{"id":49607,"date":"2019-02-17T14:10:42","date_gmt":"2019-02-17T12:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=49607"},"modified":"2022-09-11T12:59:30","modified_gmt":"2022-09-11T09:59:30","slug":"the-challenge-of-an-invisible-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-challenge-of-an-invisible-god\/","title":{"rendered":"The Challenge of An Invisible God"},"content":{"rendered":"
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After a prolonged story about how the people of Israel got to where they are now, Moses finally gets to the point – the godly expectations. The rules. The chapter opens \u201cAnd now O Israel give heed to the laws and rules that I am instructing you to observe.\u201d After such a grand opening I expected to see some of those rules. But Moses takes a moment to remind the people of Israel of the time they stood at the bottom of Mount Horeb, which in Jewish tradition is a synonym to Mount Sinai. Why is that? Why are we hearing the story of that day again?<\/span><\/p>\n

What caught my eye here, is the repetition of \u201cyou saw no shape\u201d. This appears twice – in verses 12 and 15. The text also stresses in verse 12 \u201cnothing but a voice\u201d. The image that we are receiving is of a voice with no shape coming out of the fire. Why is the text so obsessed about this?<\/span><\/p>\n

Comparing this story to its parallel in Exodus chapter 19 can shed some light on the redundancy in our chapter. The picture described in Exodus 19 is of a 4D experience. Voices, the sound of a shofar, movements, and – a shape. There is imagery there. Most famously \u201cAll the people <\/span>saw<\/b> the sounds\u201d (Exodus 20:15).<\/span><\/p>\n

What do we learn from this? The book of Deuteronomy believes in an abstract God. A belief that is not fully developed in the books before. In Exodus 19:2o we are told that God himself came down on the mountain. This is something that the book of Deuteronomy cannot agree with. And so, in our chapter, God speaks to the people out of the fire. He is not the fire, and one cannot see an image in the fire.<\/span><\/p>\n

And what a struggle it is to believe in something you cannot see! This is the reason Moses reminds the people of the extraordinary nature of their God, right before giving them the first laws – that they shall not create an image. <\/span><\/p>\n

Their God is not a God that has an image, a picture, or a form. It is a God of voice. A voice that should be listened to.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, it seems, we have no image and no voice. Only the words of the Tanakh to use, to try to make sense of this world.<\/span><\/p>\n

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