The reading
Exodus 19:1-6, 20:1-17
19:1 On the third new moon after the Israelites had gone out
of the land of Egypt, on that very day, they came into the wilderness of Sinai.
2 They had journeyed from Rephidim, entered the wilderness of Sinai, and camped
in the wilderness; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. 3 Then Moses
went up to God; the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, "Thus
you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: 4 You have seen
what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought
you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you
shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole
earth is mine, 6 but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.
These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites."
20:1 Then God spoke all these words: 2 I am the Lord your
God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3
you shall have no other gods before me. 4 You shall not make for yourself an
idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on
the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow
down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God,
punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth
generation of those who reject me, 6 but showing steadfast love to the
thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 You
shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will
not acquit anyone who misuses his name. 8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it
holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day
is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or
your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident
in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and
all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the
sabbath day and consecrated it. 12 Honor your father and your mother, so that
your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 13 You
shall not murder. 14 You shall not commit adultery. 15 You shall not steal. 16
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17 You shall not covet your
neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female
slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
The message
We are starting a 4 week series on the 10 commandments. Our readings were originally organized to focus
on a few of the commandments each week. I plan to do something a little different, I want to look at the 10 commandments in their
original context, our time and the future.
If you are interested in looking deeper at what each one means, I invite
you to look at Luther’s Small or Large Catechism, where each one is explained
in depth, Here Luther expands what it
means to follow each one, making it for all practical purposes impossible for a Christian to follow them by
their own will or goodness. (Here, the
law exposes sin and human sinfulness then drives us to God’s saving grace as
the source of our salvation, shown to us through the apostles creed and Lord’s
prayer, the next parts of the Catechisms).
There are also 1000’s of different commentaries from the
Jewish tradition on these 10 commands that explore what it means to follow each
one. In Jesus own debates and
confrontations with the religious authorities, we see these discussions as well
(for example, after Jesus heals a paralyzed man on the Sabbath, he is accused
of breaking the law, doing work on the Sabbath and disobeying the 4th
commandment). Even the authorities disagree, some seeing that if Jesus was
breaking the law, he would have no power to do the things he was doing. There is a tremendous amount of writing on
what it means to work and what specifically counts as work (how far can you
walk on the Sabbath, emergency workers, etc).
This week, we start with what the 10 commandments in their
time. They are given to Moses and then
to the people about 3 months (3 new moons is about 89 days) after the exodus,
the escape from slavery in Egypt. This
is one of the central events in the history of Israel. The Israelites end up in
Egypt about 500 years before. They come
invited by Joseph, one of Jacob’s sons who is betrayed by his brothers and left
for dead. Joseph survives and becomes a
powerful official in the Egyptian government.
At a time of famine, Joseph brings his family to Egypt so they can eat
and live. After a few generations pass,
the people of Egypt start complaining to the pharaoh that the Israelites are
too powerful, not assimilating, not becoming Egyptians, not practicing the
Egyptian religion, are using too many resources and multiplying too quickly (now this should sound familiar to us, since
we hear the same things today about different immigrant groups). The pharaoh decides to solve the problem by
enslaving the Israelites.
During all this time, the only thing the people have to keep
faithful is God’s promise or covenant with Abraham, that they will be God’s
people Hundreds of years later, In
Exodus 3, God calls out to Moses and sends him to tell the phaorah “let my
people go”. This is a scary task, this
is confronting one of history’s strongest empires. At first, Moses refuses,
offering all kinds of reasonable excuses, I have other things to do, I’m not
the right person for this, they won’t listen to me, I have a speech impediment (apparently Moses
stuttered). To address these things, God
sends Aaron, Moses’s brother with him.
They go the pharaoh with the request “the Lord says, let my people
go”. They are armed with a series of
plagues that they unleash on Egypt, ultimately ending with the death of the
first born of Egypt, from animals to the Pharoah’s own son (an event marked at
Passover). This breaks Egypt’s will to
keep fighting and the Israelites are freed.
During all this time,
the only thing the people have to keep faithful is God’s promise or covenant
with Abraham, that they will be God’s people. Now, free in the wilderness, this
promise “you will be my people”, isn’t quite doing it. The people are in the
wilderness and materially, they have nothing except what they looted from
Egypt. They quickly realize they have
nothing. They complain about the lack of food, shelter, organization, leadership,
water and military. After all, during
the centuries of slavery in Egypt, the people had places to live, food to eat,
water to drink, rules and codes to live by, protection from people who wished them
harm (other than the Egyptians themselves).
Now, they had nothing, just God’s promise or covenant with Abraham, that
they will be God’s people (and you can’t eat that).
Each issues is addressed, God appears as a cloud of fire and wind to
show they are under God’s protection, in a barren place, there is manna and
quail to eat and water from a rock to drink. Different types of leadership structures are
formed by trial and error. In the midst
of all this, Moses goes to Mt Sinai and receives the 10 commandments. The 10 commandments can be separated into ones
that govern our relationship with God (you shall have no other gods. keep the
Sabbath holy, a reminder of God’s power and grace, do not make idols) and ones
that govern our relationship with each other (honor your parents, you shall not
lie, bear false witness, murder, covet or be jealous). Over time, there are about 600 other laws
regulating diet, care for the poor, social and legal interactions, debt relief,
worship and all other aspects of life. Again all of these laws are concerned
with our relationships with God and with each other. A code to live by but more importantly a
reminder of God’s Grace. (keep in mind
19 comes before 20, God calls out to
Abraham and Moses, set the people free from Egypt, God bore you on eagles' wings and brought you
to himself, that all happens before the law.
God’s favor is not a reward for obedience, it is a gift. (more on that
next week as we look at what Luther does with the 10 commandments)
In many ways religion
and government were the same. Kings pray and prophets anoint or remove them. Priests make decisions on war. Decisions in
all aspects of society and life are made based on God’s word. God is the ultimate power in the world. The law serves secular and religious
purposes. It organizes society, establishes crimes and consequences, gives
people trust in what is happening, sets God’s people apart from all others, can
be kept in all times and places (after all, its origins are in the chaos and
confusion of a barren wilderness). Now
the people have that promise that they will be God’s people and they have the
law. We should not imagine that the 10 commandments fixed all that anxiety and
fear.
Having the rules and following them are 2 very different
things (When we started this year at the homeless Shelther, I consulted a few
teachers who all stressed having rules, which we did, awesome rules, getting
the kids to follow them was a different story) As Moses is receiving them, the
people think he is gone for good. They talk Aaron into making and then worship
a golden calf, claiming that is what set them free from slavery in Egypt. (a
very human attempt to make the divine visible, controllable). There is a
constant cycle of people failing to keep faithful to God and to the law, the
people being punished (the golden calf incident is met with harsh consequences,
a lot of killing), people repenting, being forgiven, restored and then failing
again. God would do something else to
call people to faith and relationship (think Jesus)
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