(NIV Hebrew/English Bible). In the former verse, both the word translated as GOD, and the word translated
as GODS (or “Judges”), is the Hebrew word “Elohim”.
But, in order to make sure the Jewish people didn't mistakenly think of God as a Human power, our master
Moses wrote the following: “GOD IS NOT A MAN, that he might lie,
OR A SON OF MAN, that he might
change his mind”- Numbers 23:19. By means of the former verse, Moses taught us that God isn't really a
human being.
In other words, God isn't a "He" (or a "She"); God doesn't have any need; God doesn't have arbitrary desires;
God isn't subject to anger, hate, or jealousy; God has no regrets, nor suffers from "power trips".
In short, unlike any human being, God isn't “and old man in the sky”; God isn't “a moral dictator”, "a
Tyrant", nor “a religious terrorist”. God simply is “the Supreme Power”; the perfect infinite Power (or
"potential") from which all other powers (life, death, purpose, time, space, matter, energy,
dimensions,
emotions, ideas, etc) and limitations arise.
And from whence do we know that God is indeed perfect? We know it from the verse that goes on to say:
"Ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the Rock, HIS WORK IS PERFECT: for all his ways are
Judgment: A GOD OF TRUTH, AND WITHOUT INIQUITY, JUST AND RIGHT IS HE”- Deut. 32:3-4.
From whence do we know that God is greater than the whole Universe (and all that the universe contains)?
From the verse that says: “But will God in very truth dwell on the Earth? BEHOLD, HEAVEN, AND THE
HEAVEN OF HEAVENS, CANNOT CONTAIN THEE...”- 1 Kings 8:27 (JPS Tanakh, 1917).
And from whence do we know that God is the power ruling [and placing limits] upon all other natural
powers (life and death, day and night, the waves of the sea, the movement of the stars, wisdom, rain,
procreation, etc)?
We get it from the passage that goes on to say: "Where were you when I established the Earth?... Who fixed
its dimensions?... Who enclosed the sea behind doors... when I declared: “You may come this far, but no
farther; your proud waves stop here”? Have you ever in your life commanded the morning or
assigned the
dawn its place...?
Have the gates of death been revealed to you?... Where is the road to the home of light? Do you know where
darkness lives...? What road leads to the place where light is dispersed?... Who cuts a channel for the
flooding rain or clears the way for lightning, to bring rain on an uninhabited land... and cause the grass to
sprout?... Who [but Me] fathered the drops of dew?...
Who gave birth to the frost of heaven...? Can you fasten [like Me] the chains of the Pleiades, or loosen the
belt of Orion? Can you bring out the constellations in
their season, and lead the Bear [constellation] and her
cubs? Do you know the laws of heaven? Can you impose its authority on earth?... Can you command the
clouds...?
Can you send out lightning bolts, and they go?... Who put wisdom in the heart, or gave the mind
understanding?... Who provides the raven’s food?"- Job 38:4-41.
Therefore, if we stick to the Hebrew Bible definition of God, a person's god is whatever that person perceives
as “the ultimate (or supreme) power”; in other words, the power by which he (or she)
guides and shapes his
own world.
For instance, if a person claims to be an atheists (not believing in the existence of any "Elohim", or any
“Supreme Power”), but then goes on to guide his life as if money, sex, technology, and political correctness
were the ultimate form of power, then (according to the Hebrew Bible) that person isn't really an atheist; he
just [unknowingly] believes in a different "Elohim" (a different Supreme Power), as he has in effect replaced
one "Supreme power" [the God of the Bible] by another "supreme power" [the god
of money, sex,
technology, and political correctness].
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Curiously, the latter phenomenon attests to the fact that nature opposes the existence of any sort of vacuums.
For example, nature will make sure that any "power" vacuum is eventually filled up (or replaced) by some
form of power. We pray that the power that ends up governing your life, is as praise worthy and perfect as the
Power taught by our master Moses in the Hebrew Bible.
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