Friday, October 17, 2008

1:4:41 - A vivid God

I love vivid descirptions of God. It's odd because I'm not a huge God-thinker. I tend to believe that if God exists, God is so far removed from my life and the active daily life of the world that giving tons of thought to the subject of God is almost a waste of time.

That being said, I still love this passage:

"Are the living to be sought smong the dead? The divinites in your records are dead. But our God is a living God, the King of universe."

Pharoah asked, "Is he young or old? How old? How many cities has he conquered? How long is it since he ascended to the throne?" They replied, "Our God--His strenght and might fill the universe. He was before the world was created, and he will be after the world's end. He formed you and gave you the breath of life." Pharoah: "What are his noble deeds?" Moses and Aaron: "He stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth; [...] He forms mountains and hills; He covers heaven with clouds; brings down rain and dew; makes grasses grow, fruits to be succulent; answers those about to give birth [etc.]

The passage actually points to my own difficulty with God. As much as I hate to admit agreeing with Pharoah of all people, he seems to be having a difficulty similar to mine. Pharoah wants to know what God has done that is in the realm of things Pharoah cares about: conquering, thrones, "noble deeds."

Shabat Shalom and Chag Sameach, blogosphites.

 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You express discomfort with agreeing with Pharaoh. However, the one with whom you're agreeing is Pharaoh-as-imagined-by-the-Rabbis. There's at least the possibility that "Pharaoh"'s questions are partly projections from the Rabbis themselves.

David A.M. Wilensky said...

Excellent point, Richard! Thanks.