1. Old Testament: Ethical Conception
Ethical Conception
The Old Testament revelation is peculiar for its conception of God
as wholly and from the beginning standing in an ethical relation to
humanity, and especially to his people Israel. It does not
begin with
theoretical speculations as to his existence and nature, but with his
moral claims, his promises, and the proclamation to his people of his
acts. The fear of him is based upon his absolute ethical exaltation,
which repels and condemns all that is morally unclean. The proper name
of the covenant God is Yahweh (q.v.). The exposition of the name in
Ex. iii. 14
expresses not merely the general and abstract being of
God, but the immutability of that being, and in its independence of
anything beyond itself God's character as a spirit comes out
clearly- a
personal spirit, as distinguished from a force of
nature. This spirit appears as the creative and motive principle of
all life in the world, figured as a breath or wind
(Ps. civ. 29, 30),
especially of human life, originally breathed into man by God
(Gen. ii. 7;
Job xxxiii. 4;
Eccl. xii. 7).
The infinite fullness of
power and majesty comprised in God and displayed in the revelation of
his will and power is expressed by the plural form Elohim, used as
it
is in connection with the strictest monotheistic views. With the
belief in the divine holiness is associated from the beginning the
thought of a revelation of divine grace and love. God chooses Israel
to be his people, redeems them from bondage, and on this ground
requires from them obedience to his law. In virtue of the relation in
which he thus stands to the people, and especially to the
theocratically chosen king
(II Sam. vii.;
Ps. ii.),
to which a filial obedience and confidence are supposed to correspond
on their side, he deigns
to be called their Father
(Ex. iv. 22;
Deut. xxxii. 6;
Hos. xi. 1;
Isa. lxiii. 16).
The idea of the unity of God receives a practical application from the
first; Yahweh alone is to be recognized and worshiped as God, and
loved
with the whole heart
(Ex. xx. 2 sqq.;
Deut. vi. 4, 5);
and the universal dominion of the One God is
everywhere proclaimed as a fundamental truth. It is, then, this
ethical religious view of God and his relation to
Israel and to
humanity in general, together with the doctrine of the kingdom which
he founds, and not any abstract conception of the unity of God, that
forms the essential characteristic of the Old Testament revelation.
