Several years ago the biblical scholar Richard Friedman . . .
Several years ago the biblical scholar Richard Friedman
wrote a fascinating book entitled The
Hidden Face of God, in which he chronicles how Yahweh seems to be less and
less evident as you make your way through the Old Testament. At the beginning of Genesis, for example, God
plays a very active role in the lives of Adam and Eve. God converses with them, God gives them
explicit instructions on what to do and what to avoid, and perhaps most
important, God visits them in the Garden of Eden almost on a daily basis.
However, says Friedman, after the story of the Tower of
Babel, God is never again visible to all humankind—at least not at the same
time. The Lord still appears, but only
on special occasions and only to certain people. The last time that Yahweh speaks to a large
group is when the children of Israel are presented with the Ten
Commandments. However, they are so
overwhelmed and unnerved by the experience that they quickly turn to Moses and
say, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or
we will die.” And so, wanting to respect
their wishes, the Lord never speaks to all of the people again.
As the biblical story goes on, God continues to
retreat. According to Friedman, Moses is
the last person who actually “sees” God.
Samuel is the last person to whom God is “revealed.” And Solomon is the last person to whom God
“appears.”
Even God’s mighty acts and miracles seem to withdraw. The last public miracle recorded in the Old
Testament is at Mount Carmel, when God helps Elijah single-handedly humiliate
the prophets of Ba’al. But after that,
God assumes a much lower profile, working miracles for smaller and smaller
audiences. Friedman suggests that,
perhaps, the reason God keeps stepping back from humankind is so that we will
have room to step forward.
Of course, as Christians, we believe that all of this
dramatically changes with the birth of Jesus Christ—the clearest revelation of
God’s presence on earth since Mount Sinai!
In Jesus Christ, God is once again made both audible and visible. As the Gospel of John so eloquently puts it,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. And the Word
became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a
father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”