Contemplative Bible Reading

Exodus 20:1-2 (New Living Translation)

Then God gave the people all these instructions[a]:

2 “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.

God’s people, the descendants of Jacob who was otherwise known as Israel, came out of the land of Egypt and were heading to a new, promised land.

What did they know?

They had lived in Egypt for 400 years—20 generations of Egyptian culture. God didn’t want them to live as the Egyptians any longer. They were heading into Canaan.  God didn’t want them to adopt the culture of the people who lived there.

God gave them their own, unique culture. He gave them their culture through the law. The Ten Commandments began and summarized that law.