In a recent teaching, Rabbi Schneider explored the deeply personal and spiritual implications of the first of the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20:2: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” More than just an ancient directive, Schneider emphasized that this verse reveals a God who not only exists but who intimately knows, claims and loves His people.
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“This is not just a title,” Rabbi Schneider explained. “God uses His personal name, Yahweh…in Hebrew. It’s not just ‘Lord’ or ‘God.’ It’s His name. And He says, ‘I am Yahweh your God.’” This personal name, he noted, communicates a deeply relational God, not a distant or indifferent deity.
From this commandment, Schneider draws out what Jewish tradition considers the first mitzvah: to believe in the existence of the one true God. But belief alone, he warned, is not the full extent of the command. “God was taking ownership over Israel. He was saying, ‘I have claim over your life. I brought you out of Egypt,’” said Schneider. It’s a call not just to believe intellectually, but to surrender relationally and to obey.
God’s personal involvement in the lives of His people is a central theme. Schneider pointed to how God heard the cries of the Israelites and came down to deliver them. “He feels what we feel. He knows the number of hairs on our heads. He’s closer than our own breath,” he said, urging listeners to stop seeing God as distant or abstract.
“Most people today define God by their own standards,” he said. “They say, ‘I believe in God, but I don’t believe in a God who judges,’ or, ‘I don’t believe in hell.’ But that’s not the God of the Bible. That’s a god they’ve invented in their own imagination.”
At the heart of Schneider’s message is a call to return to the God who has revealed Himself—Yahweh, the Deliverer of Israel, and the Father of Jesus who came to fulfill God’s plan of redemption. “The same God who brought Israel out of Egypt has revealed Himself through Yeshua and is calling you by name,” Schneider said. “He owns us because He created us.”
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The God who delivered Israel from Egypt is still speaking today, calling each of us to recognize His authority, submit to His truth and walk in obedience. In a culture that reshapes God into its own image, the challenge is to return to the God who is, not the god we want Him to be. He is real, He is near and He is calling us to live fully surrendered to Him.
Abby Trivett is content development editor for Charisma Media.
