Deuteronomy 5 Devotional

Commands for a Freed People

““I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”Deuteronomy 5:6 (BSB)

Before God gives a single command at Horeb, he says who he is: the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery (5:6). The order matters. Israel was not freed because they kept the commandments. They were given the commandments because they had been freed. The law is the shape of life for a people already rescued.

Grace runs through the Sabbath command too. Here the reason for rest is that Israel was once a slave, and so their own servants, foreigners, and even animals must rest too (5:14-15). A God who rescued slaves will not let his people turn others into slaves of endless work. Later God says something tender: if only they had a heart to fear him and keep his commands, so that it would go well with them (5:29). Obedience is not the price of his love but a response to it, and even a day of rest can be an act of trust in the God who set you free.

To think about: Which of God's commands have you been treating as the price of his love rather than as a response to it?