ספר דברים

Another way of looking at this unusual utterance by Moses, ‎in which, at least superficially, he appears to describe reverence ‎for G’d as an attribute that is easily cultivated by man. We read in ‎Deuteronomy 33,26 where Moses describes some of the ‎phenomenal capacities of the Creator in the words: ‎רוכב שמים ‏בעזרך‎, “He rides the heavens in support of you (His people).” ‎Although G’d’s abilities are unlimited, ‎אין סוף‎, He has nonetheless ‎imposed restrictions upon Himself out of His love for the Jewish ‎people, so much so that when applying His many attributes in ‎practice, He first compares the way in which His people, Israel, ‎practice these same attributes down here on earth. When G’d ‎observes the Jewish people excelling in the practice of loving ‎kindness for their fellow Jews, He in turn, will also practice this ‎attribute in a very generous measure. The same is true of other ‎attributes such as displaying unforgiving hostility towards those ‎who blaspheme and belittle G’d, or worse. He will deal with such ‎people harshly, having taken His cue from the way His people ‎behave toward them. This was implied when we mentioned earlier ‎in connection with G’d being described both as Hashem and ‎as elokim in the same verse, (Deut. 6,4) (compare page 732) that whereas ‎the name ‎Hashem is a “comprehensive” name ‎including all of G’d’s manifold attributes, the name ‎‎“elokim” is used when referring to a specific attribute of ‎His being prominent at that time. When Moses, in our verse here, ‎stresses the name of G’d as His attribute of ‎אלוקיך‎, “your G’d,” this ‎suggests that He applies His attributes according to the way His ‎people practice this attribute on earth in their dealings with ‎others. ‎