The entire content of Scripture is nothing less than the story of what Yehovah had to carry out in order to give us once again the opportunity to return to the point at which our ancestor Adam made the wrong decision to depart from Him.
Throughout all of Scripture, but particularly in the Torah (the Pentateuch), we find commands and laws that seem to make no sense, or that simply appear arbitrary.
Indeed, many of the decrees given by Yehovah are not entirely understandable; yet they have a reason for being. And even if for now we do not fully understand their meaning, we can be sure that at the very least they are testing our ability to obey — that is, our ability to follow instructions. We only need to return to the account of Genesis in Eden. Yehovah had warned the man:
…And Yehovah Elohim commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’ Genesis 2:16–17
Now, let us think for a moment about what human rights organizations and similar groups would have said had they been present: “That’s not fair; if the tree is there, it is to be eaten”; “It is psychological abuse to deny access to the pleasure of eating it”; “Threatening with death is manipulation”; “That is bullying,” and so on.
However, there was a reason: Since man was created to live in dependence upon Yehovah and in trust toward Him, he needed the opportunity to demonstrate his trust and loyalty by choosing to follow His instructions. After all, Yehovah had provided him not only with life, but with everything around him. But we know the rest of the tragic story: man chose to act independently from his Creator.
The entire content of Scripture is nothing less than the story of what Yehovah had to carry out in order to give us once again the opportunity to return to the point at which our ancestor Adam made the wrong decision to depart from Him.
Thus, thanks to the work of Yeshua, each one of us has the opportunity to make the right decision: to leave our “good” and our “evil” in His hands. And part of that process has to do with accepting and following rules, statutes, decrees, or laws whose purpose we do not fully understand.
For example, when reading Leviticus 6:12, one might ask:
What is the need to keep the fire burning on the altar even when no sacrifices are being offered? That goes against nature — burning wood unnecessarily, destroying forests, and so on. Or,
Why must a tenth of an ephah of flour be offered (Lev. 6:20) and not 25%, or half, or the entire ephah? Or,
What is wrong with eating pork? Today those animals are raised under high standards of hygiene! Or,
What is the need to keep the Sabbath or the Feasts of Yehovah? I do what seems best to me, and He accepts it because I do it with all my heart!
And so many arguments can arise against every commandment. But the important point here is that we, as the people of Yehovah, need to be trained to learn to follow instructions; to learn obedience. This is of crucial importance because His Universe is sustained by the order that He has established — an order that all His creatures and all creation in general follow and respect, with the obvious exception of Ha-satan, his hosts, and fallen humanity.
This is similar to the training we give our children (or should give them) when we teach them to obey and respect authority. If a child is not trained in this, he grows up like an uncontrolled monster who will end up harming himself and, of course, society.
Free will was given to us precisely for this: to have the opportunity to make the right decisions. But we need to be trained in the discernment of good and evil, according to the parameters defined by Yehovah in His Torah. Our opinion does not determine those standards.
Yehovah, as Creator, as Owner, and as Supreme Judge of the Universe, has the right to establish the rules for those of us who live on His earth. And He not only gives us rules, but He also warns us of the consequences of following them or not following them, because as Designer He understands the cause and effect of everything He created. In the end, if we do not obey, we are not harming Him — only ourselves.
So, as always, we can choose: we either follow His parameters, or we call them bullying and make our own rules.
The inescapable reality is that at the end of life we will have to face Him, and if we have chosen the second option, then we will have to convince Him that He was wrong, prove to Him that His laws were unjust and that we were right — which will be very, very difficult.
You choose.