Brent DeShields
Dr. Harper
Old Testament
6, April 2015
How is God Represented in the Old Testament? In this essay I will discuss how God is represented from early on, to later in the Old Testament. Throughout the Old Testament, God acts many different ways. Each author shows us their own take on God and his actions, leaving him looking both good and bad. Compared to the New Testament, this God seems to be much worse. There are many examples of God being shown in both positive and negative light, but overall I think God is represented as a caring and loving, yet also harsh.
In the Old Testament, God is shown as a positively, other times he is shown negatively. In Deuteronomy, God is portrayed very negatively. In instances of war, he says
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This shows God being insecure about his creations about whether they truly love him or not. Also, it shows how much God is willing to put his creations that he supposedly loves so dearly through so much pain and suffering on a whim. Job goes through extreme suffering with mental and physical pain for God’s bet with Satan. If anything, this shows us that God expects undying love and loyalty even if terrible things happen to you when you have done nothing to warrant God punishing you like so. Another time involving a “bet” and God is in Judges 14:19. God helped Samson kill 30 people to satisfy losing a bet he made with his wife’s people. (Judges 14:19) In Samuel, god commands the death of all the Amalekites. He commanded the death of all of their women, children, men, and even animals. He is again commanding genocide, as revenge for what they did to Israel. Why does he keep asking his followers to kill all these people? It is to protect them. He wishes to protect his followers from the evil ways of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, and so on, or to protect them from the wrath of the Amalekites who end up regaining their numbers, raiding the Negeb and Ziklag, burning Ziklag to the ground and taking everyone. (Samuel 30:1-2) The genocide against the Amalekites could have prevented this. However, that still does not excuse that God has advocated genocide of multiple groups of people. In
God is depicted in the Old Testament with a very bad reputation. David Lamb is an old testament professor and he addresses some of the reasons for this bad reputation. In Lamb’s book, God Behaving Badly: Is the God of the Old Testament Angry, Sexist and Racist? In his book, there are seven specific citations addressed that provide proof and evidence for those who would believe “God behaves badly.” The examples that Professor Lamb chose are: angry or loving, sexist or affirming, racist or hospitable, violent or peaceful, legalistic or gracious, rigid or flexible, and distant or near. With each chapter that Lamb writes, it provides multiple biblical narrative accounts and establishes a basis for the particular argument aimed against God.
God can be a very controversial subject depending on who you are talking to in this day and time; some people believe, some believe in other Gods and then there are other groups who do not believe in anything beyond this life. God has always had to deal with those who do not believe. God has been persecuted since the beginning of time and has proven over and over that is very much who he says he is. This paper will give you a better understanding of who God is, how humanity is affected by their beliefs, who Jesus is and how he is the way to the heavenly father and creator as well as how restoration will impact our lives as well as the beliefs I hold in God and how everything he created relies on the next in some way to survive.
Zechariah: 1-5 the Lord will destroy the enemy of Israel. Those who are opposed to Israel are always opposed to God. Israel is considered the church, so that means God is opposed to those who are opposed to the church. God loves Israel the physical and spiritual Israel. God will always fight for her. When God stretches out His hand and shakes the nations, it is in the utmost wrath. The only time that the worldly people will serve the people of God, is when Jesus reigns as King, and His people as His subordinates. God had saved Israel from out of the fire of captivity in Babylon. Satan tries to remind God of the sins. Jesus paid
We can see the start of this argument in Edwards reference to part of Deuteronomy 32:35 that says “Their foot shall slide in due time.” (Edwards, 430) Edwards draws many implications from the text such as the Israelites “were always exposed to destruction,” and “[they] are liable to fall of themselves,” and “[they] were always exposed to sudden unexpected destruction,” and that the people are still here because “God’s appointed time” for destruction is not here yet. (Edwards 430) This shows God wants to prevent the people's’ destruction until an appointed time in which people will experience their justly earned destruction.
home the point that God does not hate. He is merciful and is willing to work with mankind.
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
In stark contrast to God’s presence in Genesis, the character of God in Job strays from the ideal perfection of the divine. The concept of the ideal manifested in Genesis is embodied in God’s moral, reasonable, and rational behavior. In Job, on the other hand, rather than being reasonable, methodical, and creating life, God displays more human characteristics and plays the role of both creator and destroyer. The book of Job begins with God’s boastful bargain with Satan, which subsequently leads God to allow the total destruction of Job’s family and livelihood. Job is even attacked physically with “loathsome sores… from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head” (Job 2:7). In an uncharacteristically immoral decision, God gives Satan the power do
I agree with Ayn Rand’s theory of Rational Selfishness and with how she depicts altruism – in terms of the false idea of benevolence and the actuality of the true concept of self-sacrifice. Before reading this chapter of Rand’s book, I labelled myself as an altruist, because I was raised under the false interpretation of altruism, I believed it was about giving to those who were in need, even if that meant you had to do without for the time being. My definition of selfishness was society’s misunderstood definition, living and operating only to accomplish and fulfill my desire. In the article, “The Ethics of Benign Selfishness” by Tibor R. Machan he discusses the prominence of altruism and states that one of the reasons why it is so commonly
The names “Old Testament” and “New Testament” are inherently theological in nature. Because there is a difference distinctly built into giving them different notations, it implies that there are differences between each the Old Testament and the New Testament, whether it is subtle in nature or obvious in nature. To Christians, the difference means that the Old Testament contains dealings between God and the world and even some of the rules made are made irrelevant by the interactions of Christ Jesus with the world. One of the differences between the New Testament and the Old Testament is the way each of the Testaments describe God and God’s nature. The Old Testament describes an angry God, one who only created the world and was obsessed with laws and rules. The New Testament describes a loving God who redeemed the world. The different ways the Old Testament and New Testament describe God and his nature are very much influenced by their perspective of God. By the rules, actions, and laws God made, the early writers of the Old Testament made their judgements about God and wrote those perspectives into the books of the Old Testament. The writers of the Old Testament did the best they could with the information they had and got some things about God right, but also got things wrong. The writers of the New Testament and therefore, Christian believers understand God better.
God never condemns Job’s doubt or despair . . . He actually seems to appreciate it.
Throughout these chapters we see many portrayals of God’s character: The destroyer, the ever-judging, a God with expectations, a God that grieves, feels pain, repents, a God that demands justice; a self-evaluating, ruling and omnipotent God whom also passes on saving grace to the deserving.
The Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible is characterized by the misery of a faithful servant of God, and how it relates to this character's ability to praise God. Job is an unwaveringly loyal and righteous subject of God, blessed with immense wealth and a beautiful family. One day God boasts to Satan of the innate goodness of Job, to which Satan questions “does Job fear God for nothing? … you have blessed the work of his hands … but stretch out your hand, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face” (The Bible, Book of Job, 1:6-12). If Job has faced no trials and tribulations, and only experienced the bounty that
Propaganda is everywhere. There are several examples of intense propaganda campaigns from the past, notably from WWII, where the citizens of a nation were led into supporting the current regime, no matter what the situation was. Although a heavy influx of propaganda is created during wartime, it is definitely still present during times of peace. The tactics that these nations used are eerily similar to those that modern businesses use to persuade potential customers into buying their products. Both businesses and propagandists use conniving tactics such as distorting information and exploitation of fear to affect their target audiences. Due to this exploitation of people, modern advertising uses the same psychological manipulation as notable propaganda campaigns from today and the past.
Many argue that the Bible especially the Old Testament is not the inspired word of God because of the command to destroy the Canaanites. Many use this as a basis of their argument that the scriptures are not inspired by God because they wonder how could God, a God of non-violence, mercy and goodness command such a thing. The focus of this paper will be “how is one to respond to this accusation that the Old Testament is not inspired because of commands to destroy people such as the Canaanites? This paper will attempt to answer this question by offering contrary evidence, will argue that when God’s nature is properly understood, the command for destruction of the Canaanites is not against God’s nature and that God had justified reasons in this command. This paper will provide proof of the goodness, mercy and moral nature of God, as well as the accountability that God demands from all people. It will then show the justified reason for such commands not only for the Canaanites but other nations as well. This paper will show that in spite of the commands of destruction from God that Scripture is indeed inspired by God.
Death penalty laws were first established in the Eighteenth Century in Babylon. Death sentences were carried out and very much similar to crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement. In the Tenth Century, hanging became the most popular and usual method of execution in Britain. Centuries later, William the Conqueror prohibited anyone to be hung or executed for any crime if not committed at times of war. Unfortunately, this trend did not last long enough for the Sixteenth Century. New methods of execution established at this time was boiling, burning at the stake, hanging, beheading, and drawing.