These ten commandments are familiar to so many of us – so familiar that they become rote rather than joyful reminders of how much God loves us. Now why do I say that? They are part of God’s law – aren’t they supposed to be severe, dogmatic, maybe even life stifling? Or are they to be thought of in the way the Psalmist begins to describe God’s law in Psalm 119. Happy are they, blessed are they who follow the law, who obey the commandments, who praise God. There is joy in following God’s law.
Hmmm – I wonder if thinking about the law God 
gives as a covenant with those God loves is the joyful part of following the law? I wonder if we think about these ten commandments as a gift poured out from the love God has for this beloved wilderness community changes the way we interpret these laws.
Let’s revisit the first 19 chapters of Exodus – the Israelites have grown in such numbers that the Egyptian pharaoh is terrified of their numbers and so he orders all the male Israelite babies to be killed.
Moses is spared because he has been rescued and adopted by the Pharaoh’s daughter. He grows up, kills an Egyptian and runs for his life settling in Midian, marrying and now tends sheep. He sees a burning bush and hears the voice of God commissioning him to go to Egypt and free the Israelites. He finds every excuse in the book to not go, and God counters every single one so that Moses does go out.
Plagues ensue, Egyptian babies die, the people flee, the Red Sea parts and the Israelites gain their freedom, only to find themselves in the wilderness wondering what they have gotten themselves into. It would have been better if we had stayed in Egypt they say. There are complaints about the lack of food and water, only to have God provide both. Finally, they arrive at Mt. Sinai.
Now what? The people prepare to hear the word of God – not see God but hear the words that God will speak to them. Let’s hear them now from The Jewish Study Bible.
These commandments are a sign of God’s love for us. They are a way of providing a structure for living during a wilderness time. In such a time it is so easy to get exhausted – leaders grow tired, the community grows tired, but God doesn’t. Keeping our focus on God during a wilderness season makes us more and more aware of who has our back, who provides for us, who loves and comforts us.
We need to honor this God and that is what the first four commandments are really all about. We need to keep in mind that that God alone is our God. We don’t have need for other small g gods like money or power or wealth or false prophets who promise the world but never deliver it. Our God is where our attention and devotion need to be. We also don’t need idols to worship – God doesn’t need us to make an image and worship it. In a wilderness season, we need to be focused on the real thing, not some gold statue.
We don’t need to use God to beat up on someone – swearing falsely by using the name of the Lord. That is tempting to do, but that is not a way of honoring God. And, we need to have a carved out time each week to worship God – to keep the Sabbath.
The fifth commandment asks us to honoring our ancestors and care about descendant generations to continue a cycle of life but also to see what we need to hold onto or let go of. Some things like hate, all the isms, etc. that might be taught to us are things that if we are honoring God and each other, we will learn to let go of so that our descendants do not pick those things up. What honors God that also builds community are questions we need to ask especially in a wilderness season where the future is uncertain.
The last five all have to do with how to live in harmony with one another. These five list egregious sins that have the ability to destroy community and in a wilderness season where you have to be reliant on one another to break community is to court disaster and ruin. So don’t illicitly murder someone, don’t destroy marriages or serious relationships, don’t steal from someone, don’t lie about someone, and don’t covet what others have. Trust that God will provide.
Maybe in honoring these commandments rooted in God’s love and provision for us a wilderness time is more easily survived. Maybe knowing that God does not abandon us especially in wilderness times but offers us love, comfort, structure, and grace will guide us through. It certainly guided the Israelites through even though the original generation was forbidden to enter the promised land. Even when they did everything in their power to try Moses’ and God’s patience, there was a level of understanding human fragility so that forgiveness was possible.
In our own wilderness season, God is still present with us, guiding us, loving us, giving us strength when we are tired, given us hope when fear and anxiety take hold. Trust that the wilderness way of loving and honoring God and each other will guide us through. May it be so. Amen.