Martin Buber The Words on the Tablets (Exodus 20)

The most appealing issue for Buber seems to be whether Moses could have regarded the moral commandments as the totality of the basic prescription of religion, how he could compress all the things important for a new religion and excluding other motives which at the time were of importance, and doing these all somehow apart from his characteristic as a man of the oracles, miracles and heroic strategies ("Moses the sorcerer"). Buber is interested in passage which the new religion has done from the Saga to the fundementals of community life under the rule of God. Buber raises an issue of authenticity of Moses's authorship in creating the Decalogue (defenses it) which he would like to consider demonstrating the rule of the prohibition of statues and images of God. God of Israel in his pre-Sinai image is "a god of way", and seems to be one of the gods at that time who accompany the wandering nomads and the caravans through the wilderness. Even the God of Abraham occasionally makes clouds, smoke and fire a symbol of his manifestation but differs from all solar, lunar and stellar divinities, because remains the invisible One. "He is the history God, which He is only when He is not localized in nature - and precisely because He makes use of everything potentially visible in nature, every kind of natural existence, for His manifestation. (...) Moses must have established the principle of the "image-less cult", or more correctly of the image-less presence of the Invisible, who permits Himself to be seen."

Buber distinguishes tree blocks in the structure of the 10 commandments, which we can summarize as the following:
- GOD
1. prohibition of other Gods
2. prohibition of all sensor representations
3. prohibition of idol-worship, image-worship and magic-worship.

- CONNECTION PART that deals with time: observance of Sabbath (the measure of every 7 days), honoring parents (the national time for generations)

- COMMUNITY LIFE
things that have to be protected: life, marriage, property and social honor
proper attitude: prohibition of envy

Source: On the Bible, Eighteen Studies by Martin Buber, Syracuse University Press 2000, pg.93-117

Martin Buber The Election of Israel

There are 2 main key words that came out of the burning thorn-bush. The first one is ammi (my people), God binds himself to this nation before any covenant has been made. Ammi is followed by a second, which is a response to the Mose's objection to his mission at the pharaoh's court (Exodus3,11): Ki ehyeh imakh - "certainly I will be there with thee"(verse12).
Israel is not more called "my people" in any case of sin. After the incident with the golden calf Moses hears from God "your people", then "this people" (Exodus 32:7-10). This is showed more clearly in the prophecy given to Hosea, who was called to have a child with a prostitute and the last child of this relation - symbolically Israel - was named lo ammi - "not my people" (Hosea2:9).

Source: On the Bible, Eighteen Studies by Martin Buber, Syracuse University Press 2000, pg.80-92

Martin Buber The Burning Bush (Exodus 3)

The call for Moses to take off his sandals before he approaches the burning bush might be possibly referred to a fact that the holy land doesn't belong to any earthly possessor. (Cf Ruth4:7)"Now it used to be the custom in Israel that, to make binding a contract of redemption or exchange, one party would take off his sandal and give it to the other. This was the form of attestation in Israel.

God promises a sign which first seems strange: that the people would come to this mountain to give thanks and glory to Him. This is a promise of God's being with His people, "what is now only existent in words will take on real existence".Ehyeh "I shall be".

YHVH - "I am that I am" for Buber has double meaning according to the gods Israel knew in Egypt. "If the first part of the statement says: "I do not need to be conjured for I am always with you", the second adds: "but it is impossible to conjure me". I am with you always present, but you never comprehend me.
The speech YHVH - ehyeh asher ehyeh does not belong to the literature but to the sphere attained by the founders of religion. It goes into heart of personal experience.

Source: On the Bible, Eighteen Studies by Martin Buber, Syracuse University Press 2000, pg.45-62

Martin Buber Abraham The Seer (Genesis 12-25)

1.The time before Abram. Complementing accounts.
There 2 accounts of the creation in Genesis. The first accounts finishes with a double blessing: for the humanity and for a day of Sabbath. The second account gives a complementary end, 2 curses, upon the human beings and the ground. The first generations fail by a men sinning against each other, acting violently and corrupting the earth until to the Deluge (which is a purification of humanity so it can return to the primer likeness to God). This sin is against the unity of humankind. Next generations post-deluge sin against God, in an opposite way trying to find unity in becoming equal to God. The punishment brings that the people are scattered "upon the face of all the earth".
2. Abraham and Noah
Noah (the first person in Scripture to whom epithets are attached) is called "righteous" (zaddik) and "whole" (tamim) with his generations (it indicates a harmony of being) and "he walked with God".The same characteristic describes Abraham: (Gen 15,6) - righteous in the eyes of God and being whole, but he is asked to "walk before me". Abraham is a first pro-claimer of God's dominion. He goes beyond his history, beyond his generation into the promised future of Israel, about what Noah wasn't told.
3. 7 revelations of God to Abraham. Significance of seeing.
-1st revelation. Gen12:1-3 God sends this man out of his house into the land He will "let him see".
-2nd revelation. Gen12:7 God is showing him "this land" and also "lets him see" Himself.
-3rd revelation Gen13:14 Seeing "the entire land".
-4th revelation Gen15:1 A prophetic "sight", everything is kept in the style of prophetic vision, for the first time the promise of an heir is given.
-5th revelation Gen17:1 God allows Himself "to be seen" for the 2nd time, the command to be His herald, changing a name, father of many nations.
-6th revelation Gen18:1 The most intimate image of the God's meeting with man in all biblical narrations.
"Abraham utters the boldest speech of man in all Scripture, more bold than anything said by Job in his dispute with, greater than any, because it is the word of the intercessor who is moved by the purpose of his intercession to lose even the awe of God. He fearlessly risks his own person "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do justice?" (Gen18:15). (...) the correspondence between and the just man, the community of the way, is brought to its strongest expression. Now the path to the status of prophet is accomplished; and now Abraham can be raised by God to the rank of a prophet."
- 7th revelation Gen22:1. Mount Moriah = YHWH will see. Perfection of seeing. God sees Abraham (and tests him, sees him a righteous one, and a whole, a man who walks before Him), and Abraham sees God(recognizes Him in his actions).
For Buber: three things traces the story of Abraham: the origin of the people, the God's plan to make people one community, the beginning of prophecy.

Source: On the Bible, Eighteen Studies by Martin Buber, Syracuse University Press 2000, pg.22-44

Martin Buber The Tree of Knowledge (Genesis 3)

The serpent end Eve play with the God's prohibition by adding the words He didn't use. Serpent asks about the all trees and Eve adds "touch it not, else you must die". Eve also sees the things what can not be seen that the fruits are taste and that having them opens the access to the knowledge.
For Buber : ""Knowledge of good and evil" means nothing else than: cognizance of the opposites(...). We can describe what it meant as: adequate awareness of the opposites inherent in all being within the world."

Source: On the Bible, Eighteen Studies by Martin Buber, Syracuse University Press 2000, pg.14-21