John H. Walton on Natural Law

Walton writes,

As an example of the foreign aspects of the cognitive environment, people in the ancient world had no category for what we call natural laws. When they thought of cause and effect, even though they could make all the observations that we make (e.g., when you push something it moves; when you drop something it falls), they were more inclined to see the world's operations in terms of divine cause. Everything worked the way that it did because God set it up that way and God maintained the system. They would have viewed the cosmos not as a machine but as a kingdom, and God communicated to them about the world in those terms. His revelation to them was not focused on giving them a more sophisticated understanding of the mechanics of the natural world.

The Lost World of Adam and Eve: Genesis 2-3 and the Human Origins Debate. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2015. p. 18.