Contemplative Bible Reading

Leviticus 26:13 (English Standard Version)

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.

God is talking to His people. God reminds them of their recent past as slaves in Egypt. Their yoke is gone.

A yoke sits literally on the neck of an animal. The people had a figurative yoke weighing on their neck. God removed that.

God’s work made the people walk erect. Other translations use the phrase “walk with their heads held high.” Just as animals with a yoke cannot walk with their heads held high, slaves cannot walk with their heads high—erect.

At this point in this little post, we jump to today. Maybe I can walk physically erect with my head held high. Maybe not. That isn’t important.

What is important is that spiritually, I walk erect. I am not ducking the swings of someone who wants to swat me every time I make a mistake, every time I sin. All my mistakes (sins) are washed away. (Of course I can abuse this cleansing, but that is another post for another day.)

Whew. What a relief. All that ducking all those attempted swats is exhausting. I would eventually stay in the ducked position like an ox with a yoke on his … Oh wait, this is where God stepped in and took all that away.

Thank you God for taking away the yoke that kept me bent in a perpetual ducking position. Help me in my unbelief.