Exodus 19-21

I find it somewhat ironic that within these chapters devoted to the giving of the Law, the 10 words of God to His people, that the devoted slave imagery is placed.

In Exodus 21:1-6, we stop the transfer of the rules and regulations of God and are given a model of the loving master/slave relationship. God is calling Israel into a covenant relationship at Sinai. It is very easy to see His many laws as burdensome, difficult, and weary. Yet, just after the 10 commandments are given, the image of the ideal perspective is given.

In 21:1-6 we read about a slave that is set free, but instead of leaving the master, he returns willingly to submit to the master the rest of his life. Why would someone set free willingly take back upon themselves the yoke of slavery? Love. V.5 "But if the slave plainly says, 'I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man.'"

This was no short term time commitment. V.6 states that he shall serve his master permanently from that point on! What a life-sacrificing commitment. This slave has decided to give up his freedom, being marked for life, to follow after His loving master. There is no turning back, no later abandonment. The pierced ear is to ever display the mark of his master.

I can not help but look forward through time to the cross of Jesus Christ. Is this servant not the perfect example of what a true believer is to be? The believer has been set free (John 8:36, Galatians 5:1), but being compelled out of love for his master (2 Corinthians 5:14-15), submits himself to Christ as a slave of righteousness (Romans 6:18). Our lives are marked by believer's baptism which testifies not only to the newly gained freedom in Christ, but our return obedience to submit our lives to the ministry of reconciliation as ambassadors of Christ. This is a commitment which is for life, we have been bought with a price and we are no longer our own, but the workmanship of God in Christ submissive to the good works that He has prepared for us to do that we might walk in them.

Praise God, that even in the midst of seeming legalism, He was teaching that a right relationship was not founded upon those many laws, but upon a love which draws His people in with a heart willingly devoted to His calling.

As a friend pointed out 1 John 5:3 "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome." Why? Because it is love which motivates us to action, it is no longer legalism, guilt, or fear, but an adoration of God the Father and the gift of His substitutionary Son. It is not hard to serve the one you love. It is your entire motivation.

May we all be able one day to celebrate the love of our Master that we willingly submit ourselves in our entirety to His kingdom and the gospel message.