Although the Bible stresses the importance of believing in one God, it presents that God in different ways. On the one hand, God is portrayed as a heavenly king who befriends particular people, offers advice, and watches over them in times of need. On the other hand, God is portrayed as a mysterious power who towers over human beings and defies comprehension. The former can be found in familiar passages where God establishes a relationship with Moses and the patriarchs; the latter in Exodus 33 and the Book of Job. In one case, God asks for worship and goes into elaborate detail on when and how it is to be conducted. In the other, the only appropriate form of worship is to bow one's head in silence. The first conception culminates in the claim that God is as near to us as our own hearts; the second in the via negativa.

I mention this because people often assume that the conflict between one conception of divinity and another is a confilict between the philosophical understanding of God and the prophetic one. But that is clearly false. The Jobian conception of divinity is as much a part of the prophetic tradition as the God who befriends Abraham. In fact, the Torah (Exodus 20:19) emphasizes that the people are afraid to come too close to God lest they die.