As God dictated to his people the Ten Commandment that they ought to follow obediently, they kept those laws blindly for ages, or oftentimes they obeyed the commands which were convenient to them. One day when Jesus taught in a synagogue, he saw a woman whom an evil spirit had kept sick for eighteen years. Jesus called out to her, “Woman! You are free from your illness.” The woman straightened her up and immediately was healed of her sickness and praised God. Some official of the synagogue was furious that Jesus healed the woman on the Sabbath, for he said to the people that Sabbath is a day of rest and Jesus should not heal. Jesus replied to him, “You hypocrites! you let an ox or donkey get out of the stall to drink water on the Sabbath, but wouldn’t have the woman be healed.”

God is just and full of mercy and love. He commanded his people to obey his law, not because he would like to punish them if they broke the law, but protect them from slipping into the mires of sin.