The Ten Commandments

Read Exodus 20:1-17

The ten commandments recorded in Exodus are central to the story of the Hebrews’ liberation from slavery. In the New Testament, the commandments are assumed to be foundational. Jesus refers to, and expands upon them, as expected rules of conduct for anyone who follows him.

This expectation applies to us, today’s disciples of Christ, as much as it applied to those who chose the new way of life which Christ originally offered. The way of liberation from slavery to sin and death was and is the way of Christian discipleship. Jesus came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.

The context of the Exodus story in which that law was given is this: the Israelites had been evacuated from Egypt only 3 months before they came to camp in the wilderness in front of Mt. Sinai. The humiliation of slavery was fresh in their minds. The terror of running from Pharoah’s army, being led across the Red Sea with only Moses’ assurance that the waters would not cover them, the memory of watching men and horses drowning behind them—all this is the background for their entry into the desert of Sinai. Here they were free at last, but for what?

God, who has already given them victory over enemies along their way, manna and quail to eat, honey and water from the rocks, brings Moses up the mountain for a new and greater gift. The gift is not riches or rewards, but the law of God by which God’s people are to live. The law is essential to their freedom, and to ours.

Prayer: Delivering God, quiet our fears and our complaints so that we might listen for your word for our lives. Amen.

Betsy Lunz