he weekly Bible Study post “The Evil Eye” from Saturday provoked a serious discussion for our community conference call this afternoon. Some of the discussion bears repeating.
The prophets say that the Israelis were a cranky bunch. The reason for a law code was to make tolerable to God the kvetching cranks who made up the bulk of the tribe. Had they been morally mature and actually desiring peace with God, He never would have needed to pound out a fat code on Mount Sinai. The same prophets reminded Israel often that if they could just grow up and embrace a heart-led commitment of feudal submission to God, mistakes could be worked out.
At any given time, it seems that the majority of the nation always needed the same kind of guidance we always give juveniles. You have to make rules and constantly adjust them because kids tend to smart-alecks. They are always jockeying for leverage, operating from a sort of passive selfishness, seeking an advantage of their elders or superiors.
They also have a serious problem with covetousness. They can’t stand the idea of uneven treatment. No one can have something they don’t get, and it’s not just material things. They can’t stand someone getting praise they don’t get, regardless of how well earned it may be. Envy is their other name. It’s a zero-sum game where one man’s gain was another man’s loss.
Most Hebrew peasants were the same way. It got to the point where those who were morally mature among the peasants were very careful to avoid receiving public praise or rewards of any kind. They knew their fellow peasants would flare up in envy and covetousness. It was very juvenile.
That’s where legalism comes from. Pharisaical legalism was simply the lack of moral maturity, the deep personal connection with God. It was juvenile envy. People who were really at peace must have stolen it from someone else, so the Pharisees were constantly seeking ways to make others miserable. They kept piling up new rules to protect the code from being transgressed. They imagined the Law as some kind of entity standing alone that was fragile and needed protection.
Juveniles love to appeal to some kind of impersonal logic, a presumed master over all. They wield it like a club to keep everyone from getting comfortable when they feel so wretched and without inner peace. People who are at peace have a tendency to live and let live.
Juvenile envy is the root of legalism.
