Statutes in themselves can not command respect for any people, but God gave Israel a manner of life which linked them with Himself. Living on a spiritual plane, all the world looked to them for guidance. As one can not reach up and help those above him, but must come from above and lift others to himself, so Israel was pointed to a life which made others follow in spite of themselves, while at the same time they were following what they knew to be the truth. This is the exalted position which truth has ever held.
Peculiarity depended upon the system of education
Granting it clear that Israel would lead by virtue of the plane of existence upon which they stood, and that this was attained by a life of faith, it is easily seen why there was marked out for the nation a system of education differing as completely from the systems of the other nations of the world as the spiritual life differs from a purely physical or a strictly mental existence. It made it impossible for any mingling of systems to take place without the utter ruin of the spiritual; for as soon as this came down to the level of either of the others, it ceased to be spiritual, and lost its power to lead.
Result of mixture in educational systems
Should Israel attempt to adopt the education of surrounding nations, that moment her education would become papal in character, for it would then be a combination of the divine with the worldly. If a man-made theocracy, a church and state government, is papal in principle, the divine and the worldly combined in educational systems is no less a papal principle. Israel formed such a combination more than once, but with the results recorded in Ps. 106:34-38: “They mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them. Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters into devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan.”
Truth and error never form a compound, although they may be mingled. The union of the two never produces truth, and the end is death. Truth amalgamated with error, as gold with mercury, lies dormant until released. Israel could not positively forsake her God-given forms of education without relinquishing her place as leader of nations. Destined to be the head and not the tail, she immediately reversed her position when she adopted a mixed system.
Spiritual nature of their education
The education which was outlined for the children of Israel was soul-culture, pure and simple. Its object was to develop the soul which is God in man; and Divinity so planned that every true Jew should be a God-man. Education was to develop the spark of divinity bestowed at birth, and it was the privilege of every Jew to have, as did that One Jew, Christ, the Spirit without measure.
Let us see, then, what the plan was which would take the newborn babe, and follow him through life, making him one unit in a nation of spiritual beings. God recognized prenatal influence, and so gave directions and laws concerning the life of the parents. This is illustrated in the story of Hannah and the wife of Manoah, in Elizabeth, and in Mary the mother of Jesus.
Jewish schools