Could man keep the Mosaic Law?
No. The Mosaic Law was perfect from God’s perspective but faulty from mankind’s, because man could not keep it. The Law had no power to help mankind keep the Law or keep a man from stealing, committing adultery, and the like. All it could do was condemn him.
Les explains that Hebrews 8:7–8 contrasts the first covenant, the Law of Moses, with the new covenant. If that first covenant had been faultless, no place would have been sought for a second. It was perfect from God’s perspective, but not from mankind’s. Man couldn’t keep it, and the Law had no power to help mankind keep it; it could only condemn.