A Father Who Keeps His Promise: God's Covenant Love in Scripture by Scott Hahn

Author:Scott Hahn
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Biblical Studies, Religion, Catholicism, Christianity
ISBN: 9780892838295
Publisher: Servant Books
Published: 1998-03-12T00:00:00+00:00

But we can’t excuse Israel for turning to idols, for God had clearly revealed himself to Israel—again and again. Unfortunately, Israel evidently figured “while the cat’s away, the mice will play.” And Moses was way out of earshot. But God was not. He said to Moses, “Go down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves” (Ex 32:7).

Do these words strike you as language somewhat out of character for God? It sounds more like one parent pointing an accusing finger at the other about a disobedient child: “your daughter” or “your son.” God was not dodging blame, however. Rather, he was actually threatening to disown his people.

How could God even imagine doing such a thing? In fact, Israel didn’t leave him any choice. God’s response was dictated by two factors: an immovable object and an irresistible force.

The immovable object was Israel’s hard heart and stubborn will. God calls for a free response of love from his people. He will not force our wills or coerce our hearts. Instead, he always respects our freedom—to an eternal degree—and so abides by our decisions, including the bad ones. Like us, Israel had to learn this lesson the hard way.

The irresistible force was Israel’s previously sworn oath. Recall how Israel, by offering—and eating—sacrificial victims in God’s presence, placed themselves under a solemn conditional curse that would be necessarily triggered once their oath was violated. Israel had perjured itself, and God could not let it go unpunished.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.