Exodus 20: 1, 2: “And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”
The Ten Commandments begin with an introduction and a preamble. The Lord God had brought Israel to this place and now He gave them some conditions for their ongoing relationship. It is good to remember that the Lord God’s commands are really offers of choice, as we can see from the first commandment, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Gen 2: 16, 17) The Lord told Adam what would happen if he didn’t keep that commandments letting us know that this is an offer of choice. However, choice always ties back to consequences, we always get what we choose (compare Ezekiel 18: 4, “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”) The Lord’s preamble explains to Israel why He is qualified to give them commands: He brought them out of the land of Egypt. However, the Lord first spoke about Egypt when He spoke to Abraham and verified the promise that He had made concerning Abraham’s descendants becoming a great and rich nation (Gen 15: 13-15, “And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”) Not only was the Lord able to make a promise, He was able to fulfil it after four hundred years.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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