We don’t like to be commanded. We do not like to be told what to do—except when we find ourselves in over our heads. Before they receive the 10 Commandments the Hebrews find themselves in a place that outstrips all their resources. For 400 years they have lived in Egypt as a part of a mighty empire. Pharaohs came and Pharaohs went but the empire continued. And they had been shaped by that ongoing empire and its culture. They had learned the lessons of empire well, without even trying. Life is cheap. Power is everything. Work is ceaseless. Might makes right. Exploitation is normal. Conformity is always expected, Wealth is highly concentrated, and there is a high value on a control. That is life in the Empire.
But God had freed them from that empire. God had Moses lead them out of Egypt through the Red Sea into a land not controlled by Pharoah. Not to just bring freedom from backbreaking manual labor of brickmaking and working in the fields along with much more. God wanted to restore them into the people whom God created them to be. People who stayed free and did not collapse back into patterns and ways that diminished human life. To not see themselves or others, as expendable, valueless factors of production, or providers of comfort for the ease of the ruling class; but, to know their true identity; beloved by God, created in the image of God and capable of a just and flourishing society for all nations. God was doing a new thing, fashioning a new people through whom God could reveal Godself more fully and bless all the nations and the Earth.
That's why God gives the 10 commandments. The Hebrews have witnessed God's activity as God led them out of Egypt, and now, God gives words to make sense out of what they've seen and equip them for life not controlled by the empire. When the people hear the commandments they don't roll their eyes and say, “Are you kidding me? What's up with this?” Instead, there is awe and there's rejoicing because they're not hearing rules to make them miserable, to control or to oppress. They're marveling that a God, who has acted on their behalf, is further revealing God's character that they may know God and live in ways that are vastly different and abundantly more life giving than life in the empire. God is giving them strategies to prevent their return to an enslaved life—whether by physically returning to Egypt or by enslaving themselves by embracing the embedded values and perspective they learned by being raised in the empire with which they are so familiar.
2023 Fall Sermon Series: Staying Free | Exodus 20
Are the "10 Commandments" that we find in Exodus 20 relevant for our lives today?
How do these “words” move us from a confined life to an expansive life?
What do we discover about our liberating God?
How do these words of God speak into our time of violence and hate?
October 29: Staying Free: Honor God
November 5: Staying Free: Take Neighbor Seriously
November 12: Staying Free: Develop a Sabbath Heart
November 19: Staying Free: Practice Gratitude