Moses’ exhortation to the Israelites to be faithful needs to be heard with Moses’ main theme in the background: “Who has a God like ours?” Answer: Nobody! Who has a God who is so close to them? Answer: No one! (Remember how Elijah mocked the prophets of Baal? “Maybe he’s asleep; maybe he’s traveling; maybe he’s in the bathroom!” But the Lord answered Elijah in the moment he asked.) Who has a God who speaks out of fire and snatches one people from another? You guessed it: no one! Furthermore, the God of Israel is the God who created man upon the earth. Who else claims that?
Against that backdrop, Moses calls for faithfulness: don’t get yourself wrapped up in idol worship. Don’t follow gods who are less than the God who called you. Don’t abandon the One who is so absolutely unique for gods who aren’t really gods at all. Perhaps most importantly, don’t abandon the God who has so loved you to place Himself in your midst and to rescue from the hand of the Egyptians.
In New Testament terms, I reminded of 1 John 3:1, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are (NIV)”! The NIV’s translation is a little free, but it captures the heart of it. God hasn’t loved us just a little; He has loved us to the death of His Son. It’s that free and generous gift that produces the kind of faith and love that honors the God who so loved us.
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