The Dawn Treader

Lewis writes,

"This was to me at first very mysterious.  'Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit adultery' -- I can understand that a man can, and must, respect these 'statutes', and try to obey them, and assent to them in his heart.  But it is very hard to find how they could be, so to speak, delicious, how they exhilarate.

... they may obey, they may still respect the statute.  But surely it could be more aptly compared to the dentist's forceps or the front line than to anything enjoyable and sweet."

Dentist's forceps -- I love the word picture.  Most Christians would probably agree with Lewis.  We want to hear grace preached -- not the heavy yoke of the law.  The law is necessary to show us our sin -- it is a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ.  But should it really be the source of joyous glee?

Lewis ponders one possibility.  Perhaps the poet's jubilation over the law is similar to the joy some find in studying a specific topic.  My son often expresses a love for math, for example.  My daughter lights up when we talk about Latin -- no, I am not kidding.  She is an aspiring philologist (her inspiration being J.R.R. Tolkien).  Could it be that Psalmist's really digged this subject?

Possibly.  But Lewis suspects there is more going on.  Look at the best example of a Psalm which delights in the law -- the longest Psalm, 119.  It is carefully crafted.  Embroidered.  Intricate.  There is order.

Lewis ponders,

"Now this, in itself, seems to me very important because it lets us into the mind of and mood of the poet.  We can guess at once that he felt about the Law somewhat as he felt about his poetry; both involved exact and loving conformity to an intricate pattern.  This at once suggests an attitude from which the Pharasaic conception could later grow but which in itself, though not necessarily religious, is quite innocent.  It will look like priggery or pedantry (or else like a neurotic fussiness) to those who cannot sympathize with it, but it need not be any of these things.  It may be the delight in Order, the pleasure in getting a thing 'just so' - as in dancing a minuet."

I had to look up priggery and pedantry.  Priggery means "A person who demonstrates an exaggerated conformity or propriety, especially in an irritatingly arrogant or smug manner."  Pedantry means "an ostentatious and inappropriate display of learning".

So -- to use a crude expression.  Some mistakenly judge the poet's delight in order with a sort of anal retentiveness about the restrictions of the law.

From what I have read about ancient Hebrew thought, I think Lewis is on to something.  There is a delight in wholeness.  Shalom is perfect order.  Completeness.  There is a beauty in order.  And a concomitant disharmony in chaos.  There is such a thing as moral beauty.  And moral beauty is something worth celebrating and singing about.  Moral relativism, by contrast, is something worth bemoaning.

There is more to ponder about the beauty of the Law.  I save that for the next post.