When did God give the law to mankind? Before you can begin to answer this question, you must first answer two others.

“What is righteousness?”

Deuteronomy 6:25 And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.

And, “what is sin?”

1 John 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

Upon this foundation, you can now answer the first part of this question: “Was there law before Moses?”

Genesis 7:1-3 And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous [you have kept my law] before me in this generation. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.

The unclean meats are not listed in our Bible until Leviticus 11. So we know that there was either a common knowledge of which beasts were clean and unclean, or a list.

There were certainly clean and unclean meats before Moses!

Genesis 18:20-21 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.

And then shortly thereafter,

Genesis 19:13 For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.

Now look at this… God heard that there was sin in Sodom. He went to see, and He found that it was true. Then He destroyed it. Utterly.

Why did He do this? Well, the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). God was merely executing the penalty for sin. But what is sin? Sin is the breaking of the law – Sodom couldn’t have received the penalty (death) for sin unless there WAS a law. Sin is not imputed, or counted against you, when there is no law! (Romans 5:13)

Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

By the LAW came the knowledge of sin – if there was no law, a law that Sodom knew about, to break – they COULD NOT have been destroyed for sinning!

Romans 4:15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression!

There was a law before Moses. As far back as Sodom, certainly. But which law?

Genesis 39:9 There is none greater in this house than I [Joseph]; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?

We do not see the 7th commandment until Exodus 20:14. And without knowledge of the law, there is no sin. So then how could Joseph have sinned against God? HE HAD TO KNOW THE LAW! Abraham did as well.

Genesis 26:4-5 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

Abraham knew, and kept, God’s laws… plural! Joseph, Sodom, Abraham, the Patriarchs, all had the Ten Commandments! The Ten Commandments are the very definition of righteousness (Deuteronomy 6:25).

Abel is the first righteous person in the Bible (Matthew 23:35) – he had the law too.

The Ten Commandments were in force LONG before Moses!

Genesis 4:3-7 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.

This early on – the very first generation after creation – and yet they knew that God wanted the fat – which is not written down for us for another 2500 years! They had been given the rules of how to make an acceptable sacrifice to the Lord! Reading on, the Bible shows this.

Genesis 4:4-7 …And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

“If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?” How could God possibly have expected Cain to know what was an acceptable sacrifice to Him… UNLESS He had already told man! He wasn’t mad at Cain because he didn’t somehow magically guess what God wanted… He was mad because he KNEW what God wanted, and REFUSED to do it! He BROKE the law, and that was SIN!

So they even knew how – and what, and when – to sacrifice… 2500 years before Leviticus was written!

But why were Cain and Abel – two brothers, each of whom had a different field of interest (farming, shepherding) – sacrificing together? Something brought them there, to sacrifice an offering to God… at the same time.

Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain…

These brothers were offering a sacrifice at the same time, for the same purpose.

Genesis 4:2 …And Abel was a keeper of sheep…

Genesis 4:3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.

By these scriptures we know that Abel offered a lamb. When would a lamb have been acceptable, and yet a harvest of the firstfruits of the ground not acceptable?

In the three holy day seasons all males are required to bring an offering, according to the blessing that God gives him. But it was NOT on one of these occasions when Cain and Abel sacrificed!

Deuteronomy 16:16-17 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty: Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee.

Had it been one of these three occasions, Cain’s sacrifice would have been accepted – there is no prohibition against an offering of the fruits of the ground! But this was a different day, requiring something different!

This sacrifice that Cain and Abel were offering required the shedding of blood. That is why the fruits of the ground were not accepted. You can’t get blood out of a turnip. What is the purpose of the shedding of blood?

Hebrews 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

The purpose of a blood sacrifice is to take away sins. And what is the day of the year when this occurs? When a sacrifice of the blood of a lamb is required?

Deuteronomy 16:2 Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the LORD thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place his name there.

And what is the purpose of the Passover?

Numbers 9:13 But the man that is clean, and is not in a journey, and forbeareth to keep the passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people: because he brought not the offering of the LORD in his appointed season, that man shall BEAR his SIN.

There is one – and only one – day in the year where a lamb is required and all other sacrifices are not accepted. That day is Passover!

Hebrews 12:24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

Jesus’ covenant, and blood of sprinkling, was BETTER than that of righteous Abel. That can only be true if they were for the same purpose. Jesus’ blood was to take away sin (John 1:29). The blood of Abel’s lamb was to the same end! This is why Cain’s sacrifice wasn’t good enough, because without shedding of blood, his sin “remained at the door” (Genesis 4:7).

Cain and Abel were required to offer a Passover sacrifice for the remission of their sins, on a day that God set…

So the Holy Days were a part of God’s law and plan from the very beginning!

So when was the law given? We’ve proven that it was before Abel. But when, exactly? Does the Bible tell us?

According to Genesis 1:26-31, man was created on the sixth day – a Friday – and it very likely took most of the day to create Adam and Eve. This we know, because on the first Saturday God rested from His labors (Genesis 2:2). If He had finished Adam and Eve early in the day, He would have been resting the remainder of the day on Friday, wouldn’t He?

What happened on that first Saturday? We know that God “rested,” but Christ said “My father worketh hitherto, and I work” (John 5:17). We also know that when Christ was here, He preached on Saturday. And, we know that He is “the same yesterday, today, and forever” and that He “changes not” (Hebrews 13:8, Malachi 3:6).

Does the Bible tell us that God would have created a being with wants, emotions, and instinct, and just turn him loose on the world, with no rules or guidance, and then punish him for not doing what God wanted?

Does God ever expect you to do something – and then punish you for not doing it – without telling you what it is? No! Sin is not imputed where there is no law! (Romans 5:13)

God created something every day of the first week of creation, and on the seventh day he created the Sabbath (the Sabbath WAS MADE for man (Mark 2:27)). And on that first Saturday, God finished creation by creating the Sabbath, and setting the EXAMPLE for its use by preaching to Adam and giving him the law!

Man’s Creation was not complete until he had RULES to live by! Until he had rules by which to govern himself, he was nothing more than an animal, driven solely by instinct…

Man has had the law of Almighty God from the very day His creation was finished!