"The Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the
voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And He
declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even
ten commandments; and He wrote them upon two tables of stone." Deut.
4:12, 13.

This display of majesty and glory indescribable was designed to teach
how sacred and holy is the law, and to cause men to fear to transgress
its precepts. Ex. 20:20.

It was not for themselves alone that the law was committed to Israel.
They were to teach the truth to others. As the New Testament says, it
was greatly to their advantage that "unto them were committed the
oracles of God." Rom. 3:2. But they "received the lively oracles to give
unto us." Through obedience to the divine law, they were to be a light
to the nations.

"Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your
understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these
statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding
people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto
them?" Deut. 4:6, 7.

An interesting comment upon these words is supplied by a speech of
Phalerius, librarian to Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt. Urging the
king by all means to secure copies of the sacred books of the Jews for
his great library in Alexandria, Phalerius said:

"Now it is necessary that thou shouldst have accurate copies of
them. And indeed this legislation is full of hidden wisdom, and
entirely blameless, as being the legislation of God; for which
cause it is, as Hecateus of Abdera says, that the poets and
historians make no mention of it, nor of those men who lead
their lives according to it, since it is a holy law, and ought
not to be published by profane mouths."--_Josephus,
"Antiquities," book 12, chap. 2, sec. 4._

Unfaithful as the Jewish people oftentimes were, yet through their
testimony and the dealings of God with them, the fame of the living
oracles was spread abroad among the ancient nations.

One God--One Moral Standard

"There is one Lawgiver." James 4:12. He is ever the same, and His law is
the standard of righteousness for all mankind. There was not one moral
standard before Christ and another after. Christ's death upon the cross
because man had broken the law, is the divine testimony to all the
universe that God's law can never be set aside nor its