Reply Obj. 3:  It is for the sovereign alone to make a law by his own authority; but sometimes after making a law, he promulgates it through others.  Thus God made the Law by His own authority, but He promulgated it through the angels. ________________________

FOURTH ARTICLE [I-II, Q, 98, Art. 4]

Whether the Old Law Should Have Been Given to the Jews Alone?

Objection 1:  It would seem that the Old Law should not have been given to the Jews alone.  For the Old Law disposed men for the salvation which was to come through Christ, as stated above (AA. 2, 3).  But that salvation was to come not to the Jews alone but to all nations, according to Isa. 49:6:  “It is a small thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to convert the dregs of Israel.  Behold I have given thee to be the light of the Gentiles, that thou mayest be My salvation, even to the farthest part of the earth.”  Therefore the Old Law should have been given to all nations, and not to one people only.

Obj. 2:  Further, according to Acts 10:34, 35, “God is not a respecter of persons:  but in every nation, he that feareth Him, and worketh justice, is acceptable to Him.”  Therefore the way of salvation should not have been opened to one people more than to another.

Obj. 3:  Further, the law was given through the angels, as stated above (A. 3).  But God always vouchsafed the ministrations of the angels not to the Jews alone, but to all nations:  for it is written (Ecclus. 17:14):  “Over every nation He set a ruler.”  Also on all nations He bestows temporal goods, which are of less account with God than spiritual goods.  Therefore He should have given the Law also to all peoples.

On the contrary, It is written (Rom. 3:1, 2):  “What advantage then hath the Jew? . . .  Much every way.  First indeed, because the words of God were committed to them”:  and (Ps. 147:9):  “He hath not done in like manner to every nation:  and His judgments He hath not made manifest unto them.”

I answer that, It might be assigned as a reason for the Law being given to the Jews rather than to other peoples, that the Jewish people alone remained faithful to the worship of one God, while the others turned away to idolatry; wherefore the latter were unworthy to receive the Law, lest a holy thing should be given to dogs.

But this reason does not seem fitting:  because that people turned to idolatry, even after the Law had been made, which was more grievous, as is clear from Ex. 32 and from Amos 5:25, 26:  “Did you offer victims and sacrifices to Me in the desert for forty years, O house of Israel?  But you carried a tabernacle for your Moloch, and the image of your idols, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves.”  Moreover it is stated expressly (Deut. 9:6):  “Know therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this excellent land in possession for thy justices, for thou art a very stiff-necked people”:  but the real reason is given in the preceding verse:  “That the Lord might accomplish His word, which He promised by oath to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”