Why did God give Israel the Law, the priesthood, and the sacrificial system?
God gave Israel the Law, priesthood, and sacrificial worship to make them aware of His holiness and sovereignty, and to prepare them for a future role amid surrounding pagan idolatry. These gifts set Israel apart from the nations into covenant relationship as God’s favored, chosen people and peculiar treasure.
Les teaches that God was doing something unprecedented: He told Israel He would give them the Law, the priesthood, and the whole system of sacrificial worship. The purpose was to make them aware of God’s holiness, His sovereignty, and that He was preparing them for a future role in the midst of the pagan idolatry all around them. At that time the whole world was steeped in idolatry except the offspring of Abraham. In Exodus 19, as Israel camped at the base of the mountain and Moses talked with God, God said that if they obeyed His voice and kept His covenant—the covenant of Law He was about to give—they would be a peculiar treasure unto Him above all people. This lifted Israel out of the mainstream of humanity and placed them in covenant relationship as God’s favored, chosen people.