Perhaps he was young and foolhardy. In his first pastorate at a small church in inner-city Newark, David McKirachan bravely decided to mount a two-week Vacation Bible School.1 He decided to focus on Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and wrote the curriculum himself. Sixteen children between the ages of six and fifteen showed up, ready for all the hands-on activities the pastor had prepared for them. During the first week, they lived as if they were slaves in Egypt, doing all sorts of burdensome tasks that changed at the pastor-taskmaster’s whim. Of course, along the way they did crafts, sang songs, prayed, read the Bible, and played games. In the second week – astonishingly they all came back – the pastor walked them through the story of Moses and the Exodus – they really liked the plague of frogs and getting wet as they drowned the Egyptians in a water fight. At last they made it to Sinai. While Moses was in the cloud talking with God, the pastor asked the kids to guess what guidelines God might offer to these newly liberated slaves. After much thought and discussion, the children came up with these five rules: 1) nobody’s God but God; 2) you get to keep what belongs to you; 3) nobody gets to kill anybody else; 4) families can’t be broken up; and 5) everybody gets a day off. Are you surprised at how close the children came on their own to our Decalogue? Could it be that the words of God that Moses transmitted to the people at Sinai were not arbitrary or esoteric? Could it be that they still have relevance for us?
We have come to the next step in the evolution of God’s covenant with God’s people. In God’s covenant with Noah, God committed Godself to God’s creation, promising never again to destroy it and asking little of Noah or his family. In God’s covenant with Abraham and Sarah, God promised a son to Sarah, a multitude of descendants to them, and an ongoing commitment to all of Abraham’s children. In return God marked God’s covenant in the flesh of Abraham and his descendants by requiring that he and all succeeding males, whether born, adopted or purchased, be circumcised. Now we stand with the Israelites at the foot of Mount Sinai. In an action that would ground the history of the entire Jewish people henceforth, God has delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. As the Israelites camp at the foot of the mountain, Moses has ascended the mountain. God calls to Moses from the mountain and charges Moses to declare to the Israelites, “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Me. Now then, if you will obey me faithfully and keep My covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all the peoples” (Ex. 19:4-5).
But what is that covenant, and how shall the people obey it? God graciously provides the answer. God begins at Sinai in the same way that God began God’s covenant with Abraham: by announcing God’s sovereignty over the people. “I am the Lord your God,” God tells them. God then declares Godself as the author of their deliverance from Egypt and announces to the people what the Hebrew Bible calls the Ten Words or Ten Statements to guide them in obeying God faithfully. The Ten Statements are not commandments – the English word is a mistranslation of the Hebrew. The Ten Statements are closer to categorical or constitutional law. Instead of laying down specific rules, the Ten Statements provide a road map, a basic direction, a foundation for an obedient and holy relationship with God and with our neighbors. What is more important, instead of spelling out punishments for those who miss the mark, the Ten Statements suggest to us the order and structure that a life lived in God’s presence should have.
God begins the Ten Statements by announcing God’s most fundamental expectation of the Israelites, absolute allegiance, primarily in gratitude for God’s rescue of them from Egypt. God then goes on to suggest what a right relationship with God looks like: the Israelites are to show awe for the infinite mystery of God, they are to remember that God cares passionately about them and their offspring, and they are to resist the temptation to pin God down or put God into a box – or a picture frame. They are not to try to manipulate God by willfully tossing around God’s sacred name. And because they were created in God’s image, they are to emulate God by doing something radically counter-cultural in the ancient world: they were to keep the appropriate balance between productivity and rest, by taking every seventh day as a day in which to cease from production.
There is more for the Israelites in keeping God’s covenant than maintaining a right relationship with God – hard as that may prove to be. God also expected them to maintain a right relationship within their human communities. The remaining Statements all provide safeguards for values that should undergird every healthy human society: protection for family, preservation of life, maintenance of marital fidelity, security of personal property, honesty and integrity in legal and fiduciary matters, and respect for the possessions of another. Unlike other ancient covenants, the Ten Statements provide no mention of what might happen if the Israelites disregard these expectations. If the Israelites are truly committed to God, God implies, they will strive to order their lives on these lines out of a desire to please God, not out of fear of punishment. So God’s road map addresses both theology – how we relate to God – and ethics -- how we relate to other human beings. Jesus reminded us that the two great commandments were to love God and love one’s neighbor. In doing so, Jesus was condensing the essence of the Ten Statements, reminding us that theology and ethics are inseparable. Ultimately, the Israelites – and we as their heirs – can only express their commitment to God through a life lived according to God’s ideals. They and we ultimately must show forth a “concrete performance of faith.”
Are the Ten Statements still relevant in the 21st century? You can still see them hanging in some southern courthouses. If you drive I-71 north from our diocesan conference center, they shout at you on two bill boards. But I wonder. Would they make more sense to us, if we heard them in the following way?2 1) Don’t worship other gods, especially those “who pollute the air with poisonous words that are but sounding brass.” 2) Don’t make or bow down to any graven image, including the almighty dollar, neither make capitalism into a religion. 3) Don’t take God’s name in vain, even if you want to get elected or engage in pre-emptive wars. 4) Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy by not attending sporting events at racetracks or stadiums. 5) Honor your father and mother, but think for yourself. 6) Don’t kill, even those you call “baby-killers.” 7) Don’t commit adultery, even if you sanctimoniously uphold “family values.” 8) Don’t steal, for example, by taking bribes, cheating on your taxes, operating a Ponzi scheme, manipulating stock prices, or engaging in insider trading. 9) Don’t bear false witness, including branding your opponents as traitors. And 10) don’t scheme to acquire for yourself what little charity is received by the poor, the desperate, and the needy.
Most likely, we could all find ourselves in that version of the Ten Statements. So it’s appropriate this Lent to ponder the extent to which the Ten Statements provide a road map for us. Try this exercise some time during this coming week. Sit down with the Ten Statements. The Message has particularly pithy translation of them. But the translation doesn’t matter, any will do. Think about your own life in light of the ten statements. How do the norms of the Ten Statements describe your life? Is there anything in your own life that God might be calling you to change? Is there anything in your life that is more important than your relationship with God? Have you forgotten how to find the space in your life for doing absolutely nothing, for emulating God by resting? Do you treat those around you with the care and respect that you think you deserve for yourself? Are you content with your life? Are there ways in which you can simplify your life, to have more room for attending to God? As you ponder for yourself the intent of each statement, ask God to help you deepen your commitment to God and more truly reflect your commitment in your own life.
After hearing the Ten Statements, the Israelites were so frightened that they begged God not to speak directly to them again (Exodus 20:18-21). Thereafter, Moses and the prophets mediated God’s word for the people – until the Word moved into our neighborhood and walked among us in Jesus. Thanks be to God that God continues to speak to us today, through holy people, sacraments, and Scripture. Thanks also be to God for God’s covenants, most especially for the Ten Statements, and the gracious gift of direction for our lives that enables us to come closer to the people and community that God created us to be.
1. C. David McKirachan, “Traffic Control,” Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit (Lima, OH: CSS Publishing, 2011), 64-5.
2. Adapted from Tom Cordle, at open.salon.com/blog/tom_cordle, quoted in Synthesis, March 11, 2012
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