God in Exodus is kind of presented as a mixed bag in the sense that he is not a super-human with an exaggerated personality and superpowers; but he also isn’t all-present, all knowing, and universal yet. He has a bit of a humanistic side to him: “After a long time the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out. Out of the slavery their cry for help rose up to God. God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them. ” (Exodus 2:23-25).
If he remembers, doesn’t that suggest hat he forgets, too? How does that work? Isn’t forgetting about the Israelite covenant kind of a violation of his deal with them? He seems to get awfully upset about people forgetting their side of a covenant with him, yet, it suggests the same behavior of him with the previous texts. These seem like basic questions, but the text doesn’t really address any of them. However, that being said, would addressing the questions of how it is possible that God had forgotten, have God in a favorable light to the readers?
By skating over these issues, it makes God look better than an in- epth discussion of the plot holes does. He also seems to only pop up when things are going poorly or his people want to worship other Gods, not him. “Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings. ” ” (Exodus 3:7). God is practical and measured in this regard. He observes something, empathizes, draws a conclusion, and acts on it making him sound a lot like a human, no?
Sometimes he seems to be super in touch with human needs and emotions, and other times he just wants to kick us to he curb. When Moses asks how on earth he’s going to free the Israelites, God gives him a simple, comforting answer: “I will be with you” (Exodus 3:12). When God frees the Israelites, it’s almost like he’s going through with an adoption. He says, “I will take you as my people, and I will be your God” (Exodus 6:7). But don’t the Egyptians already have a god and a guide in Pharaoh?
Are all these gods trying to hold onto their respective posse or just waiting for the right group of people to show up? Apparently, once you adopt a god as your own, you get speaking rights. Yep. Moses, abandoned baby, gets to talk to God, and even change God’s mind once or twice (Exodus 32:11-14). This is a two-way street, and it’s a pretty cozy street. “Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend” (Exodus 33:11). Doesn’t get more intimate than that. If you’re going to sit down and have a chat with someone, you’ve got to be present.
And God has a decidedly physical presence in Exodus. He appears to Moses in the burning bush, leads the Israelites by fire, and literally lives in the Tabernacle. “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6) When God ntroduces himself, he often bothers to identify himself as the God of each individual person. He’s not just “the God,” he’s Jacob’s God, Isaac’s God, and Abraham’s God. This implies that he was a different thing for each person, depending on what they needed.
And when Moses and God first meet, God does not say, “What’s up, man? l’m your God. ” Instead, he says, “I’m not your God yet, but l’m applying for the job. ” God, in a sense, must continually re-prove himself to each generation. Must be rather frustrating. God is always present in every situation written about in the Bible. He’s watching you carefully from afar, blowing up omething or yelling at people because their sacrifice was done on the wrong day with the wrong animal. In Exodus, God is super direct and actually appears in a physical sense to the world.
In Deuteronomy he is more complicated. God is mostly referenced when Moses is talking about God, or God communicating with Moses using who-knows-what method. God would have destroyed the Israelites if Moses hadn’t intervened. He punished the Israelites who refused to fight for their Promised Land, made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, and eventually let them die without ever reaching their goal. The Lord will scatter you among the peoples; only a few of you will be left among the nations where the Lord will lead you. (Deuteronomy 4:27)
That’s kind of an intense way to punish someone no? But, hold on a second, isn’t this the same person who makes statements like, “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of Lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. ” (Deuteronomy 10:17-18) God seems like a very nice guy from a social justice standpoint with that statement. Which leads me to see there are two different sides to God.
An angry, spiteful God and the aforementioned compassionate, loving God. Maybe this is exactly what God’s going for in a way, being seen as both universally merciful and universally vengeful is the ultimate form of power, is it not? He also never seems to get angry and appear unless people mess up big time. Moving on to Joshua, God is portrayed in yet again, a different manner. God is a warrior God, a God that fights among his people, delivering them to victory and glory so long as they follow all his rules. It’s almost like God is a their football coach.
Football players follow the coach’s guidance, plays, and rules to not only play in the game, but also, win the game. God and the Israelites in the book of Joshua seem to be no different. God’s the coach, Joshua is the quarterback, the Israelite army is the rest of the team, and the Israelite people are the crowd watching the game. The Book of Joshua focuses on war mostly and God in it seems to be very malleable for any purpose. Need a father? Check. Need a friend? Check. Need an unbeatable warrior to give you strength? Check. He seems to have all your needs or wants covered completely.
Going on to the book of Judges, God seems to go back to the compassionate, but vengeful God of the beginning. The people start worshipping other Gods, things get hairy, God heeds their cries and sends them a hero, to which order is restored. These books seem to be about violence more so then the others, lots of wars, treason and fights happening. All and all, God seems to at least in the end, help the people restore order to the world until they go and screw it up again. God seems patient, kind, forgetful, forgiving, and all and all, still a bit vein, in all the readings so far. But, that’s just my personal opinion.