Martin Buber says, “In the Torah, God makes no philosophical statements about himself & speaks no formulas.” The God of Israel – the LORD, Yahweh – is a name and not a notion. The difference between the two is perhaps the difference between Jerusalem & Athens. A notion like ‘god’ applies to all objects of similar properties. That’s where we get the idea of ’the gods’ from.
A proper name, however, applies to a unique individual. A notion describes, a name evokes. The name Yahweh applies to the one and only God of all people. A notion is attained through generalization – a name is learned through interaction. From a Hebrew perspective to know a name is to know the character of the bearer of the name. A notion is conceived, a name is called. Abraham Heschel says, “the notion of a god and The God of Israel – the Lord Yahweh, are profoundly incompatible”. The God of Israel is a comsuming fire (Dt. 4:24)… not an abstraction and definitely not a generalization.
