Leviticus Study

Slavery. I find myself contemplating this notion. The Israelites were enslaved for 430 years by the Egyptians before God delivered them. Our belief is that the people of God were delivered from slavery - that we were freed. But what are we to say to those non-believers who see it differently? It could be argued that the Israelites simply switched - were delivered from slavery to the Egyptians and entered into a slavery to God.
Instead of having Egyptians tell them what to do, God tells them.
Instead of being punished or rewarded according to how well they followed some Egyptian's commands, they are punished or rewarded by God.

Our pros are better with God: Do as I say and you will gain eternal life in a Heaven so wonderful you cannot fathom. The best an Egyptian could offer - but almost never would - would be high positions in the courts, wealth and riches - earthly goods that diminish with time.
But the cons are not in God's favor: disobey an Egyptian and recieve a lashing, lose food privileges, have your family taken away. Turn from God and you gain not only death, but lifetime upon lifetime of suffering in a Hell that never ends.
But the master who saved us - the master we have chosen - is one who cares deeply for us. He provides for us, nourishes us, gives us everything we could possibly need in return for our obedience - our continued choosing of him. And not for his benefit. He doesn't simply provide us with just enough to continue doing his work, he allows the good to overflow, allows for no limit, so that we may be free and unburdened to love him.

Maybe that's the difference:masters.
We have been freed from the tyranny of oppressors who would hold us down, hold us back, and give the barest minimum of what was needed to survive. We were freed from this by - and therefore have chosen - a master whose generosity knows no bounds. A master who offers us an eternity we cannot fathom in a Heaven we cannot understand. A Father so harsh as to offer us life or death. A Father so desperate for us to choose life that he sent his only son to take up our flak. He is master and Father to us all.
Jealous and compassionate. Kind and angry. He harbors a vengeful hatred toward the sin of which we partake, but he loves us so that he would none of us perish, no, not one.

This is the master I have chosen.
The one whom I call Father.
The one whom I call King.
The one whom I call God.