"Yisro — Part V — Mitzvah #1 and the First Word of Obligation"

5.3 — Why Exodus, Not Creation: Relationship as the Root of Obligation

The Omission That Speaks Loudest

The Torah introduces Hashem at Sinai not as Creator of heaven and earth, but as Redeemer from Egypt:
[אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם — “Who took you out of the land of Egypt”].

This choice is deliberate. Creation demonstrates power. Exodus establishes relationship. And only relationship can obligate.

This essay asks why the Torah grounds mitzvah not in cosmic authorship, but in historical intervention.

Creation Proves Power, Not Claim

Philosophically, creation would seem the strongest argument. If Hashem created everything, surely He has authority over everything. Yet Abarbanel and others note a crucial gap: power alone does not generate obligation.

A creator may abandon what he creates. Power may dominate without caring. Creation proves capability; it does not prove concern.

Torah obligation requires more than metaphysics.

Exodus as Moral Involvement

Exodus reveals something creation alone does not: providential commitment. Hashem does not merely bring the world into being; He enters history, hears cries, judges oppressors, and redeems the powerless.

This is why Sinai speaks in the language of memory, not cosmology. Obligation flows from a G-d who acts for you, not merely one who made you.

Abarbanel: Covenant Requires Encounter

Abarbanel emphasizes that law without relationship is tyranny. By invoking Exodus, Hashem frames mitzvah as covenantal response rather than imposed rule.

“I am Hashem” could command.
“I am Hashem who took you out of Egypt” binds.

Redemption precedes command so that obedience becomes gratitude rather than submission.

Providence, Not Abstraction

Exodus teaches hashgachah pratis—individual providence. Creation may be impersonal; redemption is personal. The people are addressed not as creatures, but as beneficiaries of care.

This transforms mitzvah from universal law into personal obligation. One obeys not because one exists, but because one was redeemed.

Why This Matters for Freedom

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks often stressed that freedom grounded only in power is unstable. Freedom grounded in relationship can sustain law without oppression.

Egypt represents power without morality. Sinai represents morality born from redemption. The Torah’s memory of Exodus prevents law from becoming Pharaoh’s system in religious form.

Rambam’s Precision

Rambam counts knowledge of Hashem as the first mitzvah—but he, too, frames it historically. Knowledge is not abstract proof; it is recognition of a G-d who acts in the world. Exodus supplies the content that makes knowledge relational rather than speculative.

Chassidic Insight: Love Before Law

Chassidic masters note that redemption awakens love and trust before obligation. Sinai does not begin with command because the heart must be addressed before the will. Exodus creates emotional truth so that law can endure without coercion.

Application for Today

Modern ethics often appeal to universal principles detached from story. Torah insists otherwise. Obligation grows from memory. We are bound not because G-d is powerful, but because He has been faithful.

Before asking what the law demands, Torah asks us to remember who stood with us when we had no power at all.

📖 Sources

• Full sources available on the Mitzvah Minute Parshas Yisro page under insights and commentaries.