Israel and Humanity - God created the world and humanity

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II.

The God created the world and humanity.

A very argument in favor with critics today is that of recognizing Israel as a supreme god does not exclude the existence of other less powerful gods who presided over the destinies of other nations. Even when we would demonstrate the truth of this assertion, this does not prove that the belief of the Jews was not ultimately monotheism. Indeed, this conception of a God above, now in its dependence on inferior deities awakens the idea of an organization that would achieve lower unit functions under the direction of a sovereign authority.

But apart from this consideration, it is easy to see that if certain forces are somehow secondary deities in the Bible, the components of the concept of divinity itself, the various perfections pertain to the absolute state that the only supreme God. The grandeur, wisdom, beauty and goodness are worshiped as divine attributes that are rather emanations of God in the world, as are the Shekina . In fact, when the act is truly divine creation as such, it is never attributed to God alone and not to any other being whatsoever.

In the Genesis account we see a particular care to avoid anything that could give rise to the suspicion that the whole creation is the exclusive work of God. Although the Bible testifies to the existence of angels who perform very haunted missions, although they are perhaps authors sacred divine ideas personified, as Philo says, they never represented as being act and even their original creators and all that is their own existence are completely ignored. This is among the prophets and even though it would be seen in Genesis, with some modern critics, that echo the prophetic teachings, the concept of God to Israel will always remain that of Being Single author of all things, "It is Thou, O Lord, Thou alone hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens and all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all they contain. You give life to all these things and the heavenly host bows down before you ". And in Isaiah: "I am the Lord who did all things alone have made the heavens, I alone spread out the earth" Isaiah

The last word acquires a special importance of this fact it is addressed to Cyrus the Mazdean to let him know the one God. The prophet hastened to make itself the consequence of this doctrine of creation, the unity of God. "I am the LORD, and there is none else; out of me, there is no God. . Words en'od we go by: "there is no other" could even be translated as "nothing else exists, just as we can be translated as "there is nothing outside of me" words efes bil'adaï read the following verse: "I have encircled force, although you do know me not it is to make known the rising sun at sunset and off of me there is no God. I am the LORD and there is none else. I form the light and I create darkness, I do I create prosperity and adversity. I am the LORD, who do all these things " The idea of the unity of God can not be more strongly expressed than in this passage, the author goes so far as to attribute to God the darkness and evil as opposed to earthly happiness , bold defiance to the religion of dualism. And further: "In Thee alone what the deity, there is no other God but Thee," ". Then referring to the creation of "Thus saith the LORD, the Maker of heaven, the God who formed the earth, which has made and which has strengthened ... Is it not I the LORD? There is no other God than me, I'm just God and Saviour; out of me, nothing! Look unto me and be saved, all you who are at the ends of the earth, for I am God and no other ". Finally: "Remember the former things, for I am God and there is no other deity is none like me"

But that's not all. The Bible opposes sometimes, by way of antithesis, the God of Israel and national to the local gods of paganism, by attributing to him only the act of creation. We read in the prayer of Hezekiah: "O Lord God of Israel (national god), you are seated on the cherubim (god definitely local), You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth . . And Jeremiah is perhaps even more formal when he says: "You speak to them thus: The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, they disappear from the face of the earth and under heaven" So the creation given to the Gentiles as proof of the existence of God, as if to suppose the use of Aramaic in this passage, which is the single case of this kind throughout the book, these words of the prophet is a message to the pagan peoples of Babylonia.

Nothing more natural after that the name of God of the universe, El'olam , already employed about Abraham that the book of Genesis is proclaiming in the midst of the Philistines' name of Jehovah, God of the universe ".

This meaning is confirmed by other expression of "God Most High, the purchaser (or owner, Kone) of heaven and earth" also placed in the mouth of Abraham and Melchizedek It is doubtful that Kone owner, purchaser, is here synonymous with author, creator, for in creating the world that God has endorsed. Finally, in a passage from Deuteronomy that was mistakenly reported as charac- teristic of this book, since Genesis itself we have seen, offers similar texts, we read: "Behold, the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth and all that it contains " The importance of these texts is even greater if we move towards the pagan beliefs in this regard. Because for the Gentiles the heavens and the earth gods everywhere distinct and often enemies, and who knows that in Christianity, the earth remains constant antagonism with the sky theology? To the contrary, Judaism, heaven and earth are one kingdom, they are the domain of the same God.

It has been objected that this belief in the universal creation does not necessarily that of the unity of God, since Mazdeans, who proclaim Ahura Mazda, creator of heaven and earth, does not recognize the existence less Agra-Maïnyous applicable to destroy the work of the first. But it is a great mistake in confusing the religion of dualism with polytheism. The point is not the equal of gods Mazdaism coexisting peacefully together, but two rival deities, who are perpetually at war and encroachment upon one another, and purpose of God the Creator is the absorption, the annihilation of his opponent.

After creating the world, the human is told in the Bible in such terms that leave no doubt on the belief in one God. Do we not read the first page that order given to humanity, repeated order after the flood and which is simultaneously a promise and a blessing, fill the earth, to subject and dominate all animals that inhabit it? The God who thus has the benefit of man (the beings he has created so much is the absolute master. The author of the psalm seems to have eyes or in the narrative of Genesis is the least have echoed the same tradition. The splendor of creation it a cry of pity for the man favored gifts yet it is so magnificent that of little lower than Elohim , is an obvious reference to the word of Genesis i. 27: "He created the image of Elokim " or, "you'll as Elokim , "is the word of God even after the fall:" Behold, the man is become as one of us to the knowledge of good and evil "Genesis . The verses that follow in this same Psalm: "Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands and thou hast subjected all things" clearly recall the privilege granted to Adam in the passage just quoted.

In addition, the God who created man and gave him his orders, the judge and also punishes His is thus the supreme power. Cain afraid of being killed by those who met him, God gave him a sign across the preserve, so it's that everything obeys His will. In the flood story, not only humanity, but the animals and the earth itself are included in the new covenant, so God governs the world at will, and embraces all beings, great and small, in its Providence. And when mankind still nascent and not divided seeks to settle in one place, he spoke again to disperse, so that mankind can take possession of the full extent of his domain. Thus the great biblical facts, as every detail of their narrative, we show that the belief in the unity of God is the soul of the most ancient traditions of Judaism.