1. Malachi 4:4 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What is the difference between law, statutes, and rules?

Malachi 4:4 (ESV)

4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.

The laws that God gave to Moses varied. There were building codes (Deuteronomy 22:8), sanitation laws (Deuteronomy 23:13), property regulations (Numbers 27:8), laws of restitution for crimes (Exodus 22:5–6), moral stipulations (Exodus 22:16), and so forth. These various laws may have been classified under different terms that were clear to the Israelites. However, they are no longer clear to us today. In the present context, Malachi’s purpose for mentioning the different types of laws was not to draw attention to the distinctions between these laws, but to express the need to obey the law of Moses in its entirety. They may not pick and choose which laws they will obey: they are commanded to obey them all.