“God said to Moses: Come to Pharaoh, for I have made his heart and the heart of his servants stubborn so that I can put these signs of Mine in his midst; and so that you may relate them in the ears of your children and your children’s children that I made a mockery of Egypt and My signs that I placed among them – that you may know that I am God.” (Exodus 10:1-2)
For the people of Israel, God is not only revealed from the pages of scripture. Note that God here doesn’t instruct parents to simply tell their children to read about God in the words of the Bible. The method of communication is more intimate. God directs parents to teach their children what they themselves experienced.
When God sent Moses to redeem Israel, Moses was concerned about what to tell them if they asked for God’s name. A name is not just a designation – it tells us about whom the person is. What should Moses tell the people when they ask for God’s Name? He is instructed to tell them: I will be what I will be! If you want to know Me, God says you’ll see! You’ll meet Me and experience Me on the stage of history. We don’t just read about God in a book.
This is the point of the critical verse in Deuteronomy 4:35: You have been SHOWN in order to know that Hashem, He is the God! There is none beside Him! God didn’t simply tell us about Himself in writing – He provided a living experience to allow us to know who He is.
This is why God emphasizes over and over that we are to teach these matters thoroughly to our children, “Only beware for yourself and greatly beware for your soul, lest you forget the things that your eyes have beheld and lest you remove them from your heart all the days of your life, and make them known to your children and your children’s children…” (Deuteronomy 4:9).
The way that God originally communicated His existence and who He was took place through our national experiences – not by providing us with a text to read.