Tuesday, October 6, 2015

October 11, 2015: Hear O Israel



Deuteronomy 5:1-21; 6:4-9

Moses called out to all Israel, saying to them: “Israel! Listen to the regulations and the case laws that I’m recounting in your hearing right now. Learn them and carefully do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Mount Horeb. The Lord didn’t make this covenant with our ancestors but with us—all of us who are here and alive right now. The Lord spoke with you face-to-face on the mountain from the very fire itself. At that time, I was standing between the Lord and you, declaring to you the Lord’s word, because you were terrified of the fire and didn’t go up on the mountain.”

The Lord said:
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

You must have no other gods before[a] me. Do not make an idol for yourself—no form whatsoever—of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. Do not bow down to them or worship them because I, the Lord your God, am a passionate God. I punish children for their parents’ sins—even to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. 10 But I am loyal and gracious to the thousandth generation[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

11 Do not use the Lord your God’s name as if it were of no significance; the Lord won’t forgive anyone who uses his name that way.

12 Keep the Sabbath day and treat it as holy, exactly as the Lord your God commanded: 13 Six days you may work and do all your tasks, 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. Don’t do any work on it—not you, your sons or daughters, your male or female servants, your oxen or donkeys or any of your animals, or the immigrant who is living among you—so that your male and female servants can rest just like you. 15 Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That’s why the Lord your God commands you to keep the Sabbath day.

16 Honor your father and your mother, exactly as the Lord your God requires, so that your life will be long and so that things will go well for you on the fertile land that the Lord your God is giving you.
17 Do not kill.[c]
18 Do not commit adultery.
19 Do not steal.
20 Do not testify falsely against your neighbor.
21 Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s wife.
Do not crave your neighbor’s house, field, male or female servant, ox, donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.

6 Israel, listen! Our God is the Lord! Only the Lord![a]
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your being, and all your strength. These words that I am commanding you today must always be on your minds. Recite them to your children. Talk about them when you are sitting around your house and when you are out and about, when you are lying down and when you are getting up. Tie them on your hand as a sign. They should be on your forehead as a symbol.[b] Write them on your house’s door-frames and on your city’s gates.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Introduction:

There are many individuals who have been wrongly imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. Thankfully, due to DNA evidence, many of these men and women are able to be vindicated and released.  Imagine being such a person, spending years “inside” and now, suddenly, you are back into the world, a free person. But the challenges are certainly not at an end.  Even with the help and support of family and friends, the drastic changes that freedom brings could also create terrifying challenges. Imagine if a released prisoner had no support system or community?

In the movie The Shawshank Redemption, a film set inside a prison in Maine, an inmate named “Red” and his friends talk about a fellow prisoner who committed suicide after being on “the outside” for a short amount of time after his release. The others can’t understand it, but Red tries to explain to them how freedom could be so terrifying: “These walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. After long enough, you get so you depend on 'em. That's 'institutionalized.'”

Freedom can be terrifying, uncharted territory for someone who has known only servitude. 

The people of Israel had been slaves in Egypt for many generations. Last week’s lesson from Exodus said that the Egyptians “made their lives miserable with hard labor, making mortar and bricks, doing field work, and by forcing them to do all kinds of other cruel work.” (Ex. 1:14) God has liberated them from slavery through the leadership of Moses and his brother Aaron but freedom was a huge challenge for these former slaves.  They complain often about the lack of food, the lack of water and the danger that comes from other nations.

God knew that the people of Israel not only needed to be saved from slavery, they needed to be saved for a purpose.  They needed direction, meaning and support.  The “regulations” that Moses brings to the people from God are not meant to be another form of slavery; they are meant to provide a way of life that will help the people make the most of their freedom.

The Technical Stuff:

The people of Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years after their liberation from slavery. There were many hardships, escapades and “scrapes” along the way and on more than one occasion either Moses or God grew exasperated with the Israelites’ lack of faith and/or grumbling. Finally, God prepared to lead them into the “Promised Land” of Canaan. Deuteronomy is Moses’ “farewell address.” The title of the book (as we have it today) comes from the Greek expression deuteros nomos, which means “second law,” and hence “Deuteronomy.” Moses gave the “law” or “Torah” to the people in the Book of Exodus, which says this took place on Mount Sinai. Deuteronomy recalls this, but calls the location “Mount Horeb.” This is one of the confusing aspects of Scripture: it’s the same mountain with two different names.

“Torah,” or “Law” can also be translated as “instruction” or “teaching” and it is an extremely important, but complicated concept. There is not time to go into detail here, but “Torah” became a way of life for the Israelites, whose descendants will be named “the Jews.”  There is also the very important concept of a “covenant” between God and the people.  A covenant is “a solemn commitment guaranteeing promises or obligations undertaken by one or both covenanting parties.” (Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch, 139) In our own lives, one of the best example of a “covenant” is marriage, where two people make a commitment based on promises and obligations. Again and again the LORD has made ‘covenants’ with the ancestors of the Israelites: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Now the LORD is making a covenant with the people before they enter the “Promised Land.”

The “law” or “instruction” is prefaced with this statement from the LORD: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” All of God’s “requirements” come out of the fact that the LORD is the one who has given them freedom and a new life. In other words, the LORD answers the question, “Why should we listen to you?” before it can be asked. Many will ask if there is “grace” in the Old Testament, usually after they have read about the LORD’s wrath against “sinners.”  It is important to remember, however, that “Israel understood its own life as a community to be in response to God’s saving activity” according to Professor Bruce Birch (Let Justice Roll Down, 174). The relationship that the people had with God all started with God’s saving act, with God’s grace.

Then come the two sets of “laws” in our lesson for today. The first will look very familiar: it is the second recitation of the “Ten Commandments” (also called the “Decalogue”). It was first given to the people by Moses in Exodus after the people had reached Mount Sinai, and now Moses is giving it again, before they enter the Promised Land. “Its stipulations provide the foundational definition of an appropriate relationship between the Israelites and God and among individual Israelites under the terms of the covenant.” (Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch, 171) In other words, now that the people are free, they need to know how to live out their freedom. The Ten Commandments gives them the foundation they need.

The second section of our lesson is centered around one of the most important verses of the Old Testament: “Israel, listen! Our God is the Lord! Only the Lord!” (Deut. 6:4) This verse is called “the Shema” (after the Hebrew “Sh’ma Yisrael” or “Hear, O Israel!”) and it is a prime example Israel’s relationship with the LORD). To this day, observant Jews consider this to be the most important part of the prayer service and say it twice daily. As an observant Jew, Jesus prayed this along with his disciples. It is almost impossible to overstate the importance of this verse.

Jesus was also asked to give the greatest commandment, and he replied with Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment.” (Matthew 22:37-38) He goes on to say, “And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:39-40) When you look at the commandments found either in Exodus or Deuteronomy, you’ll find that the ten are divided into ways to treat God, and ways to treat the people around you. In other words, Jesus was absolutely right.

What Does This Say to Us?

Just like the Israelites and so many other people before us, we need to have freedom for something, not just freedom from something.  As Christians we are reminded that “For by grace you have been saved by faith, and this is not your own doing: it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Galatians 2:8) Just as the Israelites were saved from slavery by God (and not from anything they did), we are saved by God through Jesus Christ while we were still sinners. But the question comes up, “Now what? Now that I am saved, how should I live my life?” In other words, “How do I look at the commands of God, now that I’m saved?”

Christians have many different ways of describing this, but I prefer to use something called “The Three Uses of the Law” that comes from the Lutheran Book of Concord (although, to be clear, not all LUTHERANS agree on this…and it’s found in other theologies too, but I’m a Lutheran so that’s where I’m starting). The Law of God has three different uses: the first is the usual, everyday use. The Law keeps people in line and orders society so that there isn’t chaos. Non-Christians and non-religious people follow the Law to some extent. With the second use, the Law is like a mirror which shows us our sin. The Law shows us that we cannot satisfy God’s requirements on our own. In other words, the Law shows us that we need grace, that we need Jesus Christ. The third use involves how we live, now that we are saved. Like the people of Israel, we need a guide, a way of life, that will help us to live as God intended for us to live. We’ll follow it imperfectly, we’ll continually need God’s grace, but we can use the Law as a way of life. So, in shorthand, the three uses are: a curb that keeps our bad behavior under-check, a mirror that shows us how messed up we are and our need of grace, and a guide that shows us how to live in a way that pleases God.

Freedom can be terrifying, uncharted territory for someone who has known only servitude. That servitude can be physical or spiritual, or BOTH, but thanks be to God that we have been given freedom for a purpose, not just freedom from evil.

No comments:

Post a Comment