Free at Last

In their original context, Exodus 20 or Deuteronomy 5, the Ten Commandments follow the emancipation of Israel from Egypt. They’re a kind of manifesto to freedom. A rule of life for the new society. They’re a covenant written in love. They liberate Israel from, not only Egypt but themselves. The Ten Commandments, when practiced as intended, would free God’s people from anarchy, exploitation, anxiety and betrayal. Israel’s entire legal and social code – and ours as well – was founded upon them. But Israel’s trouble, and ours as well, has always been that she was unable to keep them fully. “They honor me with their lips,” said Yahweh, “but their hearts are far from me.”

In this series we’ll take up the Ten Commandments at multiple levels. First, we’ll look at them as Law, as something of a moral baseline that keeps all nations civil. Studies in anthropology have shown that early civilizations nearly all practiced a moral code protecting life, marriage, possessions and truth, even the reverence given to the tribal deity and if they didn’t, those civilizations came apart. Second, we’ll look at the Commandments as a form of Loyalty. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments,” including these, so there’s a kind of obedience that goes beyond the Law and this is what he called, “a righteousness that exceeds the Scribes and Pharisees,” (Matt. 5:20). Finally, we’ll look at the Ten Commandments as a kind of Freedom, as if we do instinctively what the Law requires (Rom. 2:14). In his preface to the book of Romans, Martin Luther wrote, ” То keep the Law means keeping the Law, even when there is no law to keep.” This is the highest level of obedience reserved for those who have settled the argument of whether to keep them and have moved on to the question of how.