Shavuot thoughts on the 10 commandments

"I am the eternal thy God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."

Traditionally, Shavuot is recognized as the day we received Torah from God at Mt. Sinai. This post will be the first in a series of posts on each of the top 10 commandments.
Upon a closer examination of the first commandment, it becomes apparent that its not really a commandment at all. "I am Adonai". It’s a statement. I am God. I took you out of Egypt. Why would God need this to be the first of the 10 commandments. The people have waited 40 days and 40 nights, amid thunder and lightning finally Moses comes down the mountain and says these are the words of God....I am your God. Don’t we know that already, we’re here after all. its rather anticlimactic. Its almost redundant, why does it need to be said, and in such a fashion as declarative and not as a command such as “take me as your God since I took you out of Egypt”.
I think this statement/commandment is the declaration of an assumption. The people have followed God this far, he is already their God, now they must take this statement as fact. And so we realize if this one statement is not take as fact, the rest of the 612 commandments are not going to work. We won't follow the other commandments if we don’t believe that God is our God, God would have to stop at this point. But if we understand that God is our God, we recognize that any commandment followed thereafter would be following God's will.

In God’s eyes, he has already begun the covenant by taking them out of Egypt with an outstretched hand, with great miracles and wonders. They can’t really go back now, even though the Israelites constantly complain when it gets to hard that they do want to go back to slavery. They have intrinsically accepted God and so God here announces that fact, not just to the Israelites but to the world, to anyone who will read the Bible (and based on numbers, it’s the alltime bestseller for eternity). So anyone and everyone will know that God is the God of the Jewish people. - "I am your God", no one else's.
The Hebrew for “your God” is individualized. In speaking with a group, usually one would say, ani Adonai Eloheichem, using the plural form of "your God" common in many of our prayers including the V’ahavta. But this is a special format, I am your (singular) God, eloheicha, as in each person individually, as well as collectively. It’s a beautiful phrase, that has both power and comfort in it. It’s big, I am God, but yet personal, I am your God. I am God to the world and your own personal God. It’s almost conversational as much as explanatory. It’s the bridging of the gap between the human and the divine. I am your God. Not just any God. I’m yours and you are mine, the beginning of the covenantal relationship.

Now on to part two of the commandment "who has brought you out of the land Egpyt, out of bondage. " It’s not a subtle claim; it’s the basis of peoplehood. Its not a boast or a justification. It’s a statement of reality. Without God the Israelites would still be slaves, there in Goshen probably forever. It was God who initiated the process, by calling out to Moses in the desert saying I have heard the cry of the slaves and want you to go and demand their release from Pharaoh. These are the people are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and their suffering was painful for God. God was not prepared to wait it out, and see how human history unfolded. God needed to take an active role, to be their God.
And for all time we would remember what God did for us and how much we must give back to God. That is why we say it during all our daily prayers, why we remember it particularly on Passover and then quickly 49 days later on Shavuot, as we read the 10 commandments. It’s the most powerful statement of our faith, maybe even more than the Shema. Its our credo, God took us out of Egypt. And we think of it every time we think of other people who are enslaved, or put down, or disenfranchised, or at the bottom of the heap. We were once the lowliest of human beings, and so we must always reach out to the widow, the orphan, the poor the hungry, the needy, the defenseless. That is our duty, that is our mission.

One might think that the 10 commandment should have started with the phrase, I am your God... who created you. That is true, God created all human beings, and in fact the entire universe. The first humans, Adam and Eve, develop a relationship with God but there is no sense of covenant, there is no indication that they are Jewish. They are human beings. God is saying here in this commandment that God is the redeemer, not just the creator, by freeing them from bondage. According to Rabbi Plaut in his commentary God gave the people freedom, the necessary foundation for the covenant. God is, and God is the one, who gave Israel its existence as a nation, as a people, for all time. Thus God brought us into history and declares that with this opening statement.
And what is our purpose? If we are God’s people we are more than just like all human beings on the earth, we are to achieve through service to God what other generations and nations could not do, we were redeemed by God so we can redeem humanity. The reference to Egypt is not simply a geographical one, as in that is the place where you came from. It’s a spiritual notation, we came from slavery to freedom, now we are ambassadors for God to restore all humanity to freedom. We, each one of us, has our purpose to fulfill our destiny and do our share.
The midrash to this commandment, suggests that not only is humanity dependant on Israel but even God is dependant on us. I am your God, that is, God can only be God if we acknowledge God. “if you do my will I am Adonai the merciful one. But if you do not, that I will be Elohim, the dispenser of stern justice”. Israel is dependent on God for our redemption from slavery but God depends on us to act, to bring the redemptive plan to fruition. God can only be our God if we are ready for it. These simple words carry great meaning, Ani Adonai eloheicah – I am your God, the words, a statement, a preamble, a charter – as Plaut writes, the cornerstone of Israel’s covenant and mankind’s salvation.