How Judaism Faiths and Perception of Bible?
Three great faiths had their origin in the Middle East: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They are rigidly monotheistic, in that they declare that God is one, that there can be no other object of worship, and that there can be no other basis for the unity of all mankind.
The Jews declare every day, ‘Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord.’
The Old Testament is not like any other ancient book. About a thousand years were needed for the writing of it, and many hands took part. And so naturally it is a book of marvellous variety. Yet equally marvellous is its unity; it is a book about God, and about his love-story with the human race. The picture of God does not come out equally clearly in all parts of the book, but the main lines of it are everywhere present. What kind of a God is this?
He is Creator. This means that nothing whatever can exist apart from his will, and that nothing can escape from his control, although he has given to mankind a limited freedom to choose and to act within his over-arching sovereignty.
He is a living God — a rather strange expression. All the life that there is in the universe comes from him: ‘In all life thou livest, the true life of all.’ He is always active in the world that he has made. This means that he is concerned for his people, and can show himself to them. So the prophets say confidently, ‘Thus saith the Lord‘, being sure that what they say does not come simply for their own imaginations. It has come through living contact with the Spirit of the Lord, who has taken hold of them and compelled them to speak.
He is a faithful God. He has made a reliable universe and he acts reliably in it. If he makes a covenant, he can be relied on to keep it. His people can trust him, because he is trustworthy. This they discover as they try to serve him.
But he is a righteous God, in the sense that he wants his people to be like him. He is not primarily concerned about rituals and forms of worship, though these have their importance. What he is concerned about is plain straight‑ forward integrity in the street and the market-place and the lawcourts. Religion and morality cannot be separated. They belong together, since God is the Lord of all.
He is a compassionate God. Israel knew well that they had not lived up to what God expected of them. Yet through one disaster after another the nation had survived. It was through the wonder of national survival that Israel came to understand the wonder of God’s mercy and forgiveness: ‘With you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.’
God of our fathers
Since they knew that God had drawn near to them, the people of Israel became convinced that this God is not only one who speaks; he is also one who listens: ‘Because you answer prayers, people everywhere will come to you.’ When we want to learn to pray, we turn to the book of Psalms, in which almost everything that we could want to say to God is expressed so much better than we could express it ourselves. For a Christian to read through the Jewish book of prayers is a moving experience.
During this century the Jews have been called to endure unimaginable sufferings. And yet they survive. Their faithfulness to the God of their fathers should be an example to the whole world. They believe they have been called to be a ‘light to the nations’ and that they can fulfil this function best by quiet fidelity to the One who has shown through all the centuries that he can be trusted.
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