What does an Israelite mean when he insists that Yahweh is “good” (2 Chron. 30:18; Ps. 136:1)?68 Theologians tend to think of God’s goodness as the aggregate of his moral qualities.69 Theologians would typically understand God’s goodness as affirming that God could do no evil. In the ancient Near East there would be no outside standard to measure by, so good and evil would not be categories that could easily be applied to the gods. For Yahweh the standard is Yahweh’s own character, therefore making it impossible for him to do evil—good is defined by what he does. In both cases discussion and
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