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1 " Two movements in human life are important: (a) deep reluctance to let loose of a world that has passed away, and (b) capacity to embrace a new world being given. "
― Walter Brueggemann , Psalms and Life of Faith
2 " Following the lead of Moses, Israel seizes upon this revelation as the clue to its future. Israel celebrates that Yahweh is this peculiar God of covenantal relatedness, even as Israel insists that Yahweh must be the God who is self-announced in this way. Israel "prays back" to Yahweh in an imperative, Yahweh's own words of self-announcement. "
3 " Yahweh is not unfettered but is constrained by a hard, relentless commitment made to Israel. The very character of Yahweh, as Yahweh has articulated that identity, gives Moses and Israel a toehold against God and a space from which to speak imperatives that Yahweh must heed. "
4 " The creedal disclosure of Exod. 34:6-7 and the initial "pray-back" of Moses in Numbers 14 form a tap root for Israel's recurring prayer to this You who does wonders of costly solidarity. "
5 " Third, Alan Paton, in bearing witness to his thirteen-year-old son at confirmation time about this You beyond all the yous in Johannesburg, writes:Do not pronounce judgment on the Infinite, nor suppose God to be like a bad Prime Minister,Do not suppose him powerless, or if powerful malignant,Do not address your mind to criticisms of the Creator, do not pretend to know his categories,Do not take his universe in your hand, and point out its defects with condescension,Do not think he is a greater potentate, a manner of President of the United Galaxies,Do not think that because you know so few human beings that he is in a comparable though more favorable position.Do not think it is absurd that he should know every sparrow, or the number of the hairs of your head,Do not compare him with yourself, nor suppose your human love to be an example to shame him.He is not greater than Plato or Lincoln, nor superior to Shakespeare and Beethoven,He is their God, their powers and their gifts proceeded from him,In infinite darkness they poured with their fingers over the first word of the "
6 " So in Psalm 73, when life is inequitable, the speaker is aware of a skewed relationship in which one is less than human:When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was stupid and ignorant; I was like a brute beast toward you. (Ps. 73:21-22; cf. 102:7-8)49 "
