I started a chronological bible reading plan today and was struck by something interesting – the first law.
And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:16, 17 NIV)
Here it is…the first law, designed to protect but also to allow choice and free will…which is part and parcel with being made in the image of God.
A little later in the narrative we have an interesting scene between Eve and serpent.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'” (Genesis 3:1-3 NIV)
Here we have the first example of a hedge created around the law…the idea that the fruit could not even be touched. Where does this come from? Not from the God narrative.
It is in our nature to try to build laws around laws…we feel it is easier. I mean if I cannot even touch the fruit then there is no way I can eat it.
It’s like taking God’s law and saying “yeah that’s pretty good but if we add this here it gets even better!”
So begins the fall away from grace as we seek to improve on God and in the process assume our improvements protect us from ourselves. After all a law with a protective barrier around it need not be thought about at all.
The problem here is that the law was designed to be engaged that we might engage God.
Laws built around the law remove us from God and forbid the asking of the all important question -why?
Harnessing Chaos 
This is excellent. Well written and pondered Peter. In my own world I’m adding this to some other thoughts that I’ve been pondering about the beginnings of man.
Recently I watched a documentary about various recently discovered cities submerged in the ocean. While much exploration seems yet to be done, if the findings of various archaeologists can be confirmed then sophisticated societies like the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans existed 15,000 years ago. Another documentary about the early Mayan civilization spoke of an estimated world population. Apparently our scientific community pegs global populations at no more than 50 million, 4000 years ago. The age of these cities, with their plumbing, roads, communication systems and other forms of ingenious engineering reinforce how little progress we’ve made in spite of what we may think of ourselves. The size of earth’s population tells me that man will never find his starting point. That first magical place where we came together in an organized fashion and began to build together in harmony is lost in the dust of time.
In light of these findings, great human cities existed 50,000 years ago. So what’s left? How many millennia has man been building empires and tearing them down? Do we keep building false achievements? Or do we finally acknowledge the importance of today. The greatest commandment is all the more profound in light of the knowledge of our own insignificance. Love God and love others as we love God. What else is there?
Pat
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This is a powerful comment and insightful as well. Thx!
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