“Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.”
King James Version (KJV)
3:19 It - The ceremonial law. Was added - To the promise. Because of transgressions - Probably, the yoke of the ceremonial law was inflicted as a punishment for the national sin of idolatry, #Exod 32:1|, at least the more grievous parts of it; and the whole of it was a prophetic type of Christ. The moral law was added to the promise to discover and restrain transgressions, to convince men of their guilt, and need of the promise, and give some check to sin. And this law passeth not away; but the ceremonial law was only introduced till Christ, the seed to or through whom the promise was made, should come. And it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator - It was not given to Israel, like the promise to Abraham, immediately from God himself; but was conveyed by the ministry of angels to Moses, and delivered into his hand as a mediator between God and them, to remind them of the great Mediator.
Ga 3:19 Wherefore then [serveth] the law? What was its object then? It was added because of transgressions. Added in order to restrain transgressions among men, and especially among the fleshly race of Abraham, until the promised seed, to whom the promise was made, even Christ, should come. It was therefore only to last until that seed came. Ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Communicated through the means of angels to the mediator between Israel and God; that is, to Moses. See Ac 7:53 Heb 2:2 De 33:2 De 5:5.