Digging in Deeper: Exodus 20:1-2

“Then God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

It’s fun to look up lists of strange laws from around the country. There are all kinds of them. It’s illegal, for instance, to drive blindfolded in Alabama. In Missouri, my home state, bear wrestling is banned. And one more just for fun: in Arizona, donkeys are prohibited from sleeping in bathtubs. Laws and rules sometimes seem totally arbitrary. Yet while that may occasionally be the case, it is far more likely that they have a context in which they made perfect sense at one point. As we at last arrive at the famous Ten Commandments, the foundation for the laws God gave to Israel through Moses, while they are sometimes treated like they are strange and arbitrary, they all have a context. That’s what God starts with here. So, before we talk through the laws themselves, let’s talk about their context and why that matters.

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Morning Musing: Matthew 5:44

“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever tried to count all the commands in the Bible? You could probably google it. I’m sure someone has made at least a good faith effort at figuring out the number. I suppose it could also be a bad faith effort as well where a critic is trying to justify their criticism, but you get a count all the same. Why all the commands? I mean, God is God, but why can He just let us figure things out and live our lives on our own? It gets frustrating to run into one of His commands every time we start running down a particular road. Does it really even matter if we try? Let’s take a few minutes this morning to think about it.

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