I have been studying the beginning of my faith these past few days, not the beginning of my personal walk, but the beginning of God’s recorded faithfulness: Genesis and Exodus. It’s quite timely that this morning, on our great nation’s Independence Day, I walked, so to speak, with the Israelites through their own independence from bondage in Egypt and into their first years as a baby nation. I got to see the formation process of their first set of laws, their first official leaders, and their first ruler: God Himself. 

I wanted to breathe in the knowledge of truth and just sit and soak in the verses surrounding the Exodus from Egypt and learn more about these roots from the Spirit of God. In some ways, it parallels the exodus of many of the people groups in the Americas from their motherland for the purpose of religious independence. Though the details are far from identical, the craving for autonomy and freedom transcends time and culture.

So what stands out to me most from my reading of the foundation of the nation of Israel? Well first, they were an oppressed people and they cried out to God. Additionally, their women were faithful even when their lives were in grave danger. The midwives were instructed by Pharaoh to kill all the boys upon birth, but the women “feared God,” didn’t follow this order, and were blessed with their own families as a result. When the rulers of the day wanted to annihilate Israel, their faithfulness led to their expansion (Exodus 1:20-21).

Something else that stands out to me occurs while Moses was on the run: God saw Israel, and He was “concerned” about them (Exodus 2:25). Now this word, “concern” seems to be a bit downplayed in this translation. Not to get too theological, but… well just bear with me as I get a bit theological!  The Hebrew word here for “concern” is Yada, which means to know, to be known, to deeply respected (Strong). It is the same word used to describe a sexual union between a man and a woman in the covenant of marriage (side note: the word for sexual relations when not referring to a man and a woman in a marital covenant is usually a totally different word with entirely different implications… totally worth looking into–something, by the way, I learned at Dannah and Bob Gresh’s Sexual Theology and Healing Training Master Class last week and highly recommend attending in the future! Visit purefreedom.org to find out more!). It is the same word used to describe the relationship between God and His people throughout the whole Bible. It is the highest form of relationship. In their agony, they were seen. They were known. They were understood. And they were rescued!

Finally, I am keen to mention the relentlessness of God’s heart. After rescuing Israel, God is relentlessly concerned with their well being. Something I didn’t realize before was that He reminded them of what He had done for them and offered to make them His “own treasure (Exodus 19:5).” They agreed to it! God did not force Himself on Israel! They cried out to Him. He heard them. He delivered them. Then, He OFFERED Himself as their King. They responded. “Everything that Adonai has spoken, we will do (Exodus 19:8).” And friend, He will not force Himself on you. (And neither should we try to force Him onto others.) But He will relentlessly pursue you when you’ve EARNESTLY said yes to His invitation.

He repeatedly instructs Moses to remind the people not to touch the mountain where He was located because it would kill them. Over and over again, he reminds Moses to remind the people. He had ongoing compassion and care for them. 

Then, He gave them a series of ordinances that were quite liberating! Remember that they had been in bondage, with no will of their own for hundreds of years. This was their constitution. It freed them to live in a society that was not lawless and oppressive towards even the least of them. 

And in this constitution, He gave them a day of rest! After hundreds of years of slavery, do you think they struggled to take a day off? I imagine they were quite addicted to productivity. I know how I get when all I do is work, work, work! It can be hard to force myself to turn my brain off and rest. And this new ruler required rest for everyone! Even the slaves and cattle! He even justifies the sabbath rest in Exodus 23:12, “You are to do your work for six days, but on the seventh day you will rest, so that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and also the son of your handmaid and the outsider may be refreshed.” Everybody wants Saturday off, and God started that! He made Saturday a required day off. (So why do we go to church on Sunday? Oh dear… that’s another, for some reason, controversial topic for another day, but please do look into it!)

He freed them from bondage, slavery, oppression, and violence and gave them a united identity, a set of laws to keep order and to protect all life and innocence. He ascribed value to the individual, including women and children! He took them from a nation with a bounty on their male infants and made it an offense punishable by death for anyone who hurt a pregnant woman, ending either of their lives (or causing severe harm) (Exodus 21:22). 

God declared their independence from the ways of an oppressive world, and in return they pledged allegiance to Him alone. 

Now that is a God to whom I want to pledge my allegiance! And I get to! We non-Israelites were invited into the family of God and declared spiritually and eternally independent from wickedness under the blood of Jesus. Through the blood of Jesus, like the Israelites through the blood of the passover lamb, we too have been emancipated. 

So today I ask you to look deeply into your relationship with God (and I invite you to ask Jesus to come into your heart and lead you in all your ways if you do not yet have this relationship) and ask yourself–Have I yet been declared independent? And if so, am I living in the freedom for which I was set free (Galatians 5:1)? 

Be free. Set others free.

Happy Independence Day! We have much to celebrate.

References:

The Bible. Tree of Life Version, Baker Books, 2015.

Strong, James. Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2009.