The GOD of Abraham

The Torah tells us about “The God of Abraham.” A title given to Him since He chose to review Himself to a man called Abram. Abram’s name meant “exalted father.” Thereafter, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, which means “father of a multitude.”

Also known as Creator, Abba, Adonai, Almighty God (El Shaddai), LORD, Ancient of days, Deliverer, Elohim, El Roi, Everlasting God, Father, Holy One, I AM, Yehova,  and many other names and titles. His attributes are many. But one, was specially liked by the people. He is Good.

 

God is Good

The concept that God is Good is a concept introduced to the world thousands of years ago by the Israelites. Since then it has become so popular that some of its meaning became trivialized. At the time this concept came to be, the ancient world was full of other gods they were mean and terrifying. But, what made the God of Abraham so different?

 

The Gift of Forgiveness

There was one word in Hebrew which was the key to understand God’s goodness. The word was forgiveness. The God of Abraham is fundamentally good as He expresses Himself through His willingness to forgive sin. This was a major difference between the God of Abraham and the other gods. 

According to the Hebrew Scriptures, no sin is too great to be forgiven by the God of Abraham. People like David tested such goodness when he chose to sin with Bathsheba and God forgave him. The Bible is full of examples of the God of Abraham’s divine  and incomparable ability to forgive sin.

 

The One Word

The Hebrew language contains the special word salakh (סלח) to express this attribute of the God of Abraham. The word “forgive” shows up on the Hebrew Scriptures 200 times, but salakh appears only 50 times and it is always on instances when the God of Abraham forgives human sin. An example of this is recorded in the book of Numbers when Moses implores God to forgive His people:

Please! Forgive the offense of this people according to the greatness of your grace, just as you have borne with this people from Egypt until now.”

Numbers 14:19

This type of forgiveness is so unique that when a human forgives another human, the Bible uses another word. This word is nasa which means “to lift up” the sin.

‘Say to Yosef, “I beg you now, please forgive your brothers’ crime and wickedness in doing you harm.”’ So now, we beg of you, forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father.” Yosef wept when they spoke to him;

Genesis 50:17

 

Conclusion

There’s a clear distinction between the God of Abraham and all other gods. His forgiveness means to wipe the slate clean – It’s a complete forgiveness. And the forgiveness between humans is more like a lighten of the load of transgression. Our prayer is that as we work to become more like God we can remember to forgive as He forgives.

 

Shalom!

Rabbi Douglas