Israel experiences a great salvation event when God liberates everyone from slavery in Egypt. Almost like a whole-community baptism led by Moses, they pass through the waters safely (Exod. 14) and begin a journey through the wilderness on the way to the land God promised them. As they begin the journey, the Amalekites attack them (Exod. 17:8-16), but God delivers them and tells Moses to write the whole story down on a scroll. Immediately, he says Moses should read it out loud to Joshua, another Israelite leader.
First, write it down. Why? So you can read it out loud to other people. This practice started long ago but lives on, even to this day, through the oral retelling of the story and the communal memory it strengthens.
God leads the Israelites to Mount Sinai, where he invites them into a covenant partnership (Exod. 19-24). God gives Moses the agreements of the partnership, called the Torah (Hebrew: torah, instruction), and Moses shares the agreements verbally with the people and writes them down in their presence (Exod. 24:3-4).
The public reading of the Torah aloud becomes an Israelite practice. As an entire nation, they celebrate required weekly sabbaths and rhythmic, annual festivals where the Torah is constantly being read aloud and sung together. Men, women, children, and foreigners living as neighbors with the Israelites all gather together to listen to people read the Scriptures publicly (Deut. 31:10-13).
They listen to learn. They listen to understand. They listen to remember. They listen to be shaped by a communal experience of a common story.
The Israelites are no longer slaves in Egypt. God gives them a new identity as royal priests (Exod. 19:6). And he gives them a new story to live by. Every seven years, they remind one another of that story—where they came from, who they are, and the new future that they are called to live for.
