Moses promised the Jewish people that if they would keep G‑d’s commandments, imitate His goodness, and cleave to the sages of the Torah, G‑d would enable them to successfully drive out the nations that were occupying the Land of Israel.
Imitating G‑d
לָלֶכֶת בְּכָל דְּרָכָיו וגו':
(דברים יא:כב)
[Moses told the Jewish people] to walk in [G‑d’s] ways.
Deuteronomy 11:22
The sages of the Talmud explain that this phrase means that we are intended to imitate G‑d’s goodness. “Just as He is merciful, so should you be merciful; just as He performs acts of loving-kindness, so should you perform acts of loving-kindness.” But inasmuch as G‑d’s goodness is infinite, how can we be expected to imitate Him?
The answer is that it is for this very reason that G‑d created us in His image. As such, we indeed possess G‑d’s infinite potential to do good.1
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