Rejoice in the Law

In Chapter 8 of Nehemiah, Ezra read the laws of Moses to the people of Jerusalem. For hours. Everyone assembled to listen and be educated in the Law. When he had finished teaching them, he told them not to be sad or weep on this day, for it is holy.

I will admit that there is much about this period in history and about the Jewish traditions in general that I do not know and I could easily be overlooking a blatant textual clue that Ezra was reading the Law to the people on that day because it was a holy day. This chapter begins a section of the book in which the Feast of Booths, during the seventh month, was celebrated for the first time in many, many generations. Likewise, these chapters explain that the people who were living in Jerusalem in this period of return from the Babylonian Exile were not educated in the Laws of Moses. The reading of the Laws was a significant part of the holiness of the day, whether that alone made the day holy or the reading of the Law was the proper way to observe that holy day.

Many lessons can be taken from a given Scripture passage. Today, I am drawn to the thought that the Law is a gift from God. We should rejoice in this gift rather than presume it is burdensome. At the beginning of last school year, some of the high school girls complained to me that the rules and dress code were so long and detailed that they felt it was a burden. In response, I asked them if they preferred to have the school's standards and expectations spelled out so precisely or if they would rather be subject to each teacher's personal opinion of what constituted modest and civilized conduct and dress for the whole year. Thinking immediately of a couple teachers in particular who were by nature very prim, the girls quickly changed their tune and answered that they would prefer to have the school rules available to use in their own defense should someone ever take issue with something they have done.

In a perfectly free society, Heaven, the Laws of God will still be in place. It is a mistake to think that the Laws will no longer be needed. We will rejoice when we can not only perceive God's great and orderly creation, we will be able to freely participate in that order without the burden of temptation or sin. We will perceive and obey God's divine Law of our own free will because our wills will finally be perfect. There the Law will not need to be enforced from without because the citizens of Heaven disobey the Law. Nor will the Law be needed for a person to defend themselves from an authority abusing its power because the Authority of Heaven is the Father, who is perfect. The Law will simply be. We will know it in our hearts and it will be a part of the truth and beauty of all things in which we will rejoice with the angels.

On Earth, we are not so lucky. Even in what we would like to call a free society, temptation and sin prevent the truly free use of our will to do as we ought and as we want. The wisest attempts at structuring human governments have always sought to limit the power any particular man or men may have because our fallen nature has proven itself time and time again. Without the rule of Law, life is nasty, brutish and short. Crime is a despot all its own. And yet, when we men come together to form societies and governments, political despotism is a valid fear. Law limits not only the citizen from becoming a criminal, it limits authority from ruling by whim.

Taking into account the proper definitions of reason and of free will, we must acknowledge that all men are governed by consent, regardless of the name of the political structure under which they live. God's Law is written in our hearts so that we may recognize right from wrong in our own actions and in human laws. It is a divine gift in which we should rejoice.