God of the old testament, is he a mystery?
Those who are not of the faith can easily be confused when they read about God of the old testaments; it is because they do not understand God’s purpose for humans and why he shoes Israel to be his own special people, unless with an open mind and clear thought they study the Old Testament the book of knowledge of God., they are complaining asking is God of the Old Testament an avenger God? Asking, how a God who said do not kill, can against his will order his people to kill?
The point is, from the fall of Adam and Eve until the last few seconds before Mary the Virgin gave birth to Jesus in Bethlehem Judea, God was a consuming fire; He judged everyone’s sins and demanded reparation. This was God’s thoughts against man to deal with the evil.
God has suffered all nations to walk in their own ways (Act 14: 16) but he knew only Israel (Amos 3: 2) who was a peculiar treasure unto God (Exodus 19: 5), and the greatest nation ever for the name of God they are been called with. In the wilderness the Hebrews gone in their trip to the promised land, provided with an order from God to murder the inhabitants of this land (Exodus 34: 11, 12), it was God’s decision for the Hebrews to not make a covenant with them, whither they could incline the Hebrew’s heart to worship their goddess. “Do not let them live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.” (Exodus 23:32, 33, Numbers 33:52, Deuteronomy 1:30)
God is not a mystery because his words are clear. Of course He did not reveal himself to any one but to his chosen people (Amos 3: 7).
In the Old Testament some examples of how God punished humans for their evil work, 1) Adam was first man to be punished for his disobedience, and he was cast out of the Paradise. 2) Also God brought flood waters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens (Genesis 6: 17) God said: “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.” “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.” (Genesis 6: 11-13).
The question is, was this action against man and his sins not fair? Does it show God as a mystery?
The Israelite was strangers in Egypt, enslaved and masticated for over 400 years. (Genesis 15: 13) You might think how God would send the Israelite to such a trap like this and then he says He loves his own people. What was God’s purpose? Of course God loves his own people, but “the LORD disciplines those who love and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” (Hebrews 12: 6) so the purpose as we read in (Genesis 15:16) was” For the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure”. Going after idols like the Amorites did (1 Kings 21:26) made God angry and by judging the sin of those who already dwelt in the Promised Land was the way to protecting his people Israel.
God’s judgement was according to the law he gave to Moses, according to the law “Whoever sacrifices to any God other than the Lord must be destroyed.” (Exodus 22: 20)
The stories written in the Bible about the wrath of God are really fearful. But we have to know that we can not argue the Lord. We are not more kind than God to complain, it is not our rights to blame God for what he did. God destroyed the wicked souls because, “The Earth is the Lord’s and every thing in it, the world and all who live in it.” (Psalm 24: 1) It is God’s decision, “For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6: 23)
You may ask, how can I believe, or accept a God who destroys people and carries out such judgements? This contradiction is against his kindness as a God of love as we learn from the Bible, is it? (Exodus 23: 20- 23)
The Bible has all the answers and God continues to speak to us through his sacred scriptures. If we study the sacred scriptures, our faith begins to grow and we begin to see as God sees things. Paul disciple of Christ wrote in his letter to the Romans said: “What then shall we say? Is God unjust? No at all! For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It does not therefore depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth”. Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will? But who are you, o man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, why did you make me like this? Does not the porter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, which he prepared in advance for glory.” (Romans 9: 14- 23)