in terms of writing, author reza alsan’s god, a human history, is a masterpiece. the easily edible tome launders itself with facts and references. in a new york times review, ms. emma green noted that mr. aslan’s premise is that “the only way i can truly know god is by relying on the only thing I can truly know: myself,” aslan writes. it doesn’t matter whether people believe in god or not, he implies. “we are, every one of us, god.” ” nytimes.com
mr. alsan ambitiously tries to tackle this extensive history in 171 pages as far as text. [note: the text is supplemented with significant amount of references.] only seventeen pages are devoted to the jewish peoples’ history with with god.
in god, aslan surveys judaism’s concept of god. he begins, not “in the beginning” of the creation of the world but rather at the time of the first temple’s destruction. aslan’s text makes no reference that the pre-exilic period evidenced the priestly blessing which is found in the torah. this text was known and was found on an amulet in a jerusalem burial crypt. aslan’s text does not fully address the torah’s concept of the universal god; the creator of the universe. a god who, while entering into a covenant with the children of israel, was not exclusive. israel’s nation was to be a nation among nations. judaism’s god expressed the power to bless other nations.
while telling of moses’ life, aslan notes on page 114 that there is a problem as to the fact that there has been no archaeological evidence of an israelite presence in ancient eqypt. he does not, however, discuss scholars joshua berman’s and richard elliott friedman’s positions with respect to the exodus’ historicity. within his text, he states “even more unbelievable is the reason the bible gives for their wholesale enslavement: that this tribe of semitic nomads had somehow grown “more numerous and more powerful” that the egyptians who were, at the time, the largest, wealthiest, more militarily potent empire the world had ever known.” this statement, however, makes no mention of the semetic peoples, the hyksos, who invaded egypt and created an egyptian empire. certainly, the hyksos’ realm impacted the egyptian psyche. egypt admittedly has a history of semitic entanglements.
furthermore, aslan’s dismissal of the exodus’ historicity fails to address the indicia surrounding egypt within the jewish origins: egyptian names are within the torah, namely moses, monotheism’s past history was in egypt, and the history of semites residing in egypt. in essence, if someone found a hot coal fired pizza somewhere in the sinai desert, certainly one should assume that there was an oven nearby. the mere fact that archeologists have not made the ultimate discovery to prove the exodus is not grounds to dismiss moses from history.
aslan touches judaism’s concept of god; singular, personal, possessing emotions, invisible and with no human form. he notes that despite this, human’s are created in god’s image. [note: what is an image? a likeness? or, is it a mental or cognitive image? while this planet contains living beings with emotions, how many possess the ability to reason and understand the difference between right and wrong?]
judaism god is one to be feared and not emulated. god, throughout the bible, sought humans who possessed admirable traits. unless one is a doctor, jewish people’s expectations are for individuals is that they possess positive human traits. abraham and sarah’s hospitality, moses’ humbleness, david’s courage, solomon’s wisdom of solomon, hannah’s piety, and esther’s beauty are some examples of qualities embraced and copied.
thus, aslan’s premise that humans are gods is not one that fits within judaism’s framework. while created in god’s image, they do not to seek to be a god. rather, the people seek to please god by living their lives via his moral instruction- the torah- and by using employing human role models.
The Ten Commandments Project 