Why is God Angry in the Old Testament? | Hot Topics | Week One
Why does God seem angry in the Old Testament?
31 “When Moses finished saying these things, the ground under the men opened. It was as if the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them…”
Numbers 16:31
Look at the Whole Picture
Don’t Always Read the Bible Literally
1. Read the Bible Literarily
“Tychicus, our dearly loved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me so that you may be informed. I am sending him to you for this very reason, to let you know how we are and to encourage your hearts.”
Ephesians 6:21-22 HCSB
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will: To the faithful saints in Christ Jesus at Ephesus. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Ephesians 1:1-2 HCSB
Psalm 5: For the Choir Director: with the Flutes. A Davidic Psalm.
“Many have undertaken to compile a narrative about the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as the original eyewitnesses and servants of the word handed them down to us. It also seemed good to me, since I have carefully investigated everything from the very first, to write to you in an orderly sequence, most honorable Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things about which you have been instructed.”
Luke 1:1-4 HCSB
Starting in Luke Chapter 12: Parable after Parable
• Parable of the Barren Fig Tree
• Parable of the Mustard Seed
• Parable of the Prodigal Son
• Parable of the Good Samaritan
• Parable of the Lost Sheep
““I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to Me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in Me will ever be thirsty again.”
John 6:35 HCSB
“I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.”
John 10:9 HCSB
“On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, he should come to Me and drink! The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.””
John 7:37-38 HCSB
Read the Bible Literarily
2. Hyperbole - By that I mean, exaggeration or overstatement for effect.
“Then Saul struck down the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is next to Egypt. He captured Agag king of Amalek alive, but he completely destroyed all the rest of the people with the sword.”
1 Samuel 15:7-8 HCSB
“David and his men arrived in Ziklag on the third day. The Amalekites had raided the Negev and attacked and burned down Ziklag. They also had kidnapped the women and everyone in it from the youngest to the oldest. They had killed no one but had carried them off as they went on their way.”
1 Samuel 30:1-2 HCSB
“So the people shouted, and the trumpets sounded. When they heard the blast of the trumpet, the people gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed. The people advanced into the city, each man straight ahead, and they captured the city. They completely destroyed everything in the city with the sword — every man and woman, both young and old, and every ox, sheep, and donkey. Joshua said to the two men who had scouted the land, “Go to the prostitute’s house and bring the woman out of there, and all who are with her, just as you promised her.” So the young men who had scouted went in and brought out Rahab and her father, mother, brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and settled them outside the camp of Israel.”
Joshua 6:20-23 HCSB
3. Actions of Old Testament People Are Not Condoned
“This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife (singular), and they become one flesh.”
Genesis 2:24 HCSB
“He had 700 wives who were princesses and 300 concubines and they turned his heart away from the Lord.”
1 Kings 11:3 HCSB
““Why then,” they asked Him, “did Moses command us to give divorce papers and to send her away? ” [Jesus] told them, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of the hardness of your hearts. But it was not like that from the beginning.”
Matthew 19:7-8 HCSB
4. God Was Often Merciful
For the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn his face from you if you return to him.
2 Chronicles 30:9b
But in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.
Nehemiah 9:31
Let the wicked one abandon his way and the sinful one his thoughts; let him return to the Lord,
so He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will freely forgive.
Isaiah 55:7
“…That’s why I fled toward Tarshish in the first place. I knew that You are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to become angry, rich in faithful love, and One who relents from sending disaster.”
Jonah 4:2 HCSB
“Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself; I am Yahweh.”
Leviticus 19:18 HCSB
5. God Despises Sin
“Indeed, the Lord’s hand is not too short to save, and His ear is not too deaf to hear. But your iniquities have built barriers between you and your God, and your sins have made Him hide His face from you so that He does not listen.”
Isaiah 59:1-2 HCSB
“For You are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil cannot dwell with You.”
Psalms 5:4 HCSB
““And the King will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ Then He will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels!”
Matthew 25:40-41 HCSB
God Is Love
“And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.”
1 John 4:16 HCSB
““Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.””
Matthew 11:28-30 HCSB
““For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16 HCSB
