According to the Sages, the mitzvot of the Torah are also the foundation on which the entire natural world exists. From the time of Creation, reward and punishment have been contingent on the Torah and the commandments: If Israel will observe the commandments, they will merit reward; and if not, they will receive punishment.

“If you follow My statutes” (Leviticus 26:3). These are the statutes on whose basis I established the heavens and the earth, as it is stated: “If not My covenant of day and night, I would not have set the statutes of heaven and earth” (Jeremiah 33:25). The Sages taught in the name of Rabbi Elazar: The sword and the scroll were given from Heaven intertwined. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to the Israelites: If you observe what is written in this book, you will be spared from the sword. But if not, it will ultimately kill you. Where does He pronounce these matters to them? As it is stated with regard to Adam the first man after his sin of eating from the tree of knowledge: “He banished the man, [He stationed the cherubs east of the Garden of Eden] and the blade of the ever-turning sword to guard the path to the tree of life” (Genesis 3:24)…“tree of life” – this is the Torah.(Vayikra Rabba 35)