i) “No more bricks” is the cry of Israel in Egypt. They left for workers rights issues. They went to Egypt voluntarily to seek refuge and get work in a world that had little to offer. They left because the work was too demanding in return for the harsh treatment. The work had turned to slavery. 24x7 brick making was the last “straw”. Had pharoh treated them with dignity and respect they would have gladly stayed. In fact, after a little time in the desert they considered going back.

ii) The Sabbath was instituted like many of the other rules in the formation of Israel to prevent the type of unfair treatment found in Egypt. Jubilee, debt / land ownership, marriage rules, etc. were all part of this drive for justice and part of a desire to make sure the new nation would not end up like Egypt. The Sabbath was their proclamation that they would never again force their own people to work 7 days a week. The story of creation was created AFTER the formation of Israel’s policy of a 6 day work week. The creation story had NOTHING to do with explaining the creation process, but was instead a story written to explain how important the Sabbath was. The poem was written to highlight the importance of the Sabbath by saying that even God rested on the Sabbath when he created the world. The most important point in any story is it’s climax and in this story the punch line is “on the 7th day God rested”. The first 6 days are just a poetic setup for the punch line and were never meant to be interpreted as science.

iii) I think that you and Daniel both misinterpret social justice to be ONLY about economics. A just society means one where people have the liberty to worship their God. Part of the injustice instituted by the Roman Empire was the enforcement of worship to Caesar. It is all tied together. For Israel, a just society is one where they are free to worship thier God and partake in the fruits of their labor. You are thinking too much in modern terms about “social justice”. For them there is no concept of separation of church and state. We may compartmentalize that because we’ve lived our lives under this separation, but they would not have had any reference. Religious freedom is a social justice issue just as much as economics.

In the Old Testament, the term is Shalom. In the New Testament, the term is the Kingdom of God. They both mean to tell us that God seeks for us a just society. That is God’s will on earth.