Wednesday Bible Study: God, the compassionate, the merciful?

Leviticus 26 is a structural underpinning of the Tanakh, and for better or for worse, of Zionism. Before I say anything about that, it is also the most succinct and clear description of the character of Yahweh. He is not benevolent, or merciful. He doesn ' t love humanity or even his chosen people. He demands to be worshiped and obeyed. That is all he cares about. While he has disgorged a torrent of commandments so far, the most often repeated, and reiterated here again for the greatest emphasis, are that he be the exclusive object of worship and that he be worshiped according to the rituals he specifies -- keeping the sabbath and the tabernacle.Now, as for the future history (much of it actually in the past when this was written, which makes prediction easy) the Israelites will definitely have their ups and downs in the books to come -- maybe not ever quite so bad as the litany of curses that make up the second 2/3 of the chapter -- and the narrative of falling out of God ' s favor and then having it restored is the basic structure of the Tanakh. But to many contemporary Jews, it is what happened after the Tanakh, that appears to be predicted here, that is most important. The people suffer God ' s ultimate curse, they are dispersed from the land, and become weak and despised among the nations where they reside. But God nevertheless keeps the land in a sort of escrow for them, and may ultimately restore it to them. No, I don ' t think this ancient prophecy is any basis for a ...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs