It is a quirk of human nature that we don’t like to do as we are told. I have heard it said that you can surround a kid with toys, but tell him there is one toy he must not touch. Leave the room, they say, and he will go straight to that toy. I do know that Adam and Eve were just fine with a hundred trees in the Garden of Eden, but there was one tree there they were to leave strictly alone. If I read the story right, they went straight to that tree and ate, when they could have eaten of the Tree of Life and lived forever. We are still paying for that mistake.
It might be helpful to remember this when reading the Bible. Because it won’t be long before you encounter the Law of God. And there is a funny thing about the Law. For the most part, compliance is entirely voluntary. Sure, there are some exceptions when you enter society. For example, the law prohibiting murder is not voluntary, and the civil authority could take the murderer’s life.
But laws like you shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn
were purely voluntary. There was no one tasked with enforcing these laws or writing out tickets. The law of tithing is another instance. It was the Law of God—but compliance was voluntary. I don’t see anything like the Internal Revenue Service in the Law. So you can actually look at the Law of God and decide to do it or not to do it. Why, then, would you obey it?
