Plato and Adam and Eve

As it is the weekend, I managed to read a little Plato to the dear husband.  We thought it might work as a putter-to-sleeper, but as a matter of fact, I think the husband enjoyed himself.  We were reading somewhere in Book 2 to about page 70 of 400.

Basically, they decided to investigate justice from the larger to the smaller, so therefore, they were going to look at the State first.  In delightful detail, they build up the state from all the different people who contribute to society with their work.  In the end they also needed to add in luxuries, such as couches and lotions, to be able to get more easily at abuses and injustices.  But we didn't get that far.

After all that, we were ready to go to sleep.

I do wonder that righteous behavior is being looked at from the perspective of the state first rather than the individual.  How is this different from another approach?

Of course, justice and righteousness are continuously treated in the Bible.  But here we start with Adam and Eve.  The first pair messed up straight away by not listening to a righteous God's words.  It begins with God, with an external information that speaks to the conscience.

Luther has speculated that perhaps Adam might not have fallen, if his wife hadn't first, since he thinks that the woman is weaker.  Well, I don't know, it always takes two to tango.  Adam could have said something.

The Ten Commandments, however, were given to a whole nation-- once there was one.  There are some commandments that only make sense in the larger communal setting, which we all generally find ourselves in.  In any case, any moral laws were always dealt with in connection to an Almighty God whom we are to fear and love, at the same time.