Help me understand the Old Testament God

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People often are perplexed after reading the Bible, seeing a “mean” God of the Old testament and a “God of love” in the New Testament. Experts answer that there is no contradiction, that God is one and the same. In my fresh reading of the Old Testament, I have come across a few passages that puzzle me:
  1. Joshua warns the Israelites about offending the Lord because he “will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If, after the good he has done for you, you forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, he will do evil to you and destroy you.”
  2. As the Israelites prepare for war with an enemy, God commands Saul, to “kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep”(1 Samuel 15:3)
Now after reading this I can only conclude 1 of two things

a. The God of the Old Testament IS different from Jesus, who taught the opposite of this.
b. The sacred writer misinterpreted God’s will.

If the Old Testament is inspired and God is the ultimate author, how can it happen that the inspired writers can get it wrong and lead people to believe something about Him that simply isn’t true?
 
knute,
There is a great thread already underway on this exact topic. Look for 'Hebrews to kill babies" in the title.
 
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knute:
People often are perplexed after reading the Bible, seeing a “mean” God of the Old testament and a “God of love” in the New Testament. Experts answer that there is no contradiction, that God is one and the same. In my fresh reading of the Old Testament, I have come across a few passages that puzzle me:
  1. Joshua warns the Israelites about offending the Lord because he “will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If, after the good he has done for you, you forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, he will do evil to you and destroy you.”
The key here is the “forsake the Lord and serve strange gods” God wanted the Isrealites to be His own people, think of it like a marriage-do you want your spouse to love another? It says many times in the bible that God is a jealous God, He wants you to love HIm and only Him.
  1. As the Israelites prepare for war with an enemy, God commands Saul, to “kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep”(1 Samuel 15:3)
God also told Joshua to do the same thing when they came into the land, but he didn’t. The idea was to remove temptation to worship other gods. Look at what happened to Solomon after he married foreign women, as wise as he was he ended up erecting temples and poles to his wives gods and worshipping as well.

Now after reading this I can only conclude 1 of two things

a. The God of the Old Testament IS different from Jesus, who taught the opposite of this.
b. The sacred writer misinterpreted God’s will.

One God, three persons. We could just say that’s the way God wanted it. I like to think that God was bringing His revelation to man one step at a time. One man, Abraham, one family, one nation, all nations all peoples. The idea of killing innocent women/ children is disturbing to us in these modern times. Life back then was different than today. God is unchanging and He is the Author of life, it is His to give and His to take.

If the Old Testament is inspired and God is the ultimate author, how can it happen that the inspired writers can get it wrong and lead people to believe something about Him that simply isn’t true?
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Knute,

Jesus, Himself, tells us that “before Abraham, I am.” Jesus, as the second person of the Trinity, always was and always will be. He is one in being with the Father. Jesus tells Phillip and the other apostles in John 14:9 “He who has seen me has seen the Father;” Notice that Jesus has identified God the “Father” and has identified Himself as one in being with the Father. We also know from Malachi 3:6 that God does not change because God says, “For I the Lord do not change;”

God as described in the OT is the same as God described in the NT. The key here is in the name, “God the Father.” The Almighty is a Father to us, and Father’s fiercely protect their children, and in some cases dole out very severe punishments. In the OT the Jews were frequently falling into idolatry and would not snap out of it without stern chastisements. The inspired authors of the OT expressed many things in terms of the first cause which is God. Many things happened, however, through secondary causes. The necessity of the expressions that place everything in first cause terms is due to the tendency of the Jews to fall into idolatry. They needed to hear it in the sternest first cause terms that could be given. The lifting of Divine protection and Divine providence from a treacherous people engaging in idolatry is serious business, and it required serious measures in order to turn it around.

Our appreciation for the Jews of the time is probably lacking in many ways. As the chosen people it is proper for them to see the hand of God and His chastisements in the ways described in the OT. While God is merciful and loving, He is also just. Jesus is not a softy. He is one in being with the Father and He is described in bold terms in the Book of Revelation 19:11-16 where it says, “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed which no one knows but himself. He is clad in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, followed him on white horses. From his mouth issues a sharp sword with which to smite the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, King of kings and Lord of lords.”

The God described in the OT is the same God described in the NT.
 
Is it unjust for the Lord to destroy the memory of idolators and wicked people from the face of the earth? Have you read Deuteronomy 11 lately? It’s like Leviticus 26.

Remember also - Matthew 25:31-46
and
James 1:17 - There is no variation with God

As a warning to you, the path you have suggested leads to a heresy called “Marcionism” that originated with a guy named “Marcion” in about 144 A.D. He ended up rejecting all the Old Testament, and all the New Testament books except Luke and ten epistles of Paul (which he removed all “Judiastic” hints from those texts). Of course, the Canon of Scripture not being officially stated yet, his drastic course of action was one of the reasons that the Catholic Church saw such a necessity to decide once for all what books should be considered and used as Holy Scripture.

Yes, it’s sometimes surprising to find God commanding such things as we read about in the Old Testament. It is necessary to remember though, that His plan all along is to show His people that He WILL have His name glorified in all the earth, and if His people continue in sin, then He will punish them, and He will deliver them, so that they will know that He is the Lord.

Stay in the Scriptures and pray that the Lord will bless your time reading His Word.
 
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knute:
If the Old Testament is inspired and God is the ultimate author, how can it happen that the inspired writers can get it wrong and lead people to believe something about Him that simply isn’t true?
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Some things to consider about the Old Testament.

Moses spoke of a Prophet who would tell all. This implies that Moses did not know everything.

Jesus frequently clarified and corrected some commandments from the Old Testament.

(Consider the story of the adulterous woman, or the sermon on the mount in which he clarifies and even refutes several passages from the Old Testament.)

The Old Testament is at best, incomplete, and looking to it for the final answer on any topic would be inappropriate.

The one thing we can count on from the Old Testament is that it points to the coming of Jesus. Through Jesus we can have the final and complete answer on any of our questions.

-Jim
 
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Pax:
Knute,

Jesus, Himself, tells us that “before Abraham, I am.” Jesus, as the second person of the Trinity, always was and always will be. He is one in being with the Father. Jesus tells Phillip and the other apostles in John 14:9 “He who has seen me has seen the Father;” Notice that Jesus has identified God the “Father” and has identified Himself as one in being with the Father. We also know from Malachi 3:6 that God does not change because God says, “For I the Lord do not change;”

God as described in the OT is the same as God described in the NT. The key here is in the name, “God the Father.” The Almighty is a Father to us, and Father’s fiercely protect their children, and in some cases dole out very severe punishments. In the OT the Jews were frequently falling into idolatry and would not snap out of it without stern chastisements. The inspired authors of the OT expressed many things in terms of the first cause which is God. Many things happened, however, through secondary causes. The necessity of the expressions that place everything in first cause terms is due to the tendency of the Jews to fall into idolatry. They needed to hear it in the sternest first cause terms that could be given. The lifting of Divine protection and Divine providence from a treacherous people engaging in idolatry is serious business, and it required serious measures in order to turn it around.

Our appreciation for the Jews of the time is probably lacking in many ways. As the chosen people it is proper for them to see the hand of God and His chastisements in the ways described in the OT. While God is merciful and loving, He is also just. Jesus is not a softy. He is one in being with the Father and He is described in bold terms in the Book of Revelation 19:11-16 where it says, “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed which no one knows but himself. He is clad in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, followed him on white horses. From his mouth issues a sharp sword with which to smite the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, King of kings and Lord of lords.”

The God described in the OT is the same God described in the NT.
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Thanks for making this post, it was very helpful for me! 🙂
 
The Ot is comprised of stories that are not hebrew in origin. Many stories such as Noah and the ark, and the creation were taken directly from summerian religion. The hebrews changed the gods, into the GOD, but the stories are still the same. You can even notice a few slip ups where the text mentions Elohim, which is plural, meaning gods. So after adam eats the fruit, the gods say to one another, man has eaten of the tree of knowledge, might he also eat from the tree of life. Eventhough the slip up says gods ( this occurs at least twice three times I think)only the words were changed the story remained in tact, and when God talks about the tree of life to whom is he speaking? Also in the deluge story (Noah) Originally it was gods who undermined each other, one god wanted to be done with humanity and the other wanted to spare them. Why would such a contradiction occur in the same person that never changes? So the God of the OT is actually a composite from assyrian, summerian, and other near east cultures.
 
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Wormwood:
The Ot is comprised of stories that are not hebrew in origin. Many stories such as Noah and the ark, and the creation were taken directly from summerian religion. The hebrews changed the gods, into the GOD, but the stories are still the same. You can even notice a few slip ups where the text mentions Elohim, which is plural, meaning gods. So after adam eats the fruit, the gods say to one another, man has eaten of the tree of knowledge, might he also eat from the tree of life. Eventhough the slip up says gods ( this occurs at least twice three times I think)only the words were changed the story remained in tact, and when God talks about the tree of life to whom is he speaking? Also in the deluge story (Noah) Originally it was gods who undermined each other, one god wanted to be done with humanity and the other wanted to spare them. Why would such a contradiction occur in the same person that never changes? So the God of the OT is actually a composite from assyrian, summerian, and other near east cultures.
I don’t think so. There may be parallels but you are making a stretch here to suggest that they borrowed the “inspired word of God” from adjoining cultures. You cannot prove that they did this. Moreover, the borrowing may have been in the other direction.
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Reading the Bible is important, and an important thing is to always look at the scriptures the way the Church looks at them. Many have misinterpreted the scriptures to their great loss (Jonestown Massacre, Branch Davidians, and many other cults).

The best way to start with the Bible is this:
Read the Gospel of John at least seven times.
Then read through the Gospels Matthew through John a few times.

Then read the New Testament. And study the New Testament. During your first year of Bible study you should not go into the Old Testament very much because your greater need is to know the New Testament. If you want, read perhaps a Psalm every day and one Chapter of Proverbs every day.

Once you know the New Testament, then start (perhaps with Genesis) and read the Old Testament. But anytime you are reading the Old Testament, you should also be reading at least a Chapter or two each day from the New Testament.

God is God and He never changes. The Bible is consistent.
 
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Wormwood:
The Ot is comprised of stories that are not hebrew in origin. Many stories such as Noah and the ark, and the creation were taken directly from summerian religion. The hebrews changed the gods, into the GOD, but the stories are still the same. You can even notice a few slip ups where the text mentions Elohim, which is plural, meaning gods. So after adam eats the fruit, the gods say to one another, man has eaten of the tree of knowledge, might he also eat from the tree of life. Eventhough the slip up says gods ( this occurs at least twice three times I think)only the words were changed the story remained in tact, and when God talks about the tree of life to whom is he speaking? Also in the deluge story (Noah) Originally it was gods who undermined each other, one god wanted to be done with humanity and the other wanted to spare them. Why would such a contradiction occur in the same person that never changes? So the God of the OT is actually a composite from assyrian, summerian, and other near east cultures.
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I Answer that:

Not to be rude, but that is a very dangerous belief you hold, if indeed you believe that. Why believe that Christwas born of a virgin, that story was around in Pagan cultures long before Christ was born. Why believe that Christ suffered vicarously to redeem His elect from their sins. That was a pagan idea long before the crufixion. Why believe in the Trinity? The Hindu’s believe in a ruling Trinity among their many “gods” and the Babylonians believed in a “trinity” of sorts. It may have been as crazy and man made as Nimrod, his supposed wife Semaramis, and her child Ninus, who was Nimrod reincarnated that she gave birth to in a “virgin” way. Just because Nimrod’s wife was supposedly the “Queen of heaven” that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s sinful to consider the Blessed Virgin Mary the Queen of Heaven!

As the previous post said, the borrowing may have been the other way around. And that’s what I’d assert - YES, the Pagans borrowed from the people of God, corrupted the truth, and made their own religions from it. There’s no doubt about that. Either believe it or do away with your belief in God, because if you say the OT God was just borrowed from pagan deities, then we of all men are most to be pitied (I Cor 15:19)! For the same God that made those “mistakes” in the Garden of Eden could have been mistaken by saying “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” and thus promising a Redeemer for the sin that had just entered the world.

And - Why be Catholic if you don’t believe tradition to believe Tradition to be infallible? Like, maybe all the church Fathers were mistaken about the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. They got it from pagan philosophy, and now we know better, you should know the Lutheran view is correct, or maybe the Baptist view, or maybe the Calvinist view is right. You see, you don’t help matters any by throwing in unorthodox views of Scripture. What Orthodox person ever believed the OT was full of errors about God? No Orthodox person surely, otherwise, they would not be Orthodox, and certainly not Roman Catholic in the purest sense of the term! And certainly not Reformed, and you Catholics must be sure to not fall into error that even the Reformers did not fall into!

Ok, I meant that kindly. No offense meant towards Wormwood, I don’t know him, and he may have only been suggesting that. However, I’m suggesting that the method he presented is the wrong way to view the Old Testament.
 
“The Ot is comprised of stories that are not hebrew in origin. Many stories such as Noah and the ark, and the creation were taken directly from summerian religion. The hebrews changed the gods, into the GOD, but the stories are still the same.”

Should it surprise us that other ancient cultures would perceive and understand and explain an event the entire ancient human race experienced? Should it surprise us that their accounts bore a part of the truth found in the Hebrew account? Why, we could even find some clues in ancient pagan writings which strikingly resemble our Lord Jesus Christ, His Birth and His Mission. The Magi were pagan men, but they search the fulfillment of the messianic prophecies they were studying and discovered the One True God in Bethlehem.

“You can even notice a few slip ups where the text mentions Elohim, which is plural, meaning gods. So after adam eats the fruit, the gods say to one another, man has eaten of the tree of knowledge, might he also eat from the tree of life. Eventhough the slip up says gods ( this occurs at least twice three times I think)only the words were changed the story remained in tact, and when God talks about the tree of life to whom is he speaking? Also in the deluge story (Noah) Originally it was gods who undermined each other, one god wanted to be done with humanity and the other wanted to spare them. Why would such a contradiction occur in the same person that never changes? So the God of the OT is actually a composite from assyrian, summerian, and other near east cultures.”
And here I thought these clued us to the truth of the Blessed Trinity.
 
I have a web page titled Warning! Jesus Does Not Forgive All www.geocities.com/athens/forum/3325/unforgiven.html

Every time that Jesus tells us that He will not forgive someone or that He will throw someone “into then eternal fire prepard for the devil and his angles”, I quote Him. The whole page displays nothing other than 42 New Testament quotes from Jesus, with a couple from the Apostles, on who Jesus will condemn to eternal death in hell.

A woman e-mailed me and said that the scriptures I displayed was not Jesus. To her Jesus was all loving and all forgiving and He would never send anyone to hell. Someone had created a false “jesus” in her heart. She was in total denial of this side of our true Jesus.

Moses did not give us the concepts of eternal damnation and fires of Gehhenna, Jesus did.

Do we agree that Jesus is going to condemn many people to eternal spiritual death in hell similiar to Old Testament God putting people to physical death?

NAB REV 2:22

"I mean to cast her down on a bed of pain; her companions in sin I will plunge into intense suffering unless they repent of their sins with her, and her children I will put to death. Thus shall all the churches come to know that I am the searcher of hearts and minds, and that I will give each of you what your conduct deserves." **NAB MAT 25:30 **

And** throw this useless servant into the darkness outside **, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’ "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. NAB MAT 25:41

Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

NAB LUKE 13:23 'I do not know where (you) are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’ And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out.

NAB JOHN 5:27

“The Father has given over to him power to pass judgment because he is Son of Man; no need for you to be surprised at this, for an hour is coming in which all those in their tombs shall hear his voice and come forth. Those who have done right shall rise to live; the evildoers shall rise to be damned.” **NAB MATTHEW 13:47-50 **

Angels will go out and separate the wicked from the just and **hurl the wicked into the fiery furnace, where they will wail and grind their teeth. **Peace in Christ,

Steven Merten
www.ILOVEYOUGOD.com
 
I
don’t think so. There may be parallels but you are making a stretch here to suggest that they borrowed the “inspired word of God” from adjoining cultures. You cannot prove that they did this. Moreover, the borrowing may have been in the other direction.
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The borrowing wasn’t in the other direction. The summerians and assyrians stories are older, and there are clay tablets to prove it. It wasn’t an adjoining culture, Abraham was a Summerian. That WAS his culture. The only thing that changes are the number of gods and the main character is given a hebrew name.
It may have been as crazy and man made as Nimrod, his supposed wife Semaramis, and her child Ninus, who was Nimrod reincarnated that she gave birth to in a “virgin” way.
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Nimrod was a person. He is attributted as the first king on the kings list (though the name on the kings list is actually mutilated beyond recognition). So this is not comparable. But yes, now you are seeing that parts of your religion did originate in other religions.
 
There is only One God. He revealed Himself gradually to the people whose story is told in the Old Testament (Hebrew Scripture) and its inspired writers told the story of that revelation using several literary genres. God’s revelation of Himself was complete in the Word Made Flesh, Jesus Christ, as described by the inspired writers of the New Testament. The New Testament makes clear all that was hidden in the Old Testament, the Old Testament contains the types and foreshadowing of the New Testametn.
 
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Wormwood:
But yes, now you are seeing that parts of your religion did originate in other religions.
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guys…I wouldn’t argue with wormwood. On one of the threads on the politics forum he was explaining in some detail just how smart he is and telling us how he is a member of mensa and in the top two percent of the “worlds population” [sic] in terms of his intelligence. Ignore his lack of knowledge of middle school grammar, but trust his knowledge of ancient religions.:whacky: Or perhaps he was making a subtle reference to the many worlds theory of cosmology. He’s too smart for me. [or should I say “hes to smurt fur mee”?]
 
Wormwood: The fact that we have found ancient tablets of creation and flood stories of the pagans does not prove that the Biblical account is borrowed from them. The Biblical accounts may be more recent (but just because we haven’t found older copies doesn’t mean they don’t exist!), but that doesn’t mean that the Sacred Writer was not shown what was true from the pagan stories and corrected the corruptions in the pagan versions. Elohim IS NOT a slip-up, and I’m quite certain it is used more than twice in the OT. In Hebrew the plural does not always mean more than one but also conveys a sense of majesty. Take for instances in Job 40 a great land animal is called the Behemoth. This is PLURAL, yet only one creature is spoken of. The plural, here like in the Elohim name, conveys majesty. He is not just a beast, but a great beast, hence the plural “Behemoth”. God is not just a god but THE God, hence the majestic plural “Elohim”.
When God speaks in the plural it could be taken in three ways (or a bit of each):
A) God is using the majestic plural
B) God is speaking to the Heavenly Court
C) God is speaking to the other two members of the Trinity. (OK, so you can respond that the Jews did not have this concept…it’s irrelevent, because all Scripture is God-breathed, the NT tells us, so the Spirit knew of the Trinity and could easily have inspired the Sacred Writer to record such…there are other verses that strongly imply plurality within the Godhead, even though the Jews were not aware of this…if you ask I can show you some).

There are flood stories all over the world…even in the Americas…so did the Aztecs, for example, borrow their stories as well? Isn’t it simplier to accept that there was an actual flood that all these cultures experienced, and the Sacred Writer expressed the story common to all mankind in the exact way the Spirit intended? There are many many examples of flood and creation stories very similar to the Biblical account. Take for instance the legends of the Biami who live in Papua New Guinea (canibals in fact, or were at least). And I quote from answersingenesis.org/home/area/magazines/docs/v7n2_biami.asp:
“At first the world was populated only by men.1 The first man2 in the world heard a small palm tree crying and crying. The man came to the small palm tree and it was put into his mind to begin to make a companion for himself. He took a knife3 and he carved the little palm tree into the shape of a woman.4 He carved all the woman’s organs,5 and then he breathed the breath of life6 into the nostrils that he had carved in the palm tree. The woman became alive.”
Sound familiar? These guys were no where near the Middle East!

And here’s an example from the other side of the world (but the flood this time)…from the Aztecs:
*'When mankind were overwhelmed with the deluge, none were preserved but a man named Coxcox … and a woman called Xochiquetzal, who saved themselves in a little bark, and having afterwards got to land upon a mountain called by them Colhuacan, had there a great many children; … these children were all born dumb, until a dove from a lofty tree imparted to them languages, but differing so much that they could not understand one another.'1 * (From Funk & Wagnalls, Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend as quoted at answersingenesis.org/creation/v23/i1/flood.asp)
 
As I mentioned in another thread - I am perplexed by version of God in the OT.

You know the song “By the rivers of Babylon”, you have probably heard some of the psalm it is based on read out at mass.

Did you ever hear the last line read out?

Fair Babylon, you destroyer,
happy those who pay you back
the evil you have done us!
Happy those who seize your children
and smash them against a rock.

This is just such a monsterous act, I can’t believe that God would sanction such a thing. And yet I am told that the Old Testament is the inerrant word of God. God inspired.

This can not be.

I really don’t understand the God of the OT. Did the Hebrews misunderstand Him? Did their Prophets mis-hear Him? Didn’t he make Himself plainly understood?

How can you be blessed for dashing a babies head against a rock?

How did the Prophets hear the word of God? Literal words? Or did they ask for guidance and whatever popped into their head that took as an answer? Why didn’t God correct them in subsequent “conversations”.

If God literally spoke to them then why wasn’t He more specific? Why was His revelation “gradual”?

The slaughter of “innocents” is a heinous crime by any standards, like the one committed by Herod in Bethelem.

The Prophets of the OT must have mis-understood (somehow), they must have been “out of focus” in some way, why else would we need Jesus, who said “suffer the little children unto me”? If the Prophets were “out of focus” why did God allow that to continue?

When we are told in the OT that “God said…” is there a way were it isn’t necessarily what God actually said.

God is merciful and God is just, He is also love.

I don’t see justice, mercy or love in the act of smashing babies against rocks.

Parts of the OT are a big problem for me.
 
I know that this thread has been at rest for a few days, but allow me to make another contribution for Knute, who started the thread.

I will only suggest that reading Wisdom Ch. 12. Of course, reading Ch. 11-16 would be great, but Chapter 12 of the book of Wisdom should be very helpful in understanding God’s dealings with those whom He decreed to be destroyed from the earth. Truly, after reading it, as after reading any portion of Scripture dealing with God’s mercy and just judgement on sin and sinners, we should only be able to say “Wow! Yes God is merciful, for he is patient with those who turn from him.”

Wisdom 12 - Go for it!!!
 
Another text I just read that I thought may be helpful:

Isaiah 43:8-10
Bring out the people who are blind, even though they have eyes, and the deaf, even though they have ears. All the nations have gathered together in order that the peoples may be assembled. Who among them can declare this, and proclaim to us the former things?
Let them present their witnesses that they may be justified, or let them hear and say, “It is true”
You are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen. In order that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me.
I, even I, am the Lord; And there is no savior besides Me.
It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, and there was no strange god among you; So you are My witnesses," declares the Lord. “And I am God. Even from eternity I am He; And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?”

I’ll not add my comments, I think the Scripture is clear enough.
 
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