Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Exodus chapter 20 verses 1 through 17. The Ten Commandments or Promises for a People Living in a Promised Land:
20 Then God spoke all these words:
2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3 you shall have no other gods before me.
(There will be complete religious freedom in this land. They won’t have to worship Pharaoh anymore.)
4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
(No more being forced to make sphinxes in the Promised Land. You are free now. The LORD delivered you. Worship the LORD.)
7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
(Using God’s name to justify destructive and life-destroying purposes will not be tolerated.)
8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
(In Pharaoh’s economy all you were were workers. In the Promised Land you will be human beings made in God’s image. God rested; you deserve to rest also.)
12 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
(In Egypt people were only valued for their production capability. So they were chewed up and spit out and then replaced. In the Promised Land the old who cannot produce will still be valued and treated with dignity.)
13 You shall not murder.
(Pharaoh’s whole system was based on the threat of murder.)
14 You shall not commit adultery.
(The marriage bed is respected and fidelity is expected.)
15 You shall not steal.
(An economy based on theft is chaotic and ends up ruled by thugs. In the Promised Land there will be law and order and the little person’s rights will be respected.)
16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
(That means in the Courts and on Twitter.)
17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
(Your neighbors’ family and things are not there for the taking. That’s the way it was in Egypt, not so in the Promised Land.)
NOTE: Tomorrow’s Lesson will come from Exodus chapters 22 through 25.
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