Dru Johnson’s “Understanding Biblical Law” (Baker, 2025) is a learned, succinct remedy to many of the issues readers face when trying to read the Mosaic Law. Johnson helps us work through our misconceptions about biblical law and bridge the cultural distance between ourselves and the ancient Israelites to whom it was first given.
Johnson, a teaching elder in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, is a biblical scholar whose research focuses on elaborating the Bible’s philosophical perspective, and his book is academically informed, clear, and practical. Weighing in at 188 pages, the book does not seek to answer every objection to biblical law nor to settle every debated question. Its goal is to teach us to fish, rather than handing us a breaded, deep-fried filet. This brief introductory treatment is meant to motivate a lifetime of meditation on God’s law, à la Psalm 1.
Biblical law is difficult for us to understand because it works with a different conception of what law is than our contemporary law codes. Modern assumptions about legal reasoning imposed upon the text easily lead to bad reading. Biblical law, Johnson argues, is less focused on prohibition than modern law, offering a positive vision for formative instruction. It does not offer an exhaustively codified body of statutory law, but provides individual cases that are designed to prompt deliberation about the diverse set of cases not covered.
Biblical law is literature, using narrative and poetry to form our imaginations. The goal is not so much to give us a list of do’s and don’ts for every situation (though of course it does contain some of these), but to help us learn God’s principles for justice and grow in embodying them ourselves.
God’s law includes correction, but primarily aims at instruction. Many associate biblical law with capital punishment, but in fact the number of cases to receive this penalty are quite limited; most legal remedies focus on reparation and restoration, and of course, the law of Moses does not rely on incarceration as a penalty. Biblical law provides rituals which maintain and restore the relationship between God and neighbor, and this, too, is largely foreign to modern law.
Johnson synthesizes a number of important recent academic works about the nature of biblical law and presents this research in an accessible way which sheds light on often difficult texts. Not one to go all-in on academic fads, he judiciously evaluates scholarly theories. This is especially evident when addressing theories that appeal to the cultural background of Israel’s world as context for Scripture. It is refreshing to see a scholar successfully navigate between the error of over-identifying Israel’s Scripture with its cultural neighbors, and the error of insisting that only contrasts must be drawn.
Johnson situates the law of Moses in its world, including the previous law codes it echoes, while carefully highlighting the distinctiveness of Israel’s Scripture. According to Johnson, biblical law, unlike Ancient Near Eastern systems, places law within a broader narrative context and sometimes even presents individual laws as miniature narratives. It can be surprising to learn that Ancient Near Eastern law codes advocate justice for the widow and the orphan, just as the Bible does, but Johnson argues that the details in biblical law ensure this concern is safeguarded far more effectively.
This focus on protection of the vulnerable is a recurring theme throughout Johnson’s presentation, though it is balanced with a discussion of the impartiality of biblical justice, as well as thoughtful pushback to some popular contemporary conceptions of “social justice.”
Perhaps most importantly, Johnson argues that the law of Moses is unique because the deity delivers it directly to his people. The Lord enters into a covenant with his people and is, himself, their king.
A theme throughout the book is the need to develop a biblical imagination through the study of the law. The law is more than rules; it is meant to instill wisdom (Deuteronomy 4:6), and so it calls upon us to exercise our practical reason in applying it to the complex and often perverse tumult of life. To prompt our imaginations, Johnson weaves an Iron Age mystery story through the chapters of the book, helping readers see what observing the law might have looked like in the context of an ancient Israelite village. This parable is entertaining and well-suited to exploring the themes of the book.
The value of this book is well-illustrated by the discussion of the “eye-for-an-eye” principle on pages 117-119. The biblical phrase “an eye for an eye” is often lifted out of context, construed literally, and exhibited to prove the brutality of biblical law. In fact, Exodus 21 accompanies this provision with laws redressing physical injury with… financial restitution! Money is paid in lieu of literal eyes being put out. Thus the legal principle here is a little more subtle than it may appear at first glance. This is what makes Johnson’s book so important: readers approach the text of the Pentateuch already primed with stereotypes and misconceptions. “Understanding Biblical Law” helps them read God’s word more carefully.
Readers in the Reformed tradition should be aware of some things this book does not do. There is no extended discussion of traditional frameworks for understanding biblical law like the moral, civil, and ceremonial distinctions. Johnson labels these models as “conceptually artificial” on page 1. Nor is there a discussion of Christian liberty, though the criticism of the formula “whatever is not forbidden is permitted” (pp. 28, 76) seems bound to raise questions about this. Luther’s law/gospel distinction is briefly dismissed on page 7.
But these are not fatal omissions. The book is simply more focused on a biblical theology approach than on engaging with traditional interpretations. Nothing Johnson argues in the book really conflicts with a more nuanced deployment of the moral, civil, and ceremonial distinctions, nor an accurate understanding of Reformed conceptions of Christian liberty (which should certainly look a good deal more nuanced than “whatever is not forbidden is permitted”). Moreover, Johnson’s project can be comfortably contextualized within a Reformed understanding of the third use of the law. Other books exist which unpack these traditional concepts well. But Johnson adds something different: a simple guide to the genre and cultural difficulties we need to navigate in reading biblical law profitably.
This book is short, and I often found myself hungry for lengthier expositions of some of the topics discussed. Of course, it is a compliment to say that a book is too short. Its current format means a congregant might actually read it, and with 10 chapters, the book would work well as a quarter-long Sunday school class.
This accessibility is a great strength, but one consequence is that Johnson opens many cans of worms and only discusses them briefly. Among the topics briefly addressed are the test for the unfaithful woman, the judgment of Achan, laws about slaves, laws about war brides, the restoration of abusers, amputation for unfair testicle grabbing, and the ban on Amalek.
On these topics, Johnson’s explorations are insightful and helpful, and the book would have been much longer if he had fully explored them. By intentionally not getting caught up with objections to the law, he advances the reader’s fundamental understanding of it. Those who teach this book in a Sunday school setting should perhaps expect to do a little extra background reading if they want to field questions from congregants on these difficult issues.
In summary, I commend “Understanding Biblical Law” to readers who want to understand the legal texts in the Pentateuch better, as well as pastors seeking to educate their congregations. All Scripture is useful, even challenging legal texts, and Johnson’s book is the place to start for help.
James Duguid serves as an assistant pastor at Wallace Presbyterian Church, and has a Ph.D. in Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures from the Catholic University of America.