Reeh. God's Children

A particular phrase caught my eye this week: “Banim Attem La-Shem Eloheichem - You are children of the Lord your God.”(14:1)

Please discuss:

• What might the Torah mean when it talks about the Israelites as God’s children?

Interestingly, this is not the only time in Deuteronomy that Moses uses the metaphor of parent and child is used. Here are the other examples:

1:31 In the wilderness, you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his child, all the way that you traveled until you came to this place.

8:5 As a man disciplines his child, the Lord your God disciplines you

Chapter 32

Children unworthy of Him— That crooked, perverse generation … O dull and witless people; Is not He the Father who created you, fashioned you and made you endure?! (v.3-5)

… You neglected the Rock that begot you, forgot the God who brought you forth. The Lord saw and was vexed, and spurned His sons and His daughters