The starting point for thinking about divine command is the reality of God, the initiating and effecting word of God and the character of God, reflected in Scripture especially in regard to goodness and justice.The necessity of social interaction as context for divine command is reflected in several ways; among those mentioned here are the divine council, the covenant, and the incarnation, the word made flesh and living among us. The covenant is central to thinking about divine commands as they (...) are reflected in Scripture. It presumes a relationship between God and those commanded and is a voluntary association. Obedience to the divine commands results from the goodness of God and is only to the Lord. As such the ethic of command becomes also an ethic of response. Rather than being commands to be obeyed without reason or thought and only because they are commanded by God, the divine commands of Scripture and the law generally involve rationality and persuasion, teaching and interpretation. They chart a way of freedom. (shrink)

The hymns of Israel stand in the service of the central theological claim of the Old Testament, that the Lord of Israel alone is God and requires the full devotion of all creation.

The words of Moses embodied in Deuteronomy gave Israel all that was needed for its life as a community under God, guided and blessed by him.

The typically vivid and vague way in which the Old Testament prayers of lament describe the predicament of the one who prays is both a problem and an opportunity for their interpreter.

This benediction is an expression of the continuing prayer that God will provide in the natural and human spheres, order, process, and grace as the matrix of human existence.

In the Decalogue, a foundation is laid for the order of the community, a foundation that continues in perpetuity to be the touchstone for all actions on the part of God's people as they seek to live in community and order their lives.