Introduction
Actually, there are many religious beliefs in the world. Mosaic faith, refers to the belief in the laws that God gave to the people of Israel through his Hebrew prophet Moses. Mosaic Law is set out in the first five books of the holy bible in the Old Testament (Torah). In fact, it is part of religion in the ancient time of Hebrews as well as their offspring’s the Jews.
According to W. Anderson (pg, 98-100), the three main aspects of the Mosaic faith are, The God of History, The Covenant Relationship, and You Shall Have No Other Gods.
Summary of the three main aspects of Mosaic faith
The God of History
Arguably, in the Ten Commandments it can be justified that the God of Israel is the God of history. According to Anderson, Israelites believed that Yahweh is pre-eminently the God who uses his mighty powers to complete his purpose. Additionally, Yahweh took the initiative to build a good relationship with men. Yahweh too is the only person who should claim allegiance over Israelites. Actually, Yahweh is the God who commands, delivers, makes and fulfills promises, creates and finally lead (The Holy Bible). Mosaic faith is forms history in the covenants made between God and patriarchs, Isaac, Abraham, Moses and Jacob.
Additionally, Mosaic faith puts a lot of interest in the historical events. This is because the faith rests on origin experiences that bear absolute witness to the supreme who transcends both history and nature (Anderson, 1966). The mosaic faith asserts that the Gods people only know YAHWEH, who was with them in the land of Egypt and accompanied them to the Promised Land. In the wilderness, the God of Israel refereed himself as the God of Isaac, Abraham, and Jacob. This was a clear indication that God of Jacob and Abraham is still the same God of Israelites. The Israelites always believed in the existence of the historic God, despite the temptations they could still come back to Him.
The Covenant Relationship
Another important aspect of the mosaic faith according to Anderson is the covenant relationship. People of Israel established a permanent and divine relationship with Yahweh through Moses. The extraordinary events that occurred in Israel during the time of Moses marked the basis of a close relationship between God and His people. Some of the events include the crossing of the red sea and the plagues (The Holy Bible). Actually, the story of the extraordinary events does not eliminate the gap that exists between people and God. In the wilderness, God justified the gap that existed when he gave the people of Israel a warning that they should not see His face (Exodus.33:20-22).
Perhaps, the covenant gave the people of Israel confidence in all their endeavors. They believed that the covenant relationship was a cleat justification that God is always with them. In fact, through history mosaic faith believes in the coexistence between people and God. Abraham, Joshua as well as Moses form the basis of coexistence between the community of Israel and God (Anderson, 1966).
You Shall Have No Other Gods
According to Anderson, the third aspect of mosaic faith is, the Israelites shall have no other Gods. In fact the first commandment that God gave to Moses was “You shall have no other gods before me”. The people of Israel were the only parties to the covenant. Since the beginning, there were other people who worshipped other gods. For example pharaoh worshipped other gods. Hence God wanted his people to worship only the true God. During the time of pharaoh, the God of Israel proved that he controlled all the nature as well as the natural events (Ulrich, 1995).The mosaic faith carried both punishments and blessings. Through the Israel God punished his people because they failed to follow him. Despite all the punishments the Israelites still believed that God was still patient, forgiving and loving (Karl, 2004).
Anderson asserts that, the God of Israel was only God with no partner. As a matter of fact, Israel’s protested on the existence of polytheism. In other religions, gods were in pairs, for example, Asherah and Astarte. The Israel’s who had the mosaic faith, did not take up polytheism in order to understand the divine affiliation. They completely turned to political-historical models which included the covenant making between God and them as well as liberation from oppression (Grenz & Placher, 2003)
Aspects of the Mosaic faith speak to the issues and concerns of the Church and the world today
The God of History
The Christian and Muslims faith, take their supreme as the God of history. In both the Islam and Christian scriptures, there is a lot of history that justifies the existence of God since the beginning (Anderson, 1966). The bible gives the churches today a complete history of God and his people. The Muslims and Christians are the descendants of the Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Therefore they are part of history that has existed for millions of years. The world of today, still witness the existence of the historic God through Earthquakes and other forces of nature that transcends both nature and history (Olson, 2002).
The Covenant Relationship
God has made an agreement with his people through his prophets. Up to date, people still follow the covenant and abide to the laws and commands. The covenants have both promises and punishments. Those who abide by the law are rewarded, while those who go against the Gods commandments are punished (The Holy Bible). Those who believe in existence of God are still by the covenant made between God and Israelites. Jesus according to Christians did not come to break the covenant, but only to fulfill it (Callen, 2004).
You Shall Have No Other Gods
Muslims and Christians believe that they are to worship only one God or Allah. The aspect of mosaic faith on the belief of only one God still exists in the world. Despite the above rule, there are many religions who belief in other gods. In the churches, the followers of God obey the first commandment that says; “you shall have no other Gods”. Despite the existence of the commandments there are many gods in the world, this include money, human being, idols just but to mention some. The freedom of worship in many nations gives one the freedom and mandate to worship a god of his choice (Liles, 2005).
The world in the contemporary society has changed tremendously. Many religions have come up because of disagreement and temptations. The lord warned the Israelites on entering into treaties with other nations. Despite the freedom of worship, the chosen people who believe in the living God should not enter into the treaties with other false religion (Liles, 2005).
References
Anderson, B. (1966). Understanding the Old Testament. New York: Prentice-Hall.
Callen, B. (2004). Discerning the Divine: God in Christian Belief.Kentucky:John Knox Press
Campbell, G. (2001). Bible: The Story of the King James Version 1611-2011. Oxford: Oxford Press.
Grenz, S & Placher, W. (2003). Essentials of Christian Theology. New York: Westminister John Knox Press.
Knight, K. (2003). My Muslim Faith. London: Wiley.
Karl, M. (2004). The Religion of the Old Testament. London: John Wiley & Sons.
Liles, M. (2005). Christian Faith in Contemporary Society. Cambridge: Cambridge Press.
Olson, R. (2002). The mosaic of Christian Belief: Twenty Centuries of Unity and Diversity.Carlifornia: Intervarsity Press.
The Holy Bible-King James Version.
Ulrich, S. (1995). Story and Faith in the Biblical Narrative. London: Prentice
Jews Publication. (1999). The Torah: The Five Books of Moses. Philadelphia: John Wiley. Werner, S. (1983). The Faith of the Old Testament: A History. Philadelphia: Westminster Press
