Israel as son of God in Torah

The scene of Moses aloft Mount Sinai (Exodus 20) is one that, for some readers, might represent the very essence of religion--the encounter with the sacred. Moses here is depicted as receiving from God specific regulations that will guide his people during their whole life. It is a solemn occasion, and solemn words are used for this definitive statement of what God expects. The standard translations of the Ten Commandments usually maintain the archaic English distinctive forms of the singular. "Thou shalt ... Thou shalt not ..." Sometimes commentators point out the use of the singular here, and they propose that the singular is used to show that the individual is the one who should fulfill the commandments. Each member of Israel, in this view, is addressed personally. In the Bible as a whole, however, Israel sins both in its members as individuals, and in the personification of the group as a whole. In the prophetic books, the judgments against "Israel," plain and simple, are telling. Two examples are these: Hosea 5:3, "Israel is defiled" [nitma', masculine; not nitme'ah, feminine]; and Hosea 8:14, "Israel has forgotten his maker." In this Exodus narrative, given the preceding personifications, the singular here too should be taken indeed as a personification. Israel, the young lad, is given the major rules by which he is to live and find the fullness of life.

These ten commandments are striking because they are given exclusively in the masculine singular. One finds the singular even in the one commandment that promises a reward "that thou may prolong thy days in the land that the LORD thy God gave thee" (20:12, KJV). The land is hardly promised to one member of Israel in the Bible; it is given to Israel, the personification of the people.

In what is traditionally called "The Covenant Code," Exodus 20:22-23:33, there is variety in forms. The code begins with the law about worship in the plural "Ye shall not make with me gods ..." (20:23). It continues with law about altars for three much longer verses in the singular. "An altar of the earth thou shalt make ..." (20:24). And the next chapter begins in the singular. There follow fifty-four verses before another second person plural occurs again. In summary, there are far more direct commands in the masculine singular than in the masculine plural. Regulations are often given in the impersonal third person, "If a man ..." (e.g., 21:7, 20, 26). But when the second person is used, the number is overwhelmingly singular. E.g., "If thou buy a Hebrew servant ... (21:1). This standard usage is broken only for four commands: "Ye shall not afflict any widow (22:22) ... Ye shall be holy men unto me (22:31)... neither shall ye eat flesh torn ... ye shall cast it ..." (22:31). And the plural occurs three times in reasons for certain stipulations: viz., "Ye know the heart of a stranger" (23:9) and "Ye were strangers" twice (22:21; 23:9). Even with these seven exceptions (which may be evidence of later editing), the Covenant Code clearly knows a masculine personified Israel.