Struggling against the metal rings of the yoke that encircled her neck, the young woman strained to look upward as she awakened to the morning light. However, the weight of her iron shoulder yoke made her lower her gaze, and she sighed in anguish. No, she thought, it must have just been a dream. Somehow, her yoke was gone. No more yokes. She could hold her head up and stand erect. Of course, it was a dream. Enslaved people like her weren’t supposed to stand erect. No, her yoke would stay in place.
Iron slave yokes in the ancient world were very real and used to confine prisoners and enslaved people to keep them together and prevent escape.
Such a yoke was familiar to the people of Israel. They would understand the image used by the author of Leviticus to describe how God had delivered His people from Egyptian slavery.
Although we may not experience slavery and its yokes today, we can still be captives to our own imprisoning thoughts of guilt-laden worry. We can be haunted by the unfortunate memories of our sins even after we have confessed and received God’s forgiveness.
So, what to do? The best way to find relief is to leave past sins in the past and then erase the memories. Doing this helps us to step away from the confining yoke of misery. When the yoke is broken, we can stand erect with a new direction to serve God.
Anne Adams is a retired church staffer living in Athens, Texas, where she writes a historical column for the local newspaper. Her book Brittany, Child of Joy, tells about her mentally disabled daughter and was published in 1986 by Broadman. She has taught junior college history and has published in Christian and secular publications for forty years.