Do you remember this scene near the beginning of The Matrix?:
“[Agent Smith:] We’re willing to wipe the slate clean, give you a fresh start, and all that we’re asking in return is your co-operation in bringing a known terrorist to justice.
“[Neo:] Yeah…Wow, that sounds like a really good deal. But I think I’ve got a better one. How about I give you the finger, [Neo does so] and you give me my phone call.”
Quite a few centuries earlier, God offered Abram [Abraham] what sounded like a really good deal, too:
“And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. And God said unto Abraham, And as for thee, thou shalt keep my covenant, thou, and thy seed after thee throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee: every male among you shall be circumcised. [etc. etc.] –Genesis 17: 7-10 (ASV); see also Genesis chapters 13-15)
To Abraham, the deal must have sounded too good to be true. Actually, it was. Abraham, suitably overawed by God, didn’t think to make the same response Neo did. And so the Law.
