A Charter of Freedom (Day 12: Roots & Shoots)

• The Ornament: The Stone Tablets / The Mountain
• The Scripture: Exodus 20:1–17

The Surface Reading

We usually read the Ten Commandments as a list of arbitrary “Dos and Don’ts.” It feels like the school principal reading the code of conduct over the loudspeaker.

Don’t lie. Don’t steal. Don’t kill. Behave yourselves.

We often see them as restrictions on our freedom, designed by a God who is obsessed with compliance.

A Closer Look

Guide: Rob Bell / Pete Enns

But Rob Bell argues that we have the context backward.

These rules weren’t given to people who were free; they were given to people who had just spent 400 years as slaves.

In Egypt, there were no limits. The system of Pharaoh was a machine of endless production. If you weren’t making bricks, you didn’t matter. So when God brings them to Sinai, He isn’t giving them a new list of burdens; He is giving them a Charter of Freedom.

Pete Enns adds another layer: The list is structured exactly like an ancient political treaty (called a “Suzerain Vassal Treaty”). This was how a Great King would speak to a people he had just rescued.

God was using a format they understood to say: “I am your new King. I defeated your old master. Here are the terms of your new citizenship.”

When God says, “You shall have no other gods before me,” He isn’t just being jealous. He is demanding exclusive loyalty. He is saying: “I know you are surrounded by the gods of Egypt and Canaan, but you cannot serve them and be free. You don’t have to bow to Pharaoh anymore.”

Deep Rest

The centerpiece of this new social order is the 4th Commandment: Sabbath.

Rob Bell teaches on the Hebrew concept of Menuha (Deep Rest).

In the empire, your value is tied to what you produce. In God’s Kingdom, your value is inherent.

By commanding them to rest, God was breaking the “Pharaoh” inside of them. He was saying: “You are no longer machines. You are human beings. You can stop, and the world will not fall apart.”

The tablets aren’t a cage; they are the wall that keeps the empire out.

The Question

We may not live in Egypt, but many of us live in the Empire of Productivity. We feel like we have to earn our keep every single day.

Which commandment feels most like freedom to you right now?

Is it the freedom to rest (Sabbath)? The freedom to be content with what you have (not coveting)?

What if you read this list today not as a scolding, but as God inviting you to put down your bricks?

Note: For a fascinating look at how these laws compare to the Code of Hammurabi and what that means for how we read the Bible, check out Episode 103 of The Bible for Normal People.