Abstract
Ulike medieval Jewish philosophical texts, the Bible contains no systematic depiction of the nature of God. The closest we get is Exodus 34:7-8, “The LORD! the LORD! a God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness, extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; yet He does not remit all punishment, but visits the iniquity of parents upon children and children’s children, upon the third and fourth generations.” Biblical poetry, most specifically psalms, including the laments found in Lamentations, offer much more nuanced and complex pictures of God. These prayers are highly subjective, and just as nowadays no two individuals imagine the God to whom the pray in an identical fashion, the same was true in ancient Israel.