Exodus 20:1-11

¹ Then God spoke all these words, saying, ² “I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, taking you out of the house of slavery. ³ “No other gods before me are for you. ⁴ “You will not make for yourself a carved image, or any reproduction of anything that is in the sky above, or that is in the land beneath, or that is in the water under the land. ⁵ You will not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing dependable love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. ⁷ “You will not use the name of the LORD your God hypocritically, because the LORD will not hold him guiltless who uses his name hypocritically. ⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day, by keeping it holy. ⁹ Six days you will work, and do all your labor, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you will not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the temporary resident who is within your gates. ¹¹ Because in six days the LORD made the sky and land, the sea, and everything that is in them, and ceased on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

covenant constitution (part one)

The LORD provided for the Israelites a summary of what they were to be all about. That summary was called the “ten words.” The first four words focused on their agreement to love the LORD with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. The LORD had rescued them from slavery in an polytheistic context, and they were now responsible to walk in that newness of life, and not to go back to that old life.

1. In the old life, they knew about Yahveh, but he was only one god among many. The LORD calls on his people to experience a radical paradigm shift. He demands that their lives be centered around only one deity. He does not deny the existence of other supernatural beings. He has taken those false gods on in Egypt, and defeated them — showing their inferiority and dependence upon him. His people are be strict practical monotheists.

2. No representation of any created thing was to be manufactured by the nation, because they were covenanting to honor and revere the LORD alone. They had been raised in a context where images of multiple gods were multiple means of getting what people wanted. Rejecting idolatry was rejecting the usual means of personal wealth and success. It was a visible sign of faithfulness and dependence on only one God. It was also a sign of conversion from the manipulation religion, which was all they had ever known.

3. The old life was also one that championed personal choice and flexibility. Before Moses and the exodus, the Israelites could worship Yahveh as a family, and hold their own personal opinions and practices as well. Now, the LORD will not have that. If they call themselves believers in Yahveh, his is the name they will use. His is the throne they will pray to. His are the laws they will obey. He will be their national, tribal, family and personal God. No more hypocrisy and double mindedness.

4. As a sign of their rescue from oppression and slavery, the LORD also demanded that they take a day off every week. The day that he chose for them was the seventh day, because he had ceased his creation work on the seventh day. The Sabbath was not intended to be a law unto itself. It was intended to reinforce the new covenant community as they sought to be true to their absolute loyalty to the LORD. It was a sign from the LORD, indicating the new freedom they had because of his rescue by grace. It was also a sign to the nations around them, because it set the entire nation apart as his special people, whom he had saved.

LORD, you have rescued us from slavery to sin by Christ. We pledge our absolute unqualified loyalty to you, and ask you to teach us how to demonstrate our faith in you to the watching world.