The Hebrew Bible, regardless of religious assumptions (without assuming that the Hebrew Bible is Divinely revealed or inspired), is the greatest and most influential piece of literature ever written (at least in the western world) – and, yet, in spite of its enormous influence upon western civilization, nevertheless the Hebrew Bible is, in my view, a widely misunderstood document. The great revolution of the Hebrew Bible is not, as is widely and (in my eyes) mistakenly thought, a theological and orthodox (correct belief) revolution in conceiving of God in a monotheistic sense and in conceiving of the essence of religion as faith in one God. Rather, the great revolution of the Hebrew Bible is a pragmatic and orthoprax (correct deeds) revolution in conceiving of God as a moral God who demands moral action, and in conceiving of the essence of religion as moral character and moral action – a revolutionary conception of God and religion in the ancient Biblical world, and a revolutionary conception of religion even still today when so many, at least in the western world, think of the essence of religion as faith in God or as ritual.
The term faith or belief in God is simply not a central, religious concept in the Hebrew Bible, with the exception of the Book of Psalms – and, the term faith in God throughout the Hebrew Bible, including the Book of Psalms, is used not in a theological and orthodox sense of believing in the truth of a philosophic proposition but in a psychological and orthoprax sense of trust in, or loyalty to, God (who demands morality) that expresses itself in proper behavior or in an optimistic attitude of hope, thankfulness and appreciation. In the Hebrew Bible the term faith or belief (emunah) comes from the same root as the term artist – and artists are not concerned with abstract, intellectual and rational truth in a propositional sense, as in science and mathematics. Rather, artists create practical works that reflect truth not in an intellectual and rational but intuitive sense as an expression of feelings and the heart.
In the case of the verse regarding Abraham “And he believed in the Lord” (Genesis 15, 6) where the context is that God has promised Abraham that he will have a son who will continue his lineage, Abraham is expressing his own trust in God to fulfill the promise made to him. The verse, though, reveals nothing whatsoever about Abraham’s theological beliefs – and, nothing as to whether God actually exists or is truly trustworthy. The verse is revealing Abraham’s moral character, as indicated in the continuation of the verse, in which Abraham’s faith is “counted to him for righteousness”. If the verse was describing the faith of Abraham in a theological sense, then his faith would be counted to him as truth or knowledge and not righteousness. Abraham’s faith is an expression of his moral character and righteousness – the verse “And he believed in the Lord” is an expression of Abraham’s optimistic attitude of hope and trust, and his refusal to despair (in not having children), revealing his righteous character as a person.
The term faith or belief in God is not a central, religious concept in the 5 Books of Moses which constitute a legal constitution (containing commandments that are the basis of Jewish law) as well as a source of moral and spiritual guidance of the Jewish people. I think that it would be fair to say that the concept most associated with religion in the western world would be the concept of faith in God – yet, shockingly, the term faith in God hardly appears in the 5 Books of Moses, and the few places where it does appear are not passages that stand out as being of great importance. The term faith (or belief) in God is absent from such central passages as the story of the binding of Isaac and the so-called ten commandments (the Biblical and rabbinic term is ten statements and not ten commandments). The commandments of the 5 Books of Moses are, according to Jewish tradition, divided into two broad categories of positive obligations and negative prohibitions (mitzvot aseh and lo ta’aseh). The terms in Hebrew are revealing for they literally mean positive and negative commandments of action.
In the plain meaning of Scripture, the commandments actually regulate both behavior and feeling (such as commands to love God and love your neighbor) – and, such feelings are really a matter of moral character traits necessarily expressing themselves in behavior. However, characteristic of the orthoprax and anti-theological nature of the Hebrew Bible there are no commandments regulating abstract philosophic or theological belief. The term faith in God (aside from hardly appearing in the 5 Books of Moses, and not in important passages) does not appear one time in the form of an explicit command to believe that God exists – nor is there any explicit command to believe any other theological or philosophic proposition, nor any philosophic argument attempting to prove the existence of God or any other theological or philosophic proposition. The term faith in God is not used in the command form.
The central religious concepts of the 5 Books of Moses, which do appear as explicit commands and reflect the orthoprax and anti-theological nature of the Hebrew Bible, are love and fear of God, psychological concepts of the heart, and service of God, a behavioral concept. The term service of God, is from the same root as the word slave or servant. The people Israel are freed from slavery in Egypt to be servants to God in order to perform the service of God – “For to Me the children of Israel are servants; they are My servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 25, 55). Love and fear of God are the psychological motivations (love of the master who takes care of the basic needs of the slave, and fear of the master who has power to punish wrongdoing or disobedience) that express themselves in the service of God (ethically and ritually), which flow from the image of God as a slave owner or master.
There are rabbinic commentaries that portray Abraham as the founder of monotheism. Such rabbinic commentaries portray Abraham as a kind of philosopher who on the basis of his own independent philosophic analysis arrives at a monotheistic (orthodox) conception. However, there is no textual support in the Hebrew Bible for such rabbinic commentaries, and there is actually textual support for concluding that Abraham was not a monotheist. Abraham says “I have raised my hand to the Lord (YHVH), the most high God” (Genesis 14, 22). The concept of a “most high God”, which appears in other places in the Hebrew Bible as well, clearly implies that other gods, besides YHVH (the Lord), exist, and that YHVH is the highest God among a pantheon of gods.
Indeed, in the Hebrew Bible the existence of other gods of other peoples is presupposed rather than denied. In the opening of the ten statements, the statement “I am the Lord your God” declares that YHVH is the God of Israel (to whom the people Israel are to be loyal) among the many gods that are presumed to exist – and, the statement “You shall have no other gods before Me” is a demand of the people Israel to serve YHVH alone without denying the existence of other gods of other peoples. After the crossing of the Reed Sea (the Hebrew term in the Torah is Reed Sea and not Red Sea), in the song of the sea, it is written, “Who is like unto You, O Lord (YHVH) among the gods?” (Exodus 15, 11). The verse presupposes the existence of other gods who cannot be compared to YHVH. In addition, in the ten statements YHVH is referred to as a “jealous God” (Exodus 20, 5 and Deuteronomy 5, 9) who demands exclusive worship (service) and loyalty. Of whom is YHVH jealous if no other gods exist? The Biblical demand of loyalty is only of the people Israel to serve one God, YHVH.
The opening verse of the ten statements “I am the Lord your God who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt” is shocking. In the opening Biblical account of the creation, God is depicted as the Creator of the entire universe – and, the obvious question that arises in the opening of the ten statements is why God is presented merely as the God of Israel and redemption rather than as the Creator of the universe! I want to suggest that the true revolution of the Hebrew Bible, which I emphasize is not monotheism, is reflected in the opening statement of the ten statements.
From the story of the creation we can infer only that God is necessarily powerful in having created the universe, but not that God is necessarily moral. It may be from a purely logical point of view that an evil and powerful god created the universe. Indeed, in the opening account of creation there is no moral demand from God to human beings. God blesses human beings that they should “be fruitful and multiply” – “And God blessed them, and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1, 28). It is proclaimed five times after various acts of creation “and God saw that it was good”, and after the creation as a whole it is proclaimed “behold, it is very good”. However, aside from such value judgment, the story of creation is absent of any moral aspect in the sense that there isn’t any moral demand at all from God regarding human behavior.
The great revolution of the Hebrew Bible is not monotheism, but the way in which God is conceived (as a moral God who demands morality), as reflected in the opening statement of the ten statements in which God is presented not as the Creator of the universe (as a God of power), but as the God of Israel who demands morality in redeeming the people Israel from slavery and oppression (“I am the Lord your God who has brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery“). From this, that God is revealed within history to redeem the people Israel from oppression, we infer that God necessarily demands morality. Immediately following this declaration in the opening of the ten statements come moral demands and commandments of God that are incumbent upon the people Israel.
According to many historians, monotheism develops in ancient Israel during the Biblical period as part of an evolutionary, gradual process (and not as a revolution) in which YHVH, the God of Israel, comes to be seen as the one God of all peoples rather than as the highest God among a pantheon of gods. Also, apparently some form of monotheism may have emerged in ancient Egypt even prior to the period of Moses and the Israelites. An Egyptian Pharaoh, Akhnaton, instituted a worship of one deity – a sun god. But, this revolution did not survive. I want to suggest, though, that even were this revolution to have survived, the conception of God in Akhnaton’s revolution was not revolutionary. That is, the nature of the one deity in Akhnaton’s religion was that of a sun god (of a force or power of nature that is powerful but not inherently moral), and thus no different in nature than that of the prevailing conception of gods in the surrounding pagan cultures, in which the gods were conceived of as forces or powers of nature.
In the surrounding pagan cultures in the ancient, Biblical world, the gods were conceived of as forces or powers of nature that were powerful, but not inherently or necessarily moral – and thus act within nature, and influence human affairs, not as an expression of moral will but as an expression of their power. The gods in the pagan conception can be influenced or appeased by offering sacrifices, or by performing some other ritual practice – and, ritual practice is conceived as the very essence of religion.
The great revolution of the Hebrew Bible is that for the first time in human history God is conceived of as a God who acts within history, as an expression of moral will in order to redeem (as a God of revelation and redemption), and demands morality as an inherent part of God’s nature – and this revolutionary conception of God in turn transforms the essence of religion from ritual practice (as in the pagan conception) to morality. Thus, for the first time in human history, there is a necessary connection between religion and morality, in which the very essence of religion is conceived to be moral character and moral action.
Not only is it a consistent theme of the Hebrew Bible that morality takes precedence over ritual as the essence of religion but the function of ritual is transformed as well. In the Biblical conception, ritual is not in order to influence God but in order to transform ourselves morally and spiritually as human beings. Ritual practice as an attempt to influence or appease God is seen in the Biblical conception as magic. The story and satire of Bilaam, the magician, (Numbers 22-24), reflects the Biblical opposition to magic, which is forbidden and an abomination in the Biblical conception (Deuteronomy 18, 9-13). Bilaam, the magician, attempts to influence God by the performance of sacrifices and ritual practice. Abraham, as an expression of his righteousness and moral character, attempts to influence God in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18) by moral and rational argument! Moses, as well, after the making of the golden calf when God is determined to destroy the Israelite people, argues with God giving reasons why it is wrong and unfair for God to destroy the Israelite people (Exodus 32, 11-14)!
Widespread today not just in the Jewish world but in the western culture God is conceived primarily as a God of creation (as a God of power) without awareness that such a conception is actually pagan – and such a pagan conception of God leads not only to exaggerated importance being given to ritual as the essence of religion but to a pagan conception in which ritual practices (including prayer and reciting of psalms) are performed in order to influence God (for health or for sustenance). Unfortunately (in my eyes), on a widespread basis in the western culture, when people speak of religion or religiosity they speak of faith and the observance of ritual. There is widespread ignorance regarding the true revolution of the Hebrew Bible that God is primarily a moral God who demands morality – and, morality as opposed to being the very essence of religion as in the Biblical conception is often widely misperceived (from the Biblical perspective) as a secular rather than religious concern in viewing true religiosity as faith and ritual.
I want to single out one verse in particular which, in my opinion, is not only representative of the orthoprax (pragmatic) and anti-theological nature of Biblical theology but captures the Biblical conception of the essence of religion perhaps more than any other verse in the Hebrew Bible – “And you shall do that which is righteous and good in the eyes of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 6, 18). I want to point out two things that stand out in relation to this verse.
First, the word “do” reveals the orthoprax and anti-theological emphasis upon proper behavior. The essence of Biblical religion, reflected in the verse, is not faith in God but good deeds. Good deeds are seen in this verse and in the Biblical conception as reflecting the moral will of God (“in the eyes of God”) – but, nonetheless, the essence of religion is good deeds and not faith in God. Second, the words “that which is righteous and good” reveal not only an emphasis upon morality above ritual but a meta-Halachic, moral demand of proper behavior above and beyond the fulfillment of commandments in a legal sense. Indeed, the previous verse demands observance of commandments in a legal sense – “You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and His testimonies and His statutes, which He has commanded you” (Deuteronomy 6, 17). The demand “And you shall do that which is righteous and good in the eyes of the Lord” is a general moral demand beyond the observance of specific commandments.
The implications here are enormous regarding Judaism – especially regarding the use of labels such as secular and religious. In the Biblical conception, a Jew who believes in the existence of God, and lives an observant lifestyle of law and ritual practice, but who lives a life of immorality is a truly secular Jew, as the Hebrew term secular is from the root to desecrate – and, in the Biblical conception there is no greater desecration than immorality. Conversely, in the Biblical conception, a Jew who does not believe in the existence of God, and is not observant of law and ritual practice, but who lives a life of righteousness and goodness fulfills the very essence of religion in “the eyes of God” (that is, in the Biblical conception).