Was Torah for Israel or Everyone?

In the post which preceded this one, we established that Gentiles were not permitted to celebrate Passover unless they were circumcised and became Israelites. Even so, in the way of a reminder (and to underscore the fact), we read in the book of Exodus: "And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 'This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it, but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it. It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.'" (Exodus 12:43-49, ESV)

However, in addition to this clear prohibition against Gentiles being permitted to observe this festival, Torah is literally full of passages which make very clear that the commandments and instructions contained therein were addressed to the people of Israel. Indeed, in the very first book of Torah (Genesis), we read: "And God said to Abraham, 'As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.'" (Genesis 17:9-14, ESV) Once again, it is made very clear that the command to circumcise males applied to Abraham and his descendants.

Likewise, in the book of Exodus, we read: "On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain, while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, 'Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel...if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel." (Exodus 19:1-6, ESV) Once again, Torah is very explicit about for whom these commandments and instructions were intended. Indeed, in the very next verse, we read: "So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him." (Verse 7)

Moreover, when God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, there is also no doubt about to whom they were being given. We read: "And God spoke all these words, saying, 'I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.'" (Exodus 20:1-2, ESV) Notice that they were addressed to the people whom God had brought out of the land of Egypt - the people of Israel! And, when he had finished enumerating all ten of those commandments, we read: "when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off." (Exodus 20:18, ESV) All of which people? Isn't it clear that he was addressing the people of Israel who had gathered at the foot of the mountain? And, lest there be any doubt about who was being addressed, a few verses later, we read: "And the Lord said to Moses, 'Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven." (Exodus 20:22, ESV) Once again, it is clearly delineated within the text to whom God was giving those commandments. It is made very plain that those commandments were intended for (and given to) the PEOPLE OF ISRAEL!

Likewise, Torah also makes abundantly clear that Passover wasn't the only festival exclusively intended for the people of Israel. In the book of Leviticus, we read: "The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that YOU shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. YOU shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places. These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations, which YOU shall proclaim at the time appointed for them.'" (Leviticus 23:1-4, ESV) In verse ten of the same chapter, we read: "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest." Also, a little later, we read: "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation.'" (Leviticus 23:23-24, ESV) Also, we read: "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the Lord." Leviticus 23:33-34, ESV) And, finally, the chapter concludes with: "Thus Moses declared to the people of Israel the appointed feasts of the Lord." (Verse 44) Yes, they are the feasts of the Lord which he gave to THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL!

Indeed, this same language is used throughout Torah. In the same book, we read: "And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, 'Speak to the people of Israel, saying, These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth." (Leviticus 11:1-2, ESV) And, after distinguishing between clean and unclean animals, we read this about God's reason for delineating clean and unclean: "For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy." (Verse 45) Once again, who did he bring up out of the land of Egypt? Could it be any clearer that these distinctions between clean and unclean were intended for the people of Israel? And, when Moses repeated the Ten Commandments, we read in the book of Deuteronomy: "And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, 'Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today. The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, while I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord. For you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain. He said: 'I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.'" (Deuteronomy 5:1-6, ESV)

In the very next chapter of the same book, we read: "Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach YOU, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey." (Deuteronomy 6:1-3, ESV)

Moreover, before the people of Israel crossed the Jordan River to take possession of the land which God had promised to give them, we read: "Now Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep the whole commandment that I command YOU today. And on the day YOU cross over the Jordan to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, YOU shall set up large stones and plaster them with plaster. And YOU shall write on them all the words of this law, when YOU cross over to enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised YOU. And when you have crossed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, concerning which I command you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster. And there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. You shall wield no iron tool on them; you shall build an altar to the Lord your God of uncut stones. And YOU shall offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God, and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and shall eat there, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God. And YOU shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.' Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, 'Keep silence and hear, O Israel: this day you have become the people of the Lord your God. You shall therefore obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today." (Deuteronomy 27:1-10, ESV)

Now, for the record, what is offered here (in this post) is only a FRACTION of the many passages contained in Torah which make very clear that Torah was intended for the people of Israel. Indeed, the phraseology addressing the various laws and instructions contained therein to the people/children of Israel appears throughout the five books of the Pentateuch. In fact, the phrase "Speak unto the children of Israel" occurs thirty-two times in the King James Version of Torah! And, as I have related in many previous posts on this blog, Torah is also clearly tailored to meet the needs of a specific people, in a particular place, who found themselves in a peculiar set of circumstances. What? Throughout Torah, the various commandments and instructions assume: an agrarian-based society and economy, a people who accepted and practiced slavery and polygamy, and who were steeped in paternalistic notions about the proper roles of men and women within society. In short, Torah was addressed to the people of Israel. It was clearly NOT intended for Gentile peoples or to be universal in its application. Torah itself makes such a notion absurd!