A FULL EXPLANATION... Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, there is a sharp contrast made between God on one hand, and human beings on the other. First of all, there is always a reprimand against any human being who claims to be God, or Divine, as we read in Ezekiel 28:2:

Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Eternal God; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:

Then there is the verse from Hosea in which God specifically tells us that God is not a human being:

I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not a man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city. [Hosea 11:9]

And then there is another verse, in Numbers 23:19, where God specifically tells us that if God were a human being, then he would be a liar, as all human beings do lie on occasion. Furthermore, this verse tell us that if God were a human being, he would be in need of repentance because all human beings sin at some point in their lives. Finally, this verse also tells us that if God were a human being, then he would make promises, but not keep them:

God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the Son of Man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? [Numbers 23:19]

God is the same, God does not lie, and God is God and Human Beings are Human Beings, and God does not become a Human Being, and Human Beings do not become gods.

There are three Jewish Holy Days that express this idea.

Let us take a look at Passover, first. Passover is the celebration of the Exodus of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. God brought the Jews out of slavery by performing miracles, which were in the form of plagues. These plagues were not against the Egyptians, as most people think. They were actually against the gods of the Egyptians. For example, the Egyptians worshipped the Nile, but Moses, on behalf of God, struck the Nile and it bled. The Egyptians worshipped the Sun, Ra. But one of the plagues of God was darkness for three days. The plagues of the locusts and the hail which destroyed the crops were against the Egyptian gods of the harvest. Finally the last plague was against the first-born sons who became the priests of these Egyptian gods. But the Pharaoh was held to be a god by the Egyptians. That is why the Biblical text in Exodus 11:5 tells us that the plague of the death of the firstborn went all the way to the throne of Pharaoh. The holiday of Passover has a way of saying, "Sorry, Pharaoh, you are not God!"

The next holiday we will look at is Chanukah. Antiochus of Syria wanted to unify his empire by making all of the inhabitants of his empire into Hellenists, followers of Zeus. But the Jews refused, of course, because they believe in only One God. Antiochus saw this as insurrection, and began persecuting the Jews. Antiochus called himself Antiochus Epiphanies, which means, "Antiochus who is god manifested." The holiday of Chanukah has a way of saying, "Sorry, Antiochus, you are not God!"

Finally, let us look at Purim, the holiday that celebrates the events of the Biblical book of Esther. In this story, there is a character named Haman. He hated the Jews because the Jewish hero, Mordechai, would not bow down to him. The holiday of Purim has a way of saying, "Sorry, Haman, you are not God!"

These three holidays have as a part of their themes, the idea that God is God, humans are humans, and God does not become a human, and humans do not become God.

This means that basic to the faith of the Jewish People, is the distinction between God and man, a distinction which is not found in Christianity. This confusion, the mixing of Man with gods, was common in the ancient pagan world.

Copyright held by Rabbi Stuart Federow 2003
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