Communication with God in the Old Testament

OBJECTIVE

Understanding God's means of communication to mankind throughout the Old Testament

INTRODUCTION

In God's pursuit to a relationship with mankind and out of His abundant love, God communicates with His creation through a variety of ways. Throughout God's relationship with Israel, God communicated through a variety of ways.

HOLY SCRIPTURE

"God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son..." (Hebrews 1:1-2)

CONTENT (KEY POINTS)

Visions

These are just a sample of 52 instances of visions in the Bible.

Abraham

"After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, 'Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward'" (Genesis 15:1)

Daniel

"And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision; but a great terror fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves." (Daniel 10:7)

Samuel

"According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David." (2 Samuel 7:17)

Isaiah

"The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah." (Isaiah 1:1)

Ezekiel

"Now it came about in the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was by the river Chebar among the exiles, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God." (Ezekiel 1:1)

Dreams

The Old Testament contains many dreams, some of which are symbolic and more obscure in nature. The examples below are examples of those that were more direct and clear.

• God gave Abimelech a dream warning him not to sin with Sarah (Genesis 20)
• Jacob's Ladder (Genesis 28:12)
• Jacob's Call to go back home (Genesis 31:10-13)
• Laban's Warning (Genesis 31:24)
• Joseph's Prophetic Dreams (Genesis 37:1-10)
• Pharaoh's Dream about the Famine (Genesis 41)
• Solomon's Dream of God ( 1 Kings 3:5-15)
• Nebuchadnezzar's Dream of the Statue (Daniel 2)
• His Dream of the Tree (Daniel 4)
• Daniel's Apocalyptic Dream (Daniel 7)

Angels

While there are many instances of angels in the Old Testament, these are some examples in which they had a message from God to deliver.

• An angel appears to Hagar in the desert (Genesis 21:17)
• Angels visit Abraham on their way to Sodom (Genesis 18:2)
• Jacob is met by angels on his travels (Genesis 32:1)
• An angel warns Balaam of his disobedience (Numbers 22:30)
• Israel is rebuked for their idolatry (Judges 2:1-4)
• Elijah is consoled by an angel (1 Kings 19:5-7)

The Prophets

While it would be redundant to go through and name all the prophets, this was a prevalent way in which God spoke in the Old Testament. He continues to speak to us today through His servants and clergy.

Nature, the Elements, Animals, and Objects

• God speaks to Moses through the burning bush
• He uses the ten plagues to warn and punish Pharaoh
• He uses fire, smoke and lightning to warn the children of Israel against touching the mountain
• He brings water from a rock to show them His strength and glory and prophecy of His coming
• He leads the Israelites and speaks to them in the pillars of cloud and fire
• He uses the dew on the fleece as a sign for Gideon He speaks to Balaam through his donkey
• He answers David and guides him through Abiazar's ephod

Circumstances

• Joseph

"But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive." (Genesis 50:20)

• Jonah

"Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." (Jonah 1:17)

• Moses

"Look, I'm going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they will gather food, and when they prepare it, there will be twice as much as usual." (Exodus 16:4)

An Audible Voice

• Adam

"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17)

• Cain

"So the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?" (Genesis 4:6)

• Noah

"So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth." (Genesis 6:12-13)

• Moses

"So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses" And he said, "Here I am." Then He said, "Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground." (Exodus 3:4-5)

• Samuel

"Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, "Samuel Samuel" And Samuel answered, "Speak, for Your servant hears." (1 Samuel 3:10)

• David

"Therefore David inquired of the Lord, saying, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines?" And the Lord said to David, "Go and attack the Philistines, and save Keilah." (1 Samuel 23:2)

(There are many more instances throughout Scripture where this occurs)

Face to Face

• Abraham

"When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless." (Genesis 17:1)

• Moses

"So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend." (Exodus 33:11)

• Jacob

"So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: "For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." (Genesis 32:30)

• Gideon

"Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord. So Gideon said, "Alas, O Lord God For I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face." (Judges 6:22)

• Ezekiel

"And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face." (Ezekiel 20:35)

Scripture and the Law

God reveals Himself through scripture and speaks to us both about who He is and who we should be. Scripture helps us both form ourselves as the image of God and helps us in our circumstances both on a macro level and micro level.

DISCUSSION & LIFE APPLICATION

Today, some of these means may still be found; however, as the relationship grew in intimacy with God, God communicates in a more intimate way.

As detailed in the verse at the beginning of the lesson, although God spoke in all these ways throughout the Old Testament (some more mystical than others), this was before He came to us as the Incarnate Word of God, which is why St.Paul says in the above mentioned verse that God now speaks to us through Christ who Himself IS the Word that is spoken to us both in His very Essence and in His Word which He gave us in the Scriptures.

That being said, in the New Testament He more often speaks to us through His Word and His voice in our hearts through the Holy Spirit as well as through our circumstances and the church with all it's treasures, whether through her rich teachings and traditions, her sacraments, or our father of confession and spiritual guides.

Though God does still speak to us today through these other means such as visions, dreams, angels, etc., the Church and Church Fathers teach us that we have to be extremely careful with these as "Satan masquerades (pretends to be) as an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14) and so not all visions, dreams or even voices that we experience are all heavenly and Divine. If we happen to experience any of these things, there are certain tell-tale signs that can help us discern whether they are from God or a trick from Satan, including first and foremost, going to our spiritual father, and experienced clergy to help us tell their source and guide us.