There is a crucial connection to be made between human behavior and human nature. Living beings behave according to their nature. If God prescribes a certain kind of human behavior it is for the purpose of reflecting a certain kind of nature. The people of Israel, by obeying the commands of God that are the covenant stipulations, are attesting to both their own nature as well as to the nature of God. This means that by adhering to the commands to be holy as God is holy, it is intended to imply that God and his people share the same character. This, in turn, implies sonship—family. The people of God, even through the covenant stipulations at Sinai, are intended to share God’s image, his goodness, his kindness, grace and love thereby testifying to God’s very holiness.
The Hebrew text of the Old Testament attests to this in Deuteronomy 6:4. Deuteronomy 6:4 is, hands down, the most cited text of the Old Testament among Jews (as it plays a crucial role in the daily liturgy of judaism). Deuteronomy 6:4 is known as the shema (Heb. “hear”) and encapsulates in a single statement the core theological belief that makes Judaism unique from its Ancient Near Eastern neighbors: monotheism.
Israel was set a part from her neigbors because they were monotheistic creationists; they believed that there was one and only one true God who was the sovereign, morally absolute creator of the universe. This meant for a singular ethic, a singular right to prescribe human behavior that belong to God and God alone. Israel’s obedience to the Ten Commandments were a testimony to the nature of that singular God.
Deuteronomy 6:4 reads, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.” The Hebrew reads this way, “shema Israel, Adonai Elohenu, Adonai echad”. What is striking here is that in the ancient codices (pl. codex) from which we translate the original Hebrew Old Testament, the last letter of the first word of the Shema and last consonant of the last word of the Shema are enlarged. Those letters are ayin and dalet. The enlargement of these letters are the scribes’ way of implying that these two letters are intended to be juxtaposed and read as a single word. These two consonants, when read together, create the Hebrew word meaning “testimony”.
So what does this tell us? It tells us that adherence the Law as a covenant stipulation testifies to the nature of the One True God. Israel, in other words, is the window for the world to witness the holy nature of the One True God. Israel is God’s earthly on earth. This is key as it will play into Jesus as the playing the role of the True Israel in later chapters.
This is an amazing and powerful truth. This same truth is true for the church today. Jesus, as he ascends to his throne in heaven, leaves behind his disciples to represent Him as the true King. They are to continue his work in inaugurating the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. The church today is the testimony not only to the existence of God, but also to the character of God.
—Excerpt from Holiness in Fresh Perspective: Covenant, Cross, and Kingdom (Wipf and Stock).
