All the “levels” of man must walk together to do the will of Hashem
There are two common questions asked about these pesukim. First, there’s no reward for mitzvos in This World. So why does it seem that if we do mitzvos, we’ll receive rain and fruit? Second, why does the Torah say “walk in My chukim,” instead of perform the mitzvos? (Rav Shalom Noach Berezovsky, Nesivos Shalom)
We’ve been doing a lot of gardening lately. There’s something about enforced confinement that makes you long for open blue skies, that makes you want to dig deep into the moist dirt and imagine you can get all the way to the other side of the world (except maybe not China). Our garden isn’t very exotic. We’ve got some vines, roses, flowers, and of course, our cantankerous Mr. Cherry Tree.
The Midrash explains that the word chukim here comes from the root chakak, to carve or engrave. Hashem established and carved out laws and boundaries for every part of nature, for rain, fruit. All these laws of nature are dependent on Bnei Yisrael. If we keep the laws of the Torah, then the laws of creation and nature will also be kept. Thus, when we receive rain, it’s not as a reward for doing mitzvos; it’s a consequence of the laws with which Hashem created the natural world.
When we first planned our garden, I knew I wanted a pink flowering cherry tree. I’d grown up with such a tree spreading its rosy blossoms every spring outside my bedroom window, and I longed to replicate those memories.
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