What was it like for Israel to be put under the law?
Being put under the law meant the whole nation of Israel received it at Mount Sinai, 500 years after Abraham. The law was severe, a burden, and a yoke of bondage that Israel could not even bear, standing for legalism and the flesh rather than grace and freedom.
Les explains that the law came 500 years after Abraham, when Moses and the children of Israel were at Mount Sinai and received it. The whole nation was put under it. He emphasizes that the law was severe, a burden, and a yoke of bondage that Israel couldn't even bear. In Galatians, the analogy of Isaac and Ishmael is used: Ishmael was of the flesh, not the spiritual seed, and stood for law and legalism, while Isaac stood for grace and freedom. The bondwoman and her son were to be cast out, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. The Judaizers were trying to put the Galatian churches under law, but the letter proves they were not under law but under grace.