The Jews would have agreed with the Athenians that the worship of the gods was silly and useless (e.g., 1 Kgs. 18:27; Ps. 115:4–8), but for the Jews the nearness of God was as real as the nearness of the general Demetrius Poliorcetes was for the Athenians. Although the God of the Jews was the king of the universe, he also was near enough to hearken to the prayers of humanity.
