Knowledge of G-d Via Moses’ Testimony

Shabbat Shalom, beloved.

Let me ask you, my friends: have you heard of all that G-d did for Moses and for Israel His people — that the L-rd brought Israel out of Egypt?

Jethro heard. Please turn with me to Exodus 18.

And Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that G-d had done for Moses and for Israel His people — that the L-rd had brought Israel out of Egypt.

Exodus 18:1

What did Jethro do when he heard? He left his home and his comfort and went into the wilderness. Moses greeted him and welcomed him. Then Moses testified:

Moses told his father-in-law everything that G-d had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the L-rd delivered them.

Exodus 18:8

Jethro rejoiced. He praised G-d. Then Jethro himself testified — verse 11:

Now I know that YHVH is greater than all the deities.

Exodus 18:11

Jethro heard the report and believed it — at least enough to investigate. Moses’ testimony turned that belief into knowledge.

Belief Is the Starting Point

In modern religion much of the focus is put on belief. The goal is to get someone to believe, and once they believe, send them out to get someone else to believe. But belief is only the starting point.

Abraham believed, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. He packed up his family and moved across the country. But it wasn’t until he reached Canaan that G-d appeared to him (Genesis 12:7). Abraham didn’t stop once he believed — he continued on to obey, and formed a relationship.

Relationship is the difference between belief and knowledge. I can believe that you are a good person. But until I have a relationship with you and learn how you think and act, I can’t know that you are a good person.

My father taught me many things. One of the earliest that is burned into the forefront of my mind is about the knowledge of G-d — from Exodus 20:2.

I was about seven years old and a neighbor gave me a Ten Commandments magnet, about the size of a bookmark. I played with it for a while, then my young mind got a brilliant idea: we’re supposed to put the commandments on our doorposts — we had a mezuzah, but lots of people don’t know what that is — this would be perfect. I ran to find my father hoping he’d be proud of my idea. After I explained it and showed him the magnet, he looked at it thoughtfully and nodded.

"First we need to fix it."

Fix the Ten Commandments? I asked.

"Yes. They left off the most important command."

He took out a black Sharpie and crossed out the #1 next to the first commandment — "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Above it he wrote a new #1, and in brackets: [Know that]. Then he wrote: "I am YHVH your Elohim."

I don’t remember every detail of the lesson that followed — hopefully I have relearned most of it by now. What I do remember is walking away with a deep understanding of how important it is to know G-d. How important relationship is.

That moment never left me. I was a child, but I understood something weighty had just happened. The commandment was not first "do not." It was first know. Know the One speaking. Know the One who delivered you. Know the One who is claiming you as His own.

That changes everything. Because if you do not know Him, then all you have is religion. Rules without relationship. Words without intimacy. A report without encounter.

Being a small, finite being trying to comprehend and be in relationship with an infinite, inconceivable Creator is an amazing thing. It means there is always a deeper knowledge, a more intimate relationship. But it requires effort from us.

And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:13

Shemot — The Book of Identities

If our goal is knowledge of G-d, we begin with the book of Exodus. Its real name is Shemot, which we translate as "Names." But it really means Identities.

A name, in English, is a word or phrase used to identify something. But the Hebrew word Shem carries far more:

A Shem is the entire identity — the appearance, the distinction, the legacy, the reputation, the authority, the inner essence. The Exodus was simply what G-d used to reveal His identity to Israel.

I am Adonai your Elohim, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slaves.

Exodus 20:2

He doesn’t introduce Himself as the Creator of the universe. It is personal. He reveals Himself in relation to what the people had experienced. And He continues to reveal His identity through the covenant at Sinai, through His thirteen attributes of mercy, throughout the whole of Shemot.

And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a G-d: and you shall know that I am the L-rd your G-d, which brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

Exodus 6:7

But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power to you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

Exodus 9:16

Each of these is a piece of His identity, revealed so that we may know Him. Not separate identifiers — they all work together, adding to our understanding of the Creator.

When taken together, it paints a beautiful mosaic of our Beloved. This is how a finite mortal fathoms the inconceivable. This is how you and I relate to an omnipotent, infinite, unimaginable Creator.

The Power of Four

And this is where I think many of us are starving while holding bread in our hands.

We say we want to know G-d. We say we want relationship. We say we want depth. But then the testimony of Moses sits unopened. The prophets sit unopened. The Psalms sit unopened. We wait for someone else to tell us what He is like — when He has already preserved His testimony and placed it in our hands.

I want to share with you some details from a study I recently came across — "The Power of 4," by the Center for Bible Engagement. They examined the relationship between how often people engage Scripture and how it affects their lives. The findings are striking.

If a person engages the Bible four or more times a week, their odds of giving in to these struggles decrease:

Nine out of ten regular church attenders feel they are not growing spiritually at least once a year — spending an average of three to four months a year spiritually stuck. Of all the spiritual practices studied — prayer, fasting, church attendance, small groups, Christian music, mission trips — none predicted spiritual growth the way Bible engagement does.

Jethro heard. Jethro came near. Moses testified. Jethro knew.

That same testimony is still in our hands.

Do not stop at belief. Do not settle for hearing the report from someone else. Open the testimony. Read it. Return to it. Search it with all your heart. If you want a relationship with the Almighty — or if you want to deepen that relationship — begin there. Not once in a while. Not only on Shabbat. Four or more times a week.

Four is dalet. Dalet is a door.

The door is open. But you still have to walk through it.

Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the Torah of the L-rd; and in His Torah does he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper.

Psalm 1:1–3