Bible Reading Plans
- Plan One: New Testament Only
- Plan Two: New Testament + Psalms
- Plan Three: New Testament + History
- Plan Four: The Entire Bible – Year 1 of 3, Year 2 of 3, Year 3 of 3
Don’t know which plan? Go to A Christ-Centered Bible Reading Plan: Quick Start.
Extras
Verse of the Day, Audio Capsule, and Video Minute
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(Today’s Reading)
YHWH in the Old Testament
(Essay Installment 6)
The Uniqueness of YHWH
Although in one sense, as far as the other nations were concerned, Israel was just bringing one more god to the table, Israel and its God were different from their contemporaries in noticeable ways. I’ve already mentioned that Israel had one god while almost all the surrounding nations had multiple gods. Consistent with this posture, Moses famously declared to his fellow Israelites:
Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!
I say “famously” because this statement is known as “The Shema” (from the Hebrew word for “Hear!”) and is still recited daily by many Jews today. But think through how it would have sounded in its original context. Moses was calling Israel to its one and only God. Unlike the other nations, it would have one God only…and YHWH was His name. YHWH was declared the national God from the beginning…and there was never to be another.
This exclusivity was inherent in YHWH’s covenant with Israel. Other nations had multiple gods, rituals, vows, and treaties; but their gods were not mutually bound to the people, and their relationships were transactional, not relational. YHWH’s covenant was like a marriage – a relationship entered into by two parties with room for no more. Each party – God and nation – had duties to each other, and a mutual pledge of exclusivity.
Another distinctive in the YHWH-Israel relationship was its founding narrative. There were dramatic plagues, a miraculous redemption of a people from slavery, and a complex and comprehensive system of law laid down by the deity. As for that law, called “The Torah” (meaning “teaching”), it was deemed undeniably superior to any other national legal code at the time. As Moses said:
Deuteronomy 4:5 “See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it.
Deuteronomy 4:6 “So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’
Deuteronomy 4:7 “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the LORD our God whenever we call on Him?
Deuteronomy 4:8 “Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?
Though there are many other things that make the YHWH-Israel relationship different from those of other nations and their gods, there is one more that deserves to be mentioned here. It is not that Israel’s God was claimed to be the Creator of heaven and earth, for many nations claimed that distinction for their gods. It is the way that Israel claimed YHWH did it: One God, standing independent of nature, creating everything by His word alone. Other creation stories involving other gods were never that simple and straightforward. Rather, they were usually fanciful myths.
As to a nation’s responses to concept of creation, while Gentile nations had creation festivals of one kind of another, only Israel had a weekly sabbath applying to everyone. The ritual consisted not of doing things – but rather of not doing them. Once a week, every week of the year, Israel’s body language was saying to the world, “YHWH created this world; and it does not depend on our labor.”
Summarizing, YHWH put His distinctive mark on Israel. Neither Israel – nor the nations surrounding it – would say YHWH was like other gods. Whether believed in or not, YHWH was indisputably unique in the world.
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