The God of this Earthly realm is the life force of the Universe. The guiding force of nature which we call Instinct. The God of Abraham represented the dark side of Human Nature which his followers were able to use in order to strengthen themselves. City states, back in the day, created Gods the priests could turn to for help. It was the priests job to make certain the rains came, crops grew and the city prospered.
The God of Abraham was a jealous God. His words, not mine. He was feared even by his own people. He was the most warlike and the nastiest God of all the Gods. His people, by worshipping him, took on all those same characteristics which gave them power on Earth. Abraham’s people were nomadic. They needed land and resources and the only way they could survive and prosper was to follow their God, focus on warfare and take what they needed wherever they could find it. They were empire builders because they were landless. Their God commanded them to find a land of milk and honey and settle wherever that land was found. God would lead them. That land was found. Unfortunately there were already people living in that land and those people had their own Gods, culture and heritage. They didn’t like the idea that a rival God had promised their land to the Israelite’s and now they had come to claim what they had been promised. The upshot was war, death and destruction.
What does all this tell us about the Gods of the Old Testament if anything. I suggest it tells us that people were very spiritual in nature just as we are today. The nature of the Gods reflected Human characteristics which the people admired, aspired to and worshipped depending on their individual circumstances. The Israelite’s seemed to be nomads without a Kingdom or land of their own while all around them other tribes were building great fortified cities and no doubt having border disputes with their neighbours, it’s Human nature.
The city states evolved separately from one another, developing culture and identity unique to themselves. They traded along fixed trading routes and made treaties with each other to avoid conflict so they could all prosper. Their Gods represented all that was important to them for survival and their way of life. They were farmers so relied on the seasons, weather and fertility so they worshipped the Gods who controlled those things. The Israelite’s also depended upon all the same things the City states depended upon but they were nomads so had no fortifications. Their survival depended on them being on the move constantly because theirs was scrub land, the land of milk and honey was already taken and those who dwelled there didn’t want to share it.
The long term survival of the Israelite’s depended on them being settled in a land rich in pasture land and with a good water supply. In such a land there could be an abundance of food and the means to store excess for lean years, something nomads can’t do. The odds against the Israelite’s taking what they needed by force was staggering. They needed a God that would lead them in battle against a superior fighting force with modern weapons and armour in fortified positions. Their God would have to be merciless, ultra violent and so fearsome and powerful that city states would eventually be beaten by reputation alone and submit without a fight in return for tribute and subservience.
I suggest the Old Testament reveals the nature of Human Beings AND the nature of the God of Abraham. The book of Genesis states that God created Man in his own image. Seems to prove that the Old Testament is not about God but is an explanation about how Human Beings came to mistake Human Nature as God. So where does God feature in all this? I’m writing about that next week probably.
This is a work in progress.
