God’s Journey to Understanding

Throughout Genesis and Exodus, God is a dynamic and evolving character. He changes

from an arrogant and omnipotent being to someone who is more aware of his nature and flaws.

Because of his creation of people, he is able to evaluate humanity and through them evaluate

himself. Although he sees only the flaws in humanity, his perspective keeps changing and he

becomes more humble and compassionate to his creation.

Before the Earth is created, God is all that exists, preventing him from being able to

evaluate himself as there is nothing to compare himself with. Being omnipotent and the creator

of everything in existence, God is unable to see his own flaws and perceives himself as an

impeccable being. For instance, although Joseph is spoiled by God’s power, God remains

oblivious to it. When he is young, Joseph tells his own family that they shall bow before him as

he has been chosen by god: “[he] had another dream: the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were

bowing down to [him]” (Genesis 37:9). Even when he endures hardships in his life, God protects

him and he never has to really struggle: “the LORD was with him; and whatever he did,

the LORD made it prosper” (Genesis 39:23). Although Joseph is arrogant, God does not punish

him as he does not see a flaw in that, being arrogant himself in his own right. God expects people

to worship and bow before him, and because Joseph was chosen by him, it does not bother him

that Joseph receives similar divine treatment. Furthermore, God needlessly inflicts numerous

plagues on the Egyptians, explaining to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart

and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them” (Exodus

10:1). He strips the pharaoh of his freewill to inflict vast suffering on the Egyptians simply so

that they can witness his mighty wrath.

By creating humans, God hopes to achieve a mirror image of himself,...