Heroes in the OT

Strikes me that Scripture takes these Old Testament "heroes" – Abraham, Moses, David, etc – and holds them up, not as moral exemplars, but as people who knew God, walked with him, in spite of their moral failings. And then it suggests all people can know God this way, not just heroes – people like Ruth, Rahab, Esther, etc.

This is not because knowing God is easy or inherent (e.g. everybody knows). On the contrary, Scripture insists the knowing is hard, most miss it. But the knowing is accessible to everyone. All it takes is making yourself small, humble, teachable, seeking... but also responding to what has been given, revealed (in order for more to be given). And that revealing inexorably moves us in the direction of Jesus.

Also, the OT is cautionary – this "knowing" is not like knowing another person (although "knowing" is still the best word for it). Abraham has only a handful of verbal encounters with God... most people in the OT get even fewer.

Knowing God happens (usually!) not through peace, bounty, blessing... but through conflict, famine, hardship, adversity, exile. That's what Hebrews 11 is getting at – the knowing happens through faith.

Much of the OT is actually undermining all these common tropes about knowing God. It says sin is really a big deal (yet sinners can know God!), etc. The OT really is remarkable. If nothing else, it is a testimony to the sheer patience of God...