The concept of God in Judaism (R.S.G-202)
Judaism is an ancient religion of Jews. Before they followed a natural pattern of development from fear-ridden worship of nature, through confused polytheism to monotheism. Abraham and Moses adopted Mount Shaddai and Mount Sinai, respectively, as their God. Moses took the Jews out of Egypt. He was interested in organizing Jews giving them a new standard of life. For this purpose he delivered to his people the following Ten Commandments;
Thou shall have no other gods before me.
Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image.
Thou shall not take the name of the lord thy god in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
Honor thy father and thy mother that the days may be long upon the land which the lord thy god has given thee.
Thou shall not kill.
Thou shall not commit adultery.
Thou shall not steal.
Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shall not covet.
Jews believe that God is the creator and ruler of the universe. All that happens is his achievement. His power is limited only by His own will. He does what He wants. God is omnipotent and omniscient. He is the all seeing, all hearing, all knowing god he is eternal and not limited in space and time. Judaism recognizes two distinct types of divine attributes. The one is that god is represented as a transcendental being that passes our comprehension and other is his holiness which invests him with moral perfection. God becomes the ideal pattern for the loftiest morality. This divine attribute of holiness has a twofold meaning. The first is one of spiritual eminence transcending everything temporal and sensual. This is the purifying power of God. In the second place it indicates the condescending mercy of god.
Man stands in a special relationship to god. This is expressed by the fact, that God made man in his own image. Man is exalted and is recognized as possessing a God given spirit. This forms a personal relationship with him. God has provided man with earthly and spiritual qualities and thus the man is asked to participate in fulfilling the purposes of God, both with his physical and spiritual facilities. God created the world and all that is, but he entrusted its development to man. To the Jews, the reason to strive for is that they are imitation of God. God is good, righteous, just and merciful. Thus also man should have all these qualities.
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Thou shall have no other gods before me.
Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image.
Thou shall not take the name of the lord thy god in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
Honor thy father and thy mother that the days may be long upon the land which the lord thy god has given thee.
Thou shall not kill.
Thou shall not commit adultery.
Thou shall not steal.
Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shall not covet.
Jews believe that God is the creator and ruler of the universe. All that happens is his achievement. His power is limited only by His own will. He does what He wants. God is omnipotent and omniscient. He is the all seeing, all hearing, all knowing god he is eternal and not limited in space and time. Judaism recognizes two distinct types of divine attributes. The one is that god is represented as a transcendental being that passes our comprehension and other is his holiness which invests him with moral perfection. God becomes the ideal pattern for the loftiest morality. This divine attribute of holiness has a twofold meaning. The first is one of spiritual eminence transcending everything temporal and sensual. This is the purifying power of God. In the second place it indicates the condescending mercy of god.
Man stands in a special relationship to god. This is expressed by the fact, that God made man in his own image. Man is exalted and is recognized as possessing a God given spirit. This forms a personal relationship with him. God has provided man with earthly and spiritual qualities and thus the man is asked to participate in fulfilling the purposes of God, both with his physical and spiritual facilities. God created the world and all that is, but he entrusted its development to man. To the Jews, the reason to strive for is that they are imitation of God. God is good, righteous, just and merciful. Thus also man should have all these qualities.
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