating on simple analogies. The mystery is that the parables tell you exactly what they mean, so directly and purely that the eyes of our shallow, contorted hearts can't see the sense of them. All the talk of seven pillars, of a house with a foundation, of growing crops and harvesting them seems to us mere surface style. The reality is that they precisely define ideological constructs and their interrelationships. The words reveal patterns and whole books of the Bible conform to those patterns, realizing and elaborating upon them.
The first article in this section will explain the Law Pattern: Which Ten Commandments?
The second article will explore how that pattern is realized in the Gospel of Matthew: Matthew and the Law of Christ
Time and Eternity
The majesty of the Law Pattern is that it serves as a true ideological foundation to Lady Wisdom's House. The first tablet of the commandments matches the Harvest Pattern of Jesus, point point for point. The second tablet matches the Growth Pattern of Solomon. Had I not discovered those two patterns first, I never would have decoded the commandments. Thus the Ten Commandments comprise all the richness and power of both of the patterns that govern the pillars of wisdom.
Time. In Matthew 12:42, it says "something greater than Solomon is here." That was the clue that the Harvest Pattern of Jesus is greater than the Growth Pattern of Solomon. Solomon's pattern governs life "under the sun". It defines the normal course of life for people, nations like Israel, the Church, and all of human civilization. Solomon's pattern is about time.
Eternity. On the other hand, Jesus' pattern is about spiritual growth and the acquisition of spiritual treasures. Jesus' pattern is about eternity. How marvelous then was my realization that the Harvest Pattern matches the commandments to love God, the things above. Contrarily, the Growth Pattern matches the commandments to love your neighbor, the things below. Together, we have commandments and patterns for both time and eternity.
Ten or Fourteen?. The Ten Commandments are used as a template in many places in the Bible. Sometimes they divide things into ten parts, such as the ten verses of Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel (see the article Hannah's Song ) or the ten chapters that comprise 1 & 2 Timothy. Sometimes the commandments are divided into fourteen parts, for the reasons given in the article Which Ten Commandments?. The premier example of that is Matthew, where each pair of chapters matches one of the fourteen affirmative statements of the commandments.
The Decalogue
I
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
II
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image,
or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above,
or that is in the earth beneath,
or that is in the water under the earth.
5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them,
for I the Lord your God am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the
children to the third and the fourth generation
of those who hate me,
6 but showing steadfast love to thousands
of those who love me and keep my commandments.
III
7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord
your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold
him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
IV
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.
On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son,
or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant,
or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.
Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
V
12 “Honor your father and your mother,
that your days may be long in the land
that the Lord your God is giving you.
VI
13 “You shall not murder.
VII
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
VIII
15 “You shall not steal.
IX
16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
X
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor's house;
you shall not covet your neighbor's wife,
or his male servant, or his female servant,
or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”
Those are the commandments. They are not dry rules that restrict. They are not static, like scalars in mathematics. They are dynamic liberating vectors that point us in a new direction. These words guide us towards the eternal sabbath rest. For a complete exposition on how they are a beautiful and liberating guide towards the savior, read my book, Plague, Precept, Prophet, Peace. The following articles are two of the chapters from that book:
In them, you will learn that buried in the Ten Commandments is a clue to one of the most revolutionary truths of Christianity: the incarnation.
Links to the other articles in this section:
Spiritual Growth Introduction to the articles about spiritual growth.
What are Life's Twelve Most Important Questions? If you can answer these questions, you know the way better than the Mandelorian.
What are the Heavenly Treasures? It is one thing to list these treasures, quite another to acquire them!
The Harvest Pattern of Jesus A tactical pattern for overcoming an individual obstacle and reaping a single spiritual harvest.
The Growth Pattern of Solomon Overview of a strategic pattern to help you plan your whole life.
There is a Season The chapter from Peace, like Solomon Never Knew where I first introduced the Growth Pattern.
The Apostle Paul's Discipleship Program Shows how the first seven letters of Paul to the churches are arranged according to the Growth Pattern.
Seven Facets of Spirit-led Discipleship The Sermon on the Mount conforms to the Growth Pattern.
The Motherhood Pattern A strategic pattern for women.
The Law Pattern of Moses The law does more than restrict; it also guides.
- Which Ten Commandments? The Harvest and Growth Patterns fit perfectly into the Law Pattern.
Matthew and the Law of Christ The Gospel of Matthew is a perfect realization of the Law Pattern. It helps us understand what the Apostle Paul meant by the phrase "the law of Christ".
Seven Facets of Spirit-led Discipleship The Sermon on the Mount conforms to the Growth Pattern.
The Journey Pattern It is a long journey back to Eden.
Emotional Prophecies of the Psalms
Job and the Ways to Talk to God
Job Description for a Savior Job knew what he needed in a savior. Do you?
Dreams Dreams can guide you, paralyze you, or lead you astray. In my case, it was all three.
Spiritual Warfare Somebody IS out to get you.
