ISRAELITES AND THEIR CONCEPTION OF GOD

  • Unity of God in Judaism

    • Israelites experienced God as the Lord of history.

    • Shema Prayer: A key expression of God's unity in Judaism:

    • ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord’ (Deuteronomy 6:4–9).

    • Belief in one God signifies one humanity and one world.

GOD AND CREATION

  • Conceptualization of God

    • God is viewed as the transcendent creator of the universe.

    • Distinction between God and creation:

    • God is ‘wholly other’ than anything that is not God.

    • God is uncreated and self-existent.

    • Biblical reference:

      • Genesis 1:1–2 - "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…"

    • Divine Transcendence: Affirmed repeatedly throughout the Bible.

    • Isaiah's proclamation:

      • Isaiah 40:21–22 - God sits above the earth’s circle, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.

DIVINE PRESENCE IN CREATION

  • God's Involvement in the Cosmos

    • God is simultaneously omnipresent, despite transcendence.

    • Development of the doctrine of Shekhinah in rabbinic literature:

    • Indicates God's indwelling presence, compared to light.

    • Midrash paraphrase of Numbers 6:25:

      • ‘May he give thee of the light of the Shekhinah’.

    • Saadiah Gaon: Shekhinah as identical to God's glory, functioning as an intermediary during prophetic encounters.

    • Judah Halevi's perspective: Shekhinah appears to prophets instead of God directly.

    • Discussion of the Shekhinah as a spiritual connection for women in contemporary contexts.

    • Psalms Reference:

      • Psalms 139:7–12 emphasizes God's presence everywhere.

TIME AND ETERNITY

  • God’s Nature of Eternity

    • Biblical depictions: God has no beginning or end.

    • Talmudic teaching:

    • Unbridgeable gap between God and humans

      • The Holy One outlasts what he has fashioned.

    • Rabbis discouraged speculation about the nature of eternity:

    • The Mishnah's statement on contemplating the divine's essence, warning against overthinking.

    • Maimonides in Guide for the Perplexed:

    • Argues God’s existence precedes creation; time is part of creation.

    • Joseph Albo's stance in Ikkarim:

    • Concepts of before and after apply to God only in a negative sense regarding existence.

    • Other Jewish thinkers propose that God exists timelessly in an ‘Eternal Now’.

OMNIPOTENCE AND OMNISCIENCE

  • Beliefs about God’s Power and Knowledge

    • Omnipotence as a cornerstone of faith since biblical times.

    • Biblical examples:

    • Genesis depicts Sarah’s disbelief in God’s promise to her at age ninety.

    • Jeremiah 32:27 - God asks if anything is too hard for Him.

    • Maimonides asserts logical limitations on omnipotence:

    • Defines impossibilities that God cannot enact.

    • Omniscience:

    • God’s knowledge encompasses all, unaffected by time and space (Psalm 33:13, 15).

    • Akiva’s teaching: Foreknowledge does not impair human free will.

    • Maimonides reinforces the different nature of divine knowledge compared to human comprehension.

ELECTION AND MISSION OF ISRAEL

  • God’s Control and Guidance

    • Hashgahah: Concept describing God's ongoing involvement in the world.

    • Derived from Psalm 33:14.

    • Affirmation of the Jews as God’s chosen people:

    • Deuteronomy 7:6 - God’s selection of Israel among other nations.

    • Historic mission: To bear divine truth to humanity.

    • Statement of responsibilities attached to the election:

    • God’s expectations of righteousness and justice from His chosen people (Genesis 18:19).

REVELATION OF THE TORAH

  • Significance of the Torah in Judaism

    • Revelation of both oral and written Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai.

    • Maimonides explains:

    • The entirety of the Torah as divinely originated.

    • Distinctions within revelation:

    • Pentateuch as direct revelation vs prophetic books given through prophecy.

    • 613 Commandments:

    • Classified into two categories:

      • Statutes: Ritual obligations between humans and God.

      • Judgments: Laws that would be societal norms even without divine decree.

    • All laws bind Jews across generations, extended through rabbinic literature.

HUMAN INCLINATIONS AND MORALITY

  • Good and Evil Inclination

    • Rabbinic Judaism teaches the presence of both good (yetzer ha-tov) and evil (yetzer ha-ra) inclinations within individuals.

    • Individuals are taught to guard against the evil inclination.

    • Biblical reference:

    • Psalm 90:2 emphasizes God’s eternal presence.

ESCHATON AND THE MESSIANIC AGE

  • Concepts of Eschatology

    • Teaching concerning the ‘last things’, such as the end of time and afterlife.

    • Traditional belief in the coming of the Messiah to usher in a messianic age.

    • Rabbinic literature outlines stages of an eschatological timeline.

  • Messianic Redemption

    • Following calamity, peace will reign, Jerusalem will be restored, and the dead resuscitated for final judgment.

    • Righteous receive eternal life (Gan Eden), while the wicked face punishment (Gehinnom).

    • Note on evolving perspectives in modern Judaism regarding messianic ideas, especially in the wake of historical disillusionments.

CHANGING BELIEFS IN MODERN TIMES

  • Evolving Views on God and Judaism

    • Nineteenth-century reform movements challenged traditional beliefs about eschatology.

    • Reconstructionist and Humanistic movements advocated for significant theological revisions.

    • The impact of historical events, such as the Holocaust, on faith and belief in God's oversight of humanity.

THE COVENANT IN JUDAISM

  • Covenantal Framework

    • Fundamental to Judaism; involves a personal response to divine promises.

    • Distinction between a covenant and a contract defined by unilateral offer and divine obligations.

  • Elements of Biblical Covenants

    • Historical prologue, obligations, and accompanying rewards/punishments as typical elements, similar to Hittite treaties.

    • Covenant with Noah: Enabled preservation from the flood, symbolized by the rainbow (Genesis 9:8–17).

    • Abrahamic Covenant: Promises of nationhood and land (Genesis 12:1–7; Genesis 15, 17), with circumcision as its sign.

  • Sinai Covenant

    • Confirmed with Israel post-Egyptian deliverance (Exodus 19–20), emphasizing obligations (Ten Commandments) alongside divine grace.

    • Notable biblical examples in Deuteronomy illustrating God’s persistent grace despite human failure.

  • Covenant with David

    • A specialized covenant ensuring blessings to David’s lineage (1 Chronicles 17:7, 28:4) while recognizing God's conditional blessings.

    • Not mentioned frequently in earlier prophets but revisited post-exile in various texts (Zechariah 9:11; Malachi 2:4).