Abstract
D.Litt. et Phil. (Biblical Studies)
The God of the Bible is like an axiom, never proved, yet the
basis of all life and living. Axioms are never proved, but they
are the essential presuppositions on which every other proof
rests. But this does not say that the idea of God in the Bible does not
change. Man's grasp of the character of God developed from age to
age and from centuary to centuary often due to particular
socio-political circumstances. It began with some primitive ideas
about God. God was regarded as a storm god dwelling in a
mountain, whose major activity was war. He was also seen as a
person, physical I y embodied, though superhumanIy powerfulI, who
could conceivably be seen and who, in the earliest strata of the
Scripture walked and talked, wrestled, dined and smelled and who
shared with man a wide gamut of good and bad emotions.
Further, in those earliest times God was a tribal god. He was the
possession of the people of Israel, just as the people of Israel
was his possession. God's power is also thought to be limited to
his territory and to his people. This limitation to the power of
God is to some extent taken away when God becomes the God of
Canaan, for then He became an agricultural god as well. In the
wilderness journeys there had been no possibility of this, but
once the people came to Canaan they got into contact with the
Canaanite Baals who were not only giving victory in battle...