Why did Israel fail so often under the law?
The law’s demands were almost impossible to keep, showing that no one could measure up to God’s standard of holiness and righteousness. It could not bring a person out of sin, only convince him of sin. Israel also remained surrounded by the world system, so they failed often.
Les explains that the law had demands on the human race that were almost impossible to keep. God had to show mankind there was no way they could measure up to His standard of holiness and righteousness. The law became a yoke neither the Old Testament forefathers nor the Jews of Peter’s day could bear. Paul refers to them as beggarly, and the law could not bring a person out of sin; it only convinced him of sin. Israel had come out of Egypt surrounded by pagan culture, and when God gave the law at Mount Sinai, He did not lift them out of the world. They still had to live, move, eat, and sleep in the midst of paganism. The whole world system was still working even though Israel was under the law. God did not suddenly transport them into a spiritual world all their own, and that is why they failed so often.