Excerpt from Holiness in Fresh Perspective: Covenant, Cross, and Kingdom (Wipf and Stock 2015)
So with this we see that the Torah (as well as the Holy Spirit) reveals God’s expectations for human behavior. There is another dimension of revelation that goes beyond this that we cannot overlook and that is that God’s prescription for human behavior reflects back on his own nature. That is, the kind of life that he expects from his people is to reflect the kind of God He Is. If God required his people to commit adultery and torture innocent people, what kind of God would he be? If God require the oppression of women and the abuse of power, what kind of God would he be? If God required polygamy, what kind of God would he be?
On the other hand, if God required that his people selflessly love their neighbor as themselves, what kind of God would he be? If God required that his people take special care of the marginalized of society, like the orphan and widow, what kind of God would he be? If God required the sharing of resources for the good of the community at large over the good of the individual at the sacrifice of the community, what kind of God would he be? Finally, if God required that his people be a faithful, honest people, people with integrity who forgive seventy times seven times when wronged, what kind of God would he be?
The point I’m making is this, the Torah, in prescribing human behavior, not only reveals what God expects of his people, but also reveals what kind of Yahweh is. He is a loving, just, merciful, gracious, and powerful God. He is the Good Creator. He is the Patron Deity of Israel.