Israel 's Relationship Between God And Israel

In the Old Testament, the Israelites were seen as people who failed to listen to God’s commandments. Despite knowing beforehand that they would be punished for their disobedience, they still continued to commit sin. God tried to deter their misbehavior by promising them many blessings, but it worked to no avail. Due to the insubordination of the Israelites, He made sure that the promises He made to them would be withheld and that they would face consequences.

Without devotion to God, violence and death would flourish in Israel. These factors would impede God’s blessings of security and life; thus, the Mosaic covenant demonstrates the continual faithfulness of God in the Old Testament. Finally, God is faithful to Israel during the people’s complaints in the desert. Rather than abandoning the nation for its faithlessness, God provides them will nourishment and protection during their journey. These acts further reinforce the faithfulness of God, even when his followers stray. In all, the Pentateuch demonstrates the theme of God’s faithfulness.

It all began in the covenant with Abraham, God promised many things to him. God promised numerous descendants, land, and a relationship with him. God’s first blessing would provide Abraham with numerous descendants, which in turn would become a great nation. His second blessing would provide him and his family with a place to call home. His third blessing states that Abraham will have a relationship with God. This means that, anyone who blesses Abraham will be blessed by God, anyone that curses him will be cursed. In return for all of these promises, Abraham and all of his male members and descendants were circumcised to let God know that they belong to him.

I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation. “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to

I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” God makes an extensive covenant to Abram, declaring that he will become a great nation. Little does Abram know, this is the dawn of the nation of Israel, God’s chosen

For forty years God had miraculously provided food and water for their forefathers. The current years of blessings and protection caused the inhabitants of the lands to fear God as the nation settled it. They knew something special happened when Israel’s God showed up.

According to the tradition, God entered into a covenant or contract with the tribes of Israel, who believed that Yahweh had spoken to them through Moses. The Israelites promised to obey Yahweh and follow his law. In return, Yahweh promised to take care of his people,” (Spielvogal 38). The covenant between the Israelites and Yahweh could only be fulfilled by obedience to the law of God” (Spielvogal 38). “The Israelites believed that certain religious leaders or holy men, called prophets, were sent by God to serve as his voice to the people. These “men of God” went through the land warning the Israelites that they had failed to keep God’s commandments and would be punished for breaking the covenant: “I will punish you for all of your iniquities.” (Spielvogal 38,39). Family was the center of the social structure for Hebrew life. Family was made up of blood related individuals living in a common place. Marriage was also important to the Hebrew family. Similar to Hammurabi’s Code, some Hebrew people accepted polygamy, while the majority rejected it, and believed monogamy was preferred form of marriage. What makes Moses so different from Hammurabi is that Hammurabi’s codes are still used today, but mainly in the Middle East, while The Ten Commandments that Moses was given by Yahweh still have a

“Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all my

Linafelt described the Hebrew Bible as containing, “some of the finest literature that we have, and biblical literature has begun to take its place among the classics of world literature” (1). The Hebrew Bible, composed of prose narrative texts, poetry and intricate literary characters, examines and records the wavering relationship between God and humans. While the connection God has with many literary characters, from Noah to Job serve to illuminate the bond between divine and the mortal, no fellowship is more important than that between God and Moses. Moses, whose presence is made aware in the Book of Exodus, unequivocally is one of the first protagonist in the Hebrew Bible. While he demonstrates the qualities of a literary hero; triumph above inner contention and trepidation, it is his obedience and rapport with God that validates genuine character progression of both Moses and God. Moses’ relationship with God yields allusions that divinity is a composition of both theology and humanism, as divinity weakens without piety and commitment.

God made a covenant with the Israelites at Mt. Sinai and after being lead to the promise land, the Israelites started worshiping Canaanite God’s. God could have turned away from the Israelites but instead, he decides to renew the covenant. The consequence for Israel’s rebellion will be imminent defeat by other nations and exile but there I hope for future restoration. God will also bring a new Messianic King who will acknowledge all of God’s blessings. The next sections of the book describe the cause and effect of Israel’s unfaithfulness. Israel lakes all knowledge and understanding of God. God wants his people to understand him, have a relationship, and experience his love with him. Hosea is trying to reveal the hypocrisy of Israel’s worship. He keeps making a point to describe how the Israelites keep breaking the ten commandments, causing social injustice, and worshipping another God’s. Hosea also keeps calling the Israelites out for constantly trusting in political alliances with other nations, instead of trusting in God. They started trusting in their allies and relying only on military power. Soon, the Israelites will learn that this was not the right

Further, the Covenant is central for understanding Judaism as it covers all beliefs in relation to the expectations of Jewish life. In the Covenant that God established with Abraham, God blessed him and promised to make him “the father of a multitude of nations.”- Genesis 17:4 in which Abraham was to remain loyal and serve to the rest of the world through God’s blessings. Later, God made the Covenant of Circumcision with Abraham conveyed in the sacred text of the Torah, “Here is my covenant that you are to observe, between me and you and your descendants: Every male among you is to be circumcised.”- Genesis 17:10. Hassidic Jews carry out this practice and believe it is customary that

The history of Israel recorded in The Torah covers approximately 1800 years, and presents a powerful record of God's promises, miracles, blessings and judgments. Through the greatest series of miracles presented in the Jewish Scriptures, God brings the people of Israel out of 400 years of slavery in Egypt. It is this event that Jewish believers view as the miraculous origin of the nation of Israel, the act of redemption that Israelites look back upon throughout biblical history as the ultimate sign of God's love and care for His people. Once God redeems His people out of Egyptian bondage, He establishes a bilateral covenant with them at Mount Sinai. It is here that God delivers His Law, referred to in The Torah as Aseret ha-D'varim, in two separate books; once in Exodus and twice in Deuteronomy (Ex. 34:28, Deut. 4:13 and Deut. 10:4). It is also where God promises blessings for obedience and judgment for disobedience.

Jews believe in one God (often referred to as Adonai or Yahweh in Jewish texts). God chose the Jewish people to carry out his laws and beliefs and to share them with the rest of the world. God sought the Jews for an ongoing relationship of rewards in return for recognizing the sovereignty of God—a relationship known as a covenant. It is believed that the Jews were not chosen because they were perfect above other peoples, rather that they were chosen because they agreed to take on the burden of faithful service to God. This relationship has proven to be a source of strength and hope through the most turbulent times of Jewish history.

God develops many special relationships with His people throughout the Old Testament. Another word to describe the relationship between God and his people is covenant. The word covenant goes into the details of the relationship. Within the five books of the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), Historical books, Poetical books, and the Prophet books, one may pick up on the relationships being developed between God and humanity. God has an unconditional love for His people; He is always faithful to them. On the other hand, humanity has more of a conditional relationship with God. Humanity continuously falls short, making the love seem “conditional,” but are given a choice to either follow God into a relationship and receive love and benefits of the covenant or not. “No child of the covenant who presents to Him a faithless and insincere heart shall be included in its blessings.” Going off the idea of love being unconditional and conditional, this paper focuses on how the Old Testament is about God, humanity and their relationship.

Many argue that the Bible especially the Old Testament is not the inspired word of God because of the command to destroy the Canaanites. Many use this as a basis of their argument that the scriptures are not inspired by God because they wonder how could God, a God of non-violence, mercy and goodness command such a thing. The focus of this paper will be “how is one to respond to this accusation that the Old Testament is not inspired because of commands to destroy people such as the Canaanites? This paper will attempt to answer this question by offering contrary evidence, will argue that when God’s nature is properly understood, the command for destruction of the Canaanites is not against God’s nature and that God had justified reasons in this command. This paper will provide proof of the goodness, mercy and moral nature of God, as well as the accountability that God demands from all people. It will then show the justified reason for such commands not only for the Canaanites but other nations as well. This paper will show that in spite of the commands of destruction from God that Scripture is indeed inspired by God.