D12-9: Did God Really Give His Torah To Israel Knowing Full Well They Wouldn’t Be Able To Keep It?

God doesn’t give us a clear reason why there was to be only ONE PLACE for all of Israel to sacrifice.

Possibly one of the reasons is that the Lord wanted His People to do things in complete opposite fashion of what the pagans did.

And here’s the thing.

We do know that the Wilderness Tabernacle was relocated several times to different areas in Israel and when that happened, the Lord didn’t seem to object.

Concerning the command from God to Israel to destroy all of the worship altars and shrines of the Canaanite gods, looking back in history, we have no choice but to place these commands under the category of being a “heavenly ideal”.

Why do I say this?

Because these commands were not 100% completely carried out.

The same goes for the territorial boundaries the Lord had established for His Holy Land.

While Israel has succeeded in taking possession of some of the land, to this day, they have not yet succeeded in possessing all of the land per the “heavenly ideal” or God’s original instructions.

What exactly do I mean when I say “heavenly ideal”?

Simple.

I’m talking about the literal perfection or the ultimate state of fulfillment of something that can be achieved.

Although all of God’s ideals have not yet been completely achieved, they eventually will be.

Remember we are to always pray “As in heaven, so on earth…“.

And let us not forget the command from the Messiah.

^“Be perfect, therefore,
as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
-Matthew 5:48

Getting back to what I was saying, historically, Israel never did accomplish destroying every pagan shrine, altar, and Asherah per the Lord’s original instructions.

Even when Israel reached the zenith of its power under the awesome reigns of King David and then later his son Solomon, Israel was never able to 100% fulfill God’s instructions written here in Deuteronomy Chapter 12.

What are we to conclude from this?

Are we to think that maybe the goal was not seriously attainable…

…kind of like how the Christians say God only gave the commands to Israel…

…so they would come to the realization that they weren’t capable of fulfilling His commands?

I think we can dismiss that ridiculous notion.

Or was it possibly because God Himself wasn’t capable of fulfilling through His People what He had commanded them?

I think that’s an equally ridiculous notion we can dismiss.

There is no easy answer to this but one thing I can say is that Israel’s success was linked TO THEIR OBEDIENCE TO HIS TORAH.

And historically we know that Israel stumbled greatly in that regard (just as we continue to stumble greatly, so let’s not be pointing fingers at anybody!).

Since Israel stumbled, per the conditions of His Covenant, God had no choice but to defer the fulfillment or in some cases reverse the promises He had made to His People…

…promises that won’t be fulfilled until the coming of the Messiah.

Do you see where this is leading? 

Israel’s stumbling is one of the major reasons why the Lord is going to send the Messiah in order that His heavenly ideals can be 100% carried out!

There are two things I want you to understand.

FIRST, God’s commands did NOT fail nor did His Word fall short.

It was us, God’s creatures and NOT the Creator who fell short.

And why do we fail?

Because the Lord gave us free will and in many instances we let the evil inclinations residing within all of us get the better of us.

So instead of cooperating with God, we end up rebelling against Him.

Remember, just as Noah cooperated with God to bring about God’s will, which was worldwide judgment, so must we cooperate with God NOW to help repair the world.

This is undoubtedly the greatest joint venture of all time!

SECOND, I don’t want you to fall for the false notion that God’s commands were impossible to follow.

Sure they might have been difficult to follow at times but NOT impossible.

There’s a huge difference between “difficult” and “impossible“.

The Lord makes it clear in His Torah that these commandments are not too hard for us to follow.

God is our Creator and He created us with the physical capability to fulfill all of His commands and laws.

So yeah man, I don’t accept the Christian doctrine that says God gave the Law to Israel knowing full well Israel wouldn’t be able to keep the Law…

…and then because they didn’t keep it they would somehow wake up one day and realize how helpless they were in their sins and then look for some human atoning sacrifice in the form of a Messiah (who they believe is God) to die on the cross for them.

This doctrine is so ridiculous on so many different levels.

To start with… 

…by definition it is impossible for an eternal God to die.

Second, the Torah forbids human sacrifice.

Third, a being that persistently commands us over and over and over again to keep His instructions while knowing full well we won’t be able to keep His instructions kind of turns God into a perverse and malicious being, don’t you think?

Heck, even in the New Testament which is the premier Christian document, we’re told over and over again to keep the Lord’s Commands which contextually speaking can ONLY BE THE TORAH. 

Remember the New Covenant spoken of in Jeremiah 31 is nothing more nor less than the “Old” Covenant written on the hearts of believers.

Also consider this.

If we’re really not capable of following God’s commands when He gave them to us, then on what basis is it fair for God to punish us for not keeping His commands?

Have you ever thought about that one man?

I mean it’s hardly fair to punish someone for not doing something when they weren’t even capable of doing it in the first place.

It’s kind of like punishing a second grader who doesn’t even understand basic arithmetic for failing a calculus exam.

That doesn’t sound like a God of love to me and is NOT the God I worship.