What is God like?

The oldest surviving line in this collection calls God a man of war. The latest says God is love. Everything in between is the same collection changing its mind, or being shown more.

1. Ibefore c. 900 BCE
   The Song of the Sea (Exodus 15) · Chapter 15

   3 Yahweh is a man of war. Yahweh is his name.

   11 Who is like you, Yahweh, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

   The oldest continuous text in the volume, archaic Hebrew, perhaps the twelfth century BCE. God is a warrior who drowns an army, and the question asked is who is like him among the gods — not whether other gods exist.

2. IIc. 760-700 BCE
   Hosea · Chapter 11

   8 “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me, my compassion is aroused.

   9 I will not execute the fierceness of my anger. I will not return to destroy Ephraim, for I am God, and not man—the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath.

   Eighth century. Something new: God torn about punishing, and the reason given for relenting is that he is God and not a man. Divine unlikeness becomes a reason for mercy rather than for terror.

3. IIc. 760-700 BCE
   Isaiah 1-39 (First Isaiah) · Chapter 6

   3 One called to another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!”

   5 Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!”

   The temple vision. Holiness is the defining attribute, and the prophet's first reaction to seeing it is to think he is about to die.

4. IV587-539 BCE
   Ezekiel · Chapter 1

   26 Above the expanse that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone. On the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man on it above.

   28 As the appearance of the rainbow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. This was the appearance of the likeness of Yahweh’s glory. When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke.

   In exile, far from the temple, Ezekiel sees the throne mobile and above him in Babylon. The language piles up hedges — likeness, appearance, as it were — because he is describing something he says cannot be described.

5. IV587-539 BCE
   Isaiah 40-55 (Second Isaiah) · Chapter 45

   5 I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. Besides me, there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not known me,

   7 I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create calamity. I am Yahweh, who does all these things.

   The decisive moment. Not merely that Israel should worship one God, but that there is no other, and that this God forms light and creates darkness. Monotheism stated outright, and with it the problem of evil arrives.

6. V539 - c. 400 BCE
   Job · Chapter 38

   4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding.

   Job demands an answer and receives a tour of creation instead. God's reply is not a justification; it is a question about how little Job can see.

7. VIIc. 200-100 BCE
   Daniel · Chapter 7

   9 “I watched until thrones were placed, and one who was Ancient of Days sat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames, and its wheels burning fire.

   13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man, and he came even to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him.

   c. 165 BCE. The Ancient of Days on a throne of flame, and beside him one like a son of man receiving dominion. A second figure appears in the divine scene.

8. VIIIc. 100 BCE - 50 CE
   1 Enoch: the Book of Parables (Chapters 37-71) · 1 ENOCH 46

   1 And there I saw One who had a head of days, And His head was white like wool, And with Him was another being whose countenance had the appearance of a man, And his face was full of graciousness, like one of the holy angels.

   2 And I asked the angel who went with me and showed me all the hidden things, concerning that Son of Man, who he was, and whence he was, (and) why he went with the Head of Days? And he answered and said unto me: This is the son of Man who hath righteousness, With whom dwelleth righteousness, And who revealeth all the treasures of that which is hidden, Because the Lord of Spirits hath chosen him, And whose lot hath the pre-eminence before the Lord of Spirits in uprightness for ever. 4, And this Son of Man whom thou hast seen Shall +raise up+ the kings and the mighty from their seats, [And the strong from their thrones] And shall loosen the reins of the strong, And break the teeth of the sinners.

   Enoch's Parables develop that figure further, and call God the Lord of Spirits throughout. Not scripture in most canons, but the vocabulary the gospels' audience already had.

9. IXc. 50-110 CE
   John · Chapter 1

   1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

   14 The Word became flesh and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the only born Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

   The most radical claim in the collection: that the God of the Song of the Sea took a body and lived in a street.

10. IXc. 50-110 CE
    1 John · Chapter 4

    8 He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love.

    Three words, written perhaps eleven centuries after the war hymn, in the same book.

The passages above are the text, reproduced exactly and checked against the same files the reader uses; every reference is verified when the site is built. The commentary between them is editorial, written for this volume.

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