Photo ©2023 by Chelsea Jurgensen
Commentary ©2023 by Russell Jurgensen
Thursday, December 14, 2023
This view appears to be looking north towards Glacier Peak. I like images with layers of hills and ridges. In this particular image there are popular hiking trails and there are likely various hikers that are too tiny to see.
The Bible has many layers and at a glance it is possible to miss the important little details. There is a pyramid diagram of biblical laws that I think gives an interesting picture.
At the peak of the pyramid are two laws to love God and love our neighbors. Just below that are the ten commandments. Below that are the various teachings and stories of the Bible that make up the bulk of the Bible.
We could probably imagine little people traversing the pyramid like a mountain as they learn. We couldn’t have just the peak because what really defines love? As people with limited experience and intelligence, we have trouble translating the term love to how we work together. The ten commandments in Exodus 20, break love down to slightly more concrete terms. On our own we would not come to the same conclusions, but we trust that God knows why they are important.
A lot of the stories show us what happens when we don’t love. I sometimes think that if nothing bad ever happened, the Bible would not have been written.
I’d like to think that if we truly followed a law of love, we would draw some of the right conclusions. However, it is immensely helpful to have the Bible with its many layers to teach us.