The Law of Moses--How far did it go?

 

In Deut. 5:22 it is reported that after God spoke the Ten Commandments to "all the assembly," he "added no more." God regarded these rules as sufficient and saw no need to provide any more detail.  But the people were apparently not satisfied with these commandments, for in Ex. 20:19 they told Moses to speak to them directly from then on, because they feared to hear God's voice anymore lest they die.  See also Deut. 5:4, "The Lord talked with you (all the people, not just Moses) face to face in the mountain out of the midst of the fire."  In other words, from then on they wanted Moses to be their immediate law-giver, not God.  They did not want to speak "face to face" with God anymore, but only with Moses.  See also Deut. 5:22-28. 

All the rest of the rules and regulations in the Mosaic Law were spoken to the people by Moses as the intermediary between them and God.  In other words, the Ten Commandments were given by God to the people directly, whereas all the remaining rules passed through Moses.  Jesus underscores the essentially human and limited nature of these rules in John 10:34, "Is it not written in your law…?" and in John 8:17 Jesus said, "In your own law it is written…." But even the Ten Commandments, which came from God directly, are not the key to salvation.  Salvation is through faith in Christ, and by faith alone.