God’s Conversations
Within the existence of life, as modern society currently views it, we must communicate to live, to grow culturally, and to understand our past in order to act consciously for the future. Concerning the Jewish history, the preliminary communication and language formed and used was that of God, the being who created the heavens and the earth. Throughout the Torah, it is key to observe how and in what form God communicates with both individuals and groups of people, all of whom He has created in his own image, to recognize the type of relationship God has with people and to watch it either strengthen or weaken depending on the form of God. God is able to have contact with people on many different levels other than speech, such as prophecies and divine interaction, however I will aim to focus on the verbal dialogue between God and individuals.
There is no other place we can start to observe communication by God other than the very beginning. In Genesis, the first book, it states simply, “God said…” letting the audience know that the sound of God’s voice and his commands were enough alone to create light, darkness, life, and everything in between. To whom God was speaking to is not clarified in the text, but it is either Himself or the matter and dust of which we are made. The first individual God speaks to is Man, who was named Adam. In Genesis 16:1, the text states, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may…’” In spite of the statement that God commanded Adam, it is unclear in what form God presented himself to Adam; was it in person, or did Adam just hear a bodiless voice? Later in the text there is evidence of a form: Genesis 3:8 reads, “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden…” Here it is certain that God is in human form and is speaking face to face with Adam. This personal interaction would signify a closer relationship, such as a father and son’s relationship or a teacher and student’s, opposed...