The Ethics of the Old Testament.

Over the coming days, we will dig deeper into the Old Testament and try to make sense of what God said, did, and wants us to do. And what God didn’t say and are just the words of men. Some will not enjoy the contents of these devotionals; they are those who don’t want to learn and are fixed in their thinking.  They believe that they know everything there is to know, only to realize that they know no more than the demons.

You believe that God is one; well and good. Even the demons believe that—and tremble with fear. (James 2:19)

So, let’s start with God.

“You were shown these things so that you would know this: The Lord is the only God. There’s no other god except him. From heaven he made you hear his voice in order to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire. You heard his words from that very fire. And because he loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, God brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his own great power, in order to remove larger and stronger nations from before you and bring you into their land, giving it to you as an inheritance. That’s where things stand right now. Know then today and keep in mind that the Lord is the only God in heaven above or on earth below. There is no other.” (Deut 4:35-39)

The self-revelation of Yahweh (YHWH) is important and was measured by God. Exodus 6:3 says, “I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, (El Shaddai or God of the Mountain] but I didn’t reveal myself to them by my name ‘The Lord.’ We might use the name Yahweh, sometimes considered comparable to ‘I AM WHO I AM.’  For the Israelites, God was no longer just the God of the mountain; God was everywhere in space and time.

The God of the mountain is the same God that a Christian worships on Sunday only.  Somehow, they don’t equate God being involved in every aspect of their lives. God is there with you right now.