Why did it take God so long to give the Ten Commandments and allow the antediluvian world to function without guidance?

Answer 1

The Bible reveals that:

"...DEATH came into the world THROUGH A MAN, ADAM... everyone DIES because ALL OF US ARE RELATED TO ADAM, the first man..." (I Cor.15:21-22 NLT New Living Translation).

The Bible also reveals that: "...the wages [the penalty] of SIN is DEATH..." (Rom.623).

The Bible further reveals that: "...SIN IS the TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW." (I John 3:4)

The Bible then explains: "What shall we say then? IS THE LAW SIN? GOD FORBID. Nay, I had not KNOWN SIN, but BY THE LAW: for I had not known LUST, except THE LAW HAD SAID, THOU SHALT NOT COVET." (Rom.7:7)

A study of these [and more] Scriptures reveals that God's Ten Commandments [the Loving Laws of God that DEFINES SIN] EXISTED FROM THE BEGINNING! If indeed "death"... sin's wages began with Adam as the Scriptures say.

The Ten Commandments didn't BEGIN with Moses... they were CODIFIED [recorded, written down] with him -- SO YOU AND I WOULD HAVE THEM TO GUIDE US, TODAY, in these last days of God's Plan, so far removed from that first generation!:

"This is he [Moses], that was in the church in the wilderness with the Angel which spake to him in the Mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the Lively Oracles [the Eternally Living Words of God, the Bible] TO GIVE TO US..." (Acts 7:38) .

God's "guidance" was provided [all of the Laws of God] for man from the beginning... along with the LORD's Sabbath [which He made on the SEVENTH DAY OF CREATION!] The day after He made Adam!

The first two people simply "refused to obey the LORD's Laws," that's all; just like all of mankind has been doing ever since... IN SPITE OF THE GUIDANCE THE LORD HAS PROVIDED FOR ALL THE GENERATIONS OF MAN.

Even Noah was informed about God's "healthy" dietary laws regarding "clean and unclean meats":

"..the LORD said unto Noah... Of every CLEAN BEAST thou shalt take to thee BY SEVENS [not by twos, as the common fable of this world tells it]... and of beasts that ARE NOT CLEAN BY TWO..." (Gen.7:1-2).

The Loving, Righteous, Guiding Laws of God, the transgression of which [our disobedience to] constitutes SIN... were given to Adam and mankind from the beginning. It's the "breaking" of God's Laws is what sin is. And if Adam and Eve SINNED as the Scriptures inform us... then THEY KNEW GOD'S COMMANDMENTS!

And all of their children and succeeding generations KNEW THEM! Because: "...SIN is NOT IMPUTED WHEN THERE IS NO LAW." (Rom.5:13)

"...the LORD [the WORD of God who became Jesus Christ: the Almighty Creator God of the Old Testament - see John 1:1-3] said unto CAIN... 'If thou doest not well, SIN lieth at the door..." (Gen.4:6-7). Sin is the transgression of the Ten Commandments.

"...the LORD [Jesus Christ] said, 'Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because THEIR SIN is VERY GRIEVOUS..." (Gen.18:20) Sin is the transgression of the Ten Commandments.

"Then Abimelech... said... thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a GREAT SIN..." (Gen.20:9). Sin is the transgression of the Ten Commandments.

"...Jacob... said to Laban, 'What is my trespass? What is my SIN,.." (Gen.31:36). Sin is the transgression of the Ten Commandments.

David said to Pharaoh's wife: "...because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and SIN AGAINST GOD?" (Gen.39:9) Sin is the transgression of the Ten Commandments.

Even Righteous, Faithful Abraham, with whom the LORD [Jesus Christ] entered into a covenant relationship knew about SIN. He OBEYED GOD'S LAWS... and has this recorded testimony from Christ:

"...Abraham OBEYED MY VOICE, and kept My charge, MY COMMANDMENTS, My statutes, and My Laws." (Gen.26:5)

That's all God has ever required of His creation, Adam, Eve and ALL of their children -- to OBEY HIS VOICE! To NOT SIN! To NOT DISOBEY HIS LAWS! Because "to obey God's Commandments is to LOVE HIM WITH ALL YOUR HEART... and to LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS MUCH AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF!"

From the first generation to the last... the command has been and will always be the same: DON'T SIN! DON'T FAIL TO LOVE ME AND ONE ANOTHER!

Love one another is what man STILL FAILS to do today... IN SPITE OF HAVING GOD'S GUIDING LAWS PUBLISHED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. It's no different from Adam and Eve's FAILURE to Love.

God's covenant with the Israelites [Abraham's children] was the same requirement He demanded of Abraham: "Now therefore, IF YE WILL OBEY MY VOICE..." (Gen.19:5).

"IF YE KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS, YE SHALL ABIDE IN MY LOVE: even as I have kept My Father's Commandments, and abide in His Love... This is My Commandment, THAT YE LOVE ONE ANOTHER...[Jesus is simply saying what He's always said to His creation: this is My Commandment; that you KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS!] ...AS i HAVE LOVED YOU."

The Bible reveals that God's Laws and His Guidance has been with man from the beginning. God never said to man, "disobey Me." It was the god of this world who coerced man to disobey the LORD's Laws... and to SIN.

Answer 2

First of all, the Gentile nations are not obligated to observe the Sabbath; nor are they commanded to thank God for the Exodus, so not all of the Ten Commandments are relevant to your Question. Secondly, your question is mistaken. There were great teachers before the Flood (Adam, Methusaleh, Noah), and they taught the ways of God to whoever was willing to listen.

Answer 3

It is commonly believed that God orally taught His Law (10 Commands part of it) to Adam & Eve and they onto their offspring. So the world before the Flood was well informed. It wasn't until the Exodus that Moses was given God's Law to codify. This include God's Sabbath which is given for all humankind as Jesus told us:


Mark 2:27New International Version (NIV)27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.