THE problem of evil or sin appears to be ever with the human race. Many are deeply conscious of the fact; for sin may have brought upon some of them intense suffering, sometimes misery almost beyond endurance, or disease which has rendered their lives practically useless.
Sin may be regarded from many different angles, but most people will agree in defining it as evil doing. That, however, does not go far enough; for an evil deed must have been preceded by an evil thought. Hence sin may be more accurately defined as the evil which men think and translate into evil deeds. But even if evil be not translated into an evil deed after being thought, sin would still have been committed— teaching strictly in accordance with that of Christ Jesus.
Every student of the Old Testament is familiar with the disastrous effects of sin among the Hebrews, and how Moses sought to stem its assaults by giving the people the great moral code known as the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments, a code which was supplemented by the Levitical law. Unquestionably the Decalogue must have had a powerful restraining effect upon the nation; for had it not been given to them by God, through His servant Moses? That certainly was the national belief. And having been taught God's law, which bore the stamp of His approval on righteousness, the people understood that sin was an abomination in His sight, and that if they committed sin they would be required to bear punishment commensurate with the evil deed, and, furthermore, to make atonement by an act of reconciliation, usually a sacrifice ceremonially offered by the priesthood under the Levitical law. Such, briefly, is how the Hebrews regarded sin. To them it was an act disapproved of God, unworthy of His children, and for which propitiation had to be made after the manner of their ceremonial law.
