The place, the people, the doctrine of piety

The place, the people, the doctrine of piety – these are the three dimensions of connectedness, the three branches of autonomy, authority and legitimacy. 

Like the bodies of government that balance and temper each other, these three dimensions of covenant bind and unbind people to and from each other in a dynamic equilibrium of carnal convolusion. 

The honor of the monarch or the tyrant or the leader or the dictator figures into none of these dimensions. 

The law shows up in each of these dimensions – the law of the land, the law of the people, and the law of God. In the Bible's story the law of God is sundered from the land and from the people and is sequestered in the sanctuary. 

The law of the ruler is modified as being tied inextricably to the law of God, and it stands in contradistinction to the law of the land and the law of the people. The law of the land, the customary conduct and cases were extirpated by the conquest of the land. Only the people had each other, and their law was tempered by the law of God in the founding rite of the nation.