Before God gave a single commandment at Sinai, He made a remarkable statement that the Mekhilta preserves as a kind of divine negotiation. "I am the Lord your God," He declared. Then: "There shall not be unto you other gods." But between these two statements, the Mekhilta inserts a dialogue that changes everything.
God turned to Israel and asked: Am I the one whose rule you have accepted? The people answered: Yes. Then God replied: Just as you have accepted My rule, now accept My decrees.
The sequence matters enormously. God did not begin with laws and prohibitions. He began by establishing a relationship. First comes sovereignty — "I am the Lord your God" — which Israel freely accepted. Only after that acceptance did God introduce His commandments. The decrees flow from the relationship, not the other way around.
The Mekhilta is making a profound point about the nature of Torah law. The commandments are not arbitrary impositions from a distant deity. They are the terms of a covenant that Israel entered willingly. Like a king who first wins the loyalty of his subjects through acts of liberation — in this case, the Exodus from Egypt — and only then issues his royal decrees. The people had already experienced God's power and mercy. They had walked through the split sea. They had eaten manna in the wilderness. When God asked "Am I the one whose rule you accepted?" the answer was obvious. And so the commandments became not burdens, but the natural expression of a relationship already forged in freedom.