Who is God so far?  

Exodus is behind us and that means it's time for another reflection article on a relevant topic. If you hadn't noticed it's been a few days since I last posted... That's because this topic is hard! I've been thinking and procrastinating for a few days on writing a blog about who Genesis and Exodus say God is.

I am not a Biblical scholar or an expert; I'm just a guy who spent the last couple weeks reading and taking notes on and reflecting on Genesis and Exodus, trying to see what they're really about. But here's what I see as far as who God is so far in these books.

1. God exists. This is not something that the Bible argues; on the contrary, it is taken for granted and therefore never discussed. In the world of Genesis and Exodus, God is the most real thing there is.

2. God is the unique, ultimate power of the universe, who is active in creating earth and humans and also active in guiding society along a path whose end we have not yet reached by the end of Exodus. He scoffs at and hates worship of any other god, an image of any other god, or even an image that is supposed to represent him. He is bigger than these things.

3. God is also active in directing the lives of individuals, such as Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses. He cares about them, blesses them, tells them what to do, and also brings them along in their relationship from a point of being unfamiliar with him and not trusting of him to being completely trusting and content with and confident in God. In fact he ends up a personal best friend with most of these people.

4. God has a plan. It is obvious God has a plan for all of history even in these first two books. He has a plan to make the world like it was when he first created it. We don't know how long this will take or how he will accomplish this. But it definitely has something to do with the Israelites. There is also a clue in Jacob's blessings of his sons that something important will come from Judah's tribe.

5. God has reasons. I am still struggling with whether I agree with them all, but God has reasons. He has reasons for destroying humanity with a flood, for destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, for sending the Levites violently after their friends. He also has reasons for all the other things that he does, which are inarguably good and loving and powerful (so far). He does not act haphazardly or randomly very often.

Don't worry, at the end of Leviticus I will discuss more what I think about some of these shocking differences between what we think is loving and caring and just and what the authors of the Torah think. But for a few more days I want to further familiarize myself with the adjectives that describe God. And no passage so far has seemed more critical than the following.

God, ready to destroy Israel and start over with Moses, has been talked out of it by Moses. Because Moses is God's friend, God listens. Then God asks to see "God's glory." God says that seeing his face will result in death, so he puts Moses in a cleft of a rock and blocks Moses' view while God's face is visible. This is what God declares as he passes by:

"The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation."

Wow. This the climax of Exodus, shows that God is an almighty loving being who not only cares but FORGIVES!, forgetting sin! Yet he is still just and punishes.

After this statement, and the Israelites triumphantly build the tabernacle to God's specifications, and he travels with them as the book ends.

If Genesis was about God beginning his plan to restore the world to harmony and order and goodness, Exodus is step one in this plan: Yes, creating a nation, but perhaps bigger than that, making himself known to these people. And these are the top things for God to make know: Yes, he won't forget to be just, but he loves and is loyal and patient and forgiving!

It is a triumphant anding and a hopeful message. I look forward to the next book, to see God continue his quest to restore earth.

(Note: As I said above, there are plenty of difficult passages to reconcile with God's statement about himself. I will discuss that in a few days, Friday or Saturday, after I finish Leviticus. This blog entry is a further attempt to completely understand what Exodus is saying about God before I begin to criticize or question it.)