NOTES for Ma1 2:21-22

The conflict between the law of God and human laws has existed in every age. What is its essence? Why is harmony impossible, why can the spheres of application of these very different laws not at least be divided? If God's law resembled the numerous laws invented by people, such a division might be possible. But this is not so, and not because the law given by God is unlike laws invented by people, but because it is different in its very essence.

Any legislation devised by people is the result of a kind of social contract, even when it appears that there is no contract. A law is observed only when it corresponds to the system of values accepted in society. If this is not so, making people obey the law is practically impossible by any methods, even the harshest. In the fallen world, people most often determine the system of values for themselves.

The law of God is another matter, the law Mattathias calls people to observe even if they must pay for it with their own life. The Torah proceeds from objectively existing regularities that determine a person's relationships with God and with other people. There is nothing accidental here, nothing arbitrary. The law given by God can only be what it is, and no other. At the same time, such a law is comprehensive: a person always lives in the presence of God, both when he thinks about it, for example in the gathering of his religious community, and when he is inclined to forget God, for example in the flow of everyday affairs.

Therefore for a person who wishes to walk in God's way, there exists only one law: the one God gave to man. If the laws invented by people do not contradict God's law, such a person may follow them; this will not affect his spiritual life or his relationship with God. But when a choice has to be made, for him there can be only one choice: he prefers God's law to human law.