Did Ancient Hebrew God Have Acted Unjustly?

The bible teaches us many things about God. From Genesis and Exodus we can learnwhat the Judeo-Christian view of God was. Genesis shows us that God made the sun, the moon,the earth and every living thing. During the days of creation God made all things good. On theseventh day of creation God rested and declared all he made to be very good (Genesis 1:31). God created human beings in his own image. We as humans can be certain of our owndignity and self worth because we have been created in the image of God. The book of Genesisshows us that people disobey God by choosing to do wrong. Even great bible heros failed Godand disobeyed him. The bible teaches us that God is forgiving. God has many attributes. God makes no mistakes and this is wisdom. God is infinite, heknows

Many people insist that the Old Testament God is depicted as a merciless God. Notions like this can be attributed to the fact that in the Old Testament God is responsible for ordering genocides, inflicting plagues, and often personally striking people down for a variety of infractions. These infractions range from something as small as touching The Ark of the Covenant to something as large as enslaving a whole nation in the same manner as the Egyptians did. Although there are many instances similar to these where God’s actions are not rational and often cruel, there is also a plethora of occasions where God is merciful and loving. The Old Testament God maintains a dual personality in which he is at times

The Hebrew God was so merciful. In the beginning of the Bible, we learned that the first human was created from dust. God gave him everything he needed to survive and later a companion to

On the other hand, the Hebrew God is the only God in charge of everything. God does not need humans to continue being powerful. In fact, God wants to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me…” (Genesis 18:20). The Hebrew God does not put up with sinful people. He does not need the people of Earth if they do not believe and obey him. However, God can be forgiving. After Moses has a baby with Sarah’s servant because he and Sarah get impatient for a child, God still gets Sarah pregnant with Isaac. (Genesis 17:16; 21:2-3). God is also merciful toward Lot and his family

On the other hand, the Hebrew God is the only God in charge of everything. God has a son named Jesus, who came down to Earth to save the people on it. Jesus gives people more chances and forgives them. God does not need humans to continue being powerful. In fact, God wants to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me…” (Genesis 18:20). The Hebrew God does not put up with sinful people. He does not need a bunch of individuals on Earth if they do not believe and obey him. Unlike the judges in court with Socrates, Jesus is merciful. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees bring a woman who committed adultery to Jesus. They ask him if they should stone her to death since Moses commands it in his Law for women like her. Jesus says that if they are without sin, they may throw a stone at her. As a result, they all leave her alone with Jesus, and he tells her that he does not condemn her, and now she should go and leave her life of sin (John

In fact, the first story in Genesis shows how destructive God can be to those who do not obey His commands which raises questions about morality to the reader. Depending on the reader 's interpretation, the story influences their moral compass. Several interpretations could be: “It is morally wrong to disobey God and to disobey God means we will face dire consequences” or “It is morally wrong to disobey God, but was it unjust for God to punish those who are ignorant of what is

The men conclude, Job must have committed an act(s) worthy of punishment. Zophar the Naamathite, implies Job is deserving of a punishment greater than what he has received, (11:1-12). Once God spoke to Job, he asked that Job pray for his friends (p.217), Job obliged. Rather than condemn his friends, as they did to him, Job prayed for them, hinting that he cares about them, as well as validating his selflessness. Even though Job lost everything, including his home, family, and health, he continues to love and worship God.

God is seen interacting with the humans in various points throughout the Old Testament after he creates them, whether it’s through showing himself to them, speaking to them, or in a vision. He does this to communicate what he wants from the Israelites, as well as to help them in times of need, though often enough he will be the one that punishes them for making mistakes and going against the rules in the Torah. God is seen doing both kind actions as well as cruel actions towards the Israelites and the people around them, though it often seems he is doing more cruel then kind acts. This can be seen throughout the Old Testament such as in Exodus, Genesis, Amos, and Isaiah. The character of God in the Old Testament is angry and often uncaring.

In the Hebrew Bible, God plays many roles and has many personalities. God is a judge, lawgiver, liberator, creator, father, king, and shepherd. Oftentimes, God’s attributes seem contradictory. God is said to be, “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (Exodus 34:6), but God is also a vengeful warrior. According to this week readings, Judaism begins and ends with a story. Moreover, “the

: The book of Job is known as an anonymously written book, meaning that no one is sure of the author. Some say it could be Job, Elihu, or a person involved in Jobs life, and it is said that this person is certainly an Israelite. There are many different ideas of when Job was written, but the roundabout date that has been estimated by occurrences in the scripture, it is believed to have been written around 1700 – 2100 B.C.. The main characters listed in Job are Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, Dinah, and Sitidos. This book is one of the few wisdom and poetic books and is narrative, it tells the story of Job and how strong his faith is despite the trials and tribulations he deals with in his life. It shows that without even the slightest answer to why from God, he continues to trust him. The purpose of Job is showing the power of faith, God testing Jobs’ faith and Job complying. The theme is showing that even a very righteous and blessed man

If the writer of Job was Moses the book could have been written in the 10th century BC. If Solomon wrote the book of Job, then it could have been written in the 11th century BC. Nonetheless, whenever Job was written it is clear that the people surrounding Job took his situation very seriously. During the time of Job people took the number of livestock, number of children and physical health as an indication of one’s relationship with God. People figured the more someone had and the better their life was that God was pleased with them and the work they are doing. However, if someone was sick and could not have children many took this as a sign that God was upset with the way that person was living and should repent. Job’s companion Bildad even says, “Does God pervert Justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right?” (O’Day 694). During this moment Bildad is asking Job does he really believe that God is not just, and looks upon the innocent with favor, and looks down on evil. Before Job’s story during this time there was really no documentation for God testing someone in such a way, so to many this is a first. No one during this time would ever question God’s reason for taking things from someone, because it was usually for a just reason. However, during this time period after Job’s story, many people including Job himself may have seen God as “devious, fashioning mortals with an ulterior motive to discover their weaknesses and harass them until they die.” (Habel 61). Meaning that this would have scared many people about God and what he wanted from them. Many people during this time lived good lives in order to stay in God’s favor, so a story like this would bring many questions for them. They would want to know whether they safe from God’s random wrath? Would they be next? If God could do this to a righteous person does it make sense to be

The Book of Job is one of many books in the Bible whose story is independent of the central plotline seen throughout the Bible. However, the Book of Job contains an importance and purpose for being placed in this religious text. While the Book of Job does not contribute to the central plotline of the Bible, it gives an important insight of the Hebrew God whose character and powers are often questioned by mankind. In addition, it deals with the problem of when justly people, in this case, Job, suffers unjustly and examines the response of the sufferer. The Book of Job is an interesting tale that explores the idea of just characters suffering unjustly and the character of the Hebrew God that many still follow today.

Job and his friends were not aware that his (Job) suffering was inflicted by the devil who sought permission from the Lord to test the faithfulness of Job towards God. After Job suffered the loss of all his children and possession as well as well as being afflicted with sores all over his body, his friends Zophar, Bildad and Eliphaz sought to find meaning as to why all this occurrences. They tried to explain that it was because of sin that God punished man; this being a key argument of the law as written in Deuteronomy 28, wisdom literature in Psalms 37; 92; Proverbs 10:27-30 and Old Testament prophecies and that this could have been the case with Job. On the other hand, Job who had a strong belief on the justice of God accused God of injustice in the sense that He (God) was not adhering to his own rule considering Job believed that he has been faithful to God and has been careful to avoid any kind of evil.

Yaweh strikes Job with a “test” and murders his sons, daughters, and animals to see if Job will still love him. Perhaps God didn’t have faith in Job instead of visa versa. Yaweh causes Job to be miserable and want to kill

During biblical times crime not only affected society, but it was believed to have also been directed towards God himself. The Bible is the oldest book to reference with many directives to living life peacefully and without revenge. As retribution is considered a form of punishment, if not the first, the Bible itself explains that the punishment should not exceed the crime. Matthew 5:38 states, “You have heard that it has been said, eye for eye and tooth for tooth”. This passage is meant as a way to explain that the punishment should fit the crime. As a member of society, the offender was punished equally as brutal as the crime