Exodus 20:22-23

 

Here is a quote from The New American Bible: “The Lord told Moses, ‘Thus shall you speak to the Israelites: You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven. Do not make anything to rank with me; neither gods of silver or gods of gold shall you make for yourselves.”

 

My response: God does not want the people worshiping evil deities, empty graven statues or images, or spirits that do not exist. I do not think God is a jealous God of other, competing benevolent deities, but God wants cooperation between communities of competing, differing believers. Rather God expect these communities to cooperate, tolerate each other, and keep the peace while agreeing to disagree. No pogroms, no persecution, no unholy religious wars.

 

Here is the same quote from the Holy Bible (KJV): “And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. You shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto ye gods of gold.”

 

My response: Notice how God or Yahweh reaches out to the children of Israel—though He resides in heaven and is transcendent and Almighty—who reside on earth, are mundane but significant, lowly yet fraught with rich potential. God made the world and set up the laws of nature to run the world of nature, and God gave humans morality so they could live virtuously in a manner consistent with how the laws of nature in nature operate smoothly, efficiently and ethically—in a mode of cosmos and order in step with God’s creation of the world and imprinting De’s rational principle or Logos upon the laws of nature, to run and control nature after its creation.  God gave humans morality and a conscience so we could come to live virtuously in a manner consistent with and supplementing ruling, operational laws of nature, both consistent with Divine Will.

 

Yahweh provided the Hebrews with this rare, historic privilege to meet God directly or almost directly. With natural law and moral codes provided, God in that way visit each human each day—always the Divine Couple, both transcendent and immanent, interact constantly with humans and the world, ever bridging the gap between heaven and earth.