2.
Gerhard von Rad's statement that Israel had "the opinion that effective knowledge about God is the only thing that puts a man into right relationship with the objects of his perception" is one of the more insightful statements that one could make about the nation of Israel. He links this to the fear of God, but, of course, fear has a slightly different meaning than its common usages. It does not mean to be scared of God, though that element of fear is involved, but to have a healthy respect for God's awesome powers. Israel approached God from a dualistic manner. On the one hand, Israel understood that God was so far beyond humanity that it was impossible for mankind to really understand God. On the other hand, Israel knew that God had made these overtures to establish a relationship with Israel. For whatever reason, God had chosen Israel. Therefore, even if the Israelites had to acknowledge that they could not ever really completely understand God, they had this drive to try to understand Him.
This desire to understand God was not like many modern...
Instead, that idea would have been anathema to the Israelites. The Israelites lived their religion, so that, in many ways, all education was religious education, but their formal and informal educations included as much information about the world as they could learn. Because God created the world, any knowledge of the world helped contribute to the knowledge of God. Likewise, because God created the world, any knowledge of God helped contribute to the knowledge of the world. Therefore, the Israelite approach to knowledge was that real learning was very catalystic, because a discrete packet of knowledge literally had the ability to increase knowledge of everything. Furthermore, real learning was also very circular, because the more knowledge that was acquired, the greater the thirst for knowledge would be. However, there was also a risk that came with that increase of knowledge. For example, King Saul goes mad when he turns away from God; losing the perspective of God, he is no longer able to comprehend the world.
