Exodus29:45

Translation

And I will dwell in the middle

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of the sons of ISRAEL and be their ELOHIM,

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Paraphrase

Then I will dwell in the middle of THOSE WHO NEVER LET GO OF GOD, and I will be THE CREATOR AND RULER OF ALL THINGS and I am committed to being their OWNER AND RULER in a special way as long as they remain committed to following me.

Footnotes

1

“in the middle of,” can mean “among, in the midst of, in the middle of” but it has as its core idea that of “in the very middle, in the center.” To me it is more meaningful to say that God wants to be in the middle of His people than to say God wants to be among His people. “In the middle of” means He is equally accessible to all, and it means we should keep Him at the center of our lives as well. There are choices and actions on His part as well as on our part.

2

What is meant by the phrase “be their God”? It means He will be there for them; He will focus on their needs; He will come through for them and prove Himself reliable. It also means they need to be loyal and obedient to Him. It is a two-way street.

In Hebrew, the phrase “their God” can be expressed in more than one way, and all of them employ a slightly different spelling of that divine name. In the paraphrase I have expressed the idea that God being “their God” is a two-way street; it is a relationship that makes demands on each one in the relationship. It is a promise on God’s part that He will be there for them, but it is also a promise on the part of the people that they will be loyal and obedient to His expressed will.