One of the many ways people like to use the biblical text is as a hard and fast rule book for how everyone should behave or live. For the most part, folks like to hop into the bible, cherry-pick a phrase or two, and use it to admonish everyone else for not following God the right way. When this happens, the Bible ceases to be a source of stories and meaning and becomes a weapon of coercion. The Bible says you have to do this… The Bible says you can’t do this… the Bible says, the bible says.
I don’t know about you, but if I were to sit down and write down ten rules that everyone has to follow, I don’t think it would be this ten. And, to be clear, I’m not entirely sure that that was the intent of these words to begin with anyway. As with every biblical story, the words are a record of a particular moment and they must always be understood in context. No parts of scripture are meant to be read independently of the rest of their story, and this very famous section is no exception.
So what is that context? Well, first we have to realize that in order to understand Exodus, we must be aware of the distance between the actual events and the descriptions of those events. Exodus was not intended to be a first-hand account of events, nor was it written as a news story. It is, rather, the story of the faith of a whole people (Burns 19). It has to be read as a theological creed, NOT a historical chronicle (Davison, Lecture on Exodus).
The narrative arc of Exodus, then, begins with the story of liberation, moves to the creation of a covenant between God and the people, and ends with an understanding of God’s presence in the life of the Israelites. This story makes the claim that Israel is a community like none other in history and that is only possible because God was willing to participate in daring ways within the human process ((Davison, Lecture on Exodus).
In the midst of this great story of liberation and relationship, we have this story about the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai. The story of the Ten Commandments is the story of how a nation of refugees and their creator hammer out the guidelines they will all agree to follow. This is a description of how this group of people will live in covenant with the God who liberated them from slavery. We cannot forget that this all takes place within the context of that liberation.
In Hebrew, these words are Aseret Hadibrot which roughly translates to “The Ten Statements” or the “Ten Words.” These are ten words from God that are NOT entirely of God’s instructions for the people, but rather just 10 of the 613 total commandments given by God throughout the narrative texts.
But again, all of this has to be in context. The people have spent their lives in servitude to the Egyptians. Generations were born into slavery and did not know anything else. The oldest generations would have struggled to remember life before Egypt by the time the Exodus occurred. For years, they would have been a part of the systems of belief and practice of their Egyptian captors. What do we know about Ancient Egyptian Religion? Well, we know it was a polytheistic belief system with a vast pantheon of gods and goddesses, each associated with different aspects of life, nature, and the afterlife. We know there were major Gods like Ra and Osiris and lesser gods that were responsible for smaller aspects of life. The Egyptians had their own mythology, with stories and legends that explained the creation of the world, the origins of the gods, and the nature of the afterlife. Some of the most famous myths include the story of Osiris and Isis, the creation myth of Atum, and the battles between gods like Horus and Seth. Many of these stories have similar counterparts in the Biblical narrative.
History has taught us that the religious practices of the ancient Egyptians included daily rituals, temple ceremonies, and offerings to the gods. Temples were central to religious life and served as places of worship, administration, and education. Priests played a significant role in conducting religious rituals and maintaining the temples. And we also know that the concept of the afterlife was crucial in Egyptian religion. They believed in an eternal life after death and practiced elaborate burial rituals, including mummification, to preserve the body for the afterlife. The Book of the Dead was a collection of spells and prayers that guided the deceased through the afterlife and helped them overcome obstacles.
Knowing all of that about Ancient Egyptian religion, and knowing that the Israelites were escaping that system, of COURSE, they would need a new set of guidelines. They have known nothing but these beliefs for years.
So, any new set of rules brought forth by a New-to-them God was going to have to stand in contrast to what they have known. If the Israelites were to be set apart from their captors, their rules, worship. and lives were going to have to be different. These commandments are guidelines for a world that is supposed to be devoid of exploitative relationships (Davison, Lecture on the Ten Commandments).
The First three of these commandments are about God- how God is different from the gods that are worshipped by their captors. This is not about God’s ego, rather this is about freeing the people from the obligation to worry about the pantheon they were familiar with. In many ways, this is an Introduction- “I’m God- there’s just one of me, and I’d prefer it if you’d worship me alone rather than bringing other gods into it. And while you’re at it, if you say my name can you do so with a little respect or reverence? Oh, and can we not try to place limits on me by creating images or statues- I’m totally bigger than that.” This is God’s way of establishing the order of things and requiring fidelity.
The fourth commandment is an anchor commandment. It is about God, but it is also about how humans should behave. It kind of sits at the intersection of a Venn diagram between the first three and the final five. This commandment is a reminder that because God rested, so should we. The idea of the Sabbath is to be aware of our humanness and to be aware that God
doesn't expect us to be an Energizer bunny. This is a commandment to remember that each of is deserving of rest and recovery, whatever day of the week that works out. It’s not about a specific day of the week, as much as it is about a reminder that rest is part of any healthy relationship.
The final five commandments are about our relationships with each other. Again, while for the most part, these may seem like common sense, in context they are clearer. The Israelites have escaped from a system that denied their very humanity. They wouldn’t have fully understood how to live in community with each other as free people. So of course, there had to be some guidelines. There was no one telling them what to do or how to live, and in the absence of leadership and guidelines, chaos might reign. So, we have an admonition to treat ancestors with honor, respect, and care.
There is of course the command to not murder. Please note, the word here is murder, not kill. There is a difference in the commandments (these and the other 603) between murder for the sake of murder, and death that happens as a result of war, accidents, or other “acceptable means. Both Hebrew and English have two words for taking a life — one is “kill” (harag in Hebrew) and the other is “murder” (ratzach in Hebrew). The difference between the two is enormous. While killing means: Taking any life — whether of a human being or an animal, murder can only mean one thing: The illegal or immoral taking of a human life. That’s why we say, “I killed a mosquito,” not, “I murdered a mosquito.” So It’s really important to understand exactly what is prohibited here.
The final four are about specifically about relationships between people. God wants there to be honesty in relationships- this means within the bounds of a committed relationship, but also between neighbors. All dealings within relationships have to be honest to the point that we don’t want things that aren’t ours, we don’t seek out relationships that will harm others, and we speak the truth, even when it’s hard.
This is the kind of Community that God wants for the Israelites. And ultimately, this is the kind of community that God wants for each of us. These rules can be summed up in just the first two commandments- Love God and Love Neighbor. Everything else is just details.