Though I have proposed a solution to the problem of divine violence in the Old Testament, this solution only helps explain a small number of the violent texts in the Bible.

Understanding the rest of the violent texts requires further information about God and the kind of universe He created. It all fits within the frame of Jesus, but we must have the full picture of what is going on so that we can consider each problem passage in the context of the whole.

Chaos Theory

So before we look at any specific passages, I want to briefly present a framework for how to understand what is going on behind many of the violent and destructive passages in Scripture. In this post I will present the basic framework, and in the following couple of posts I will present what I call the “Six Principles of Chaos Theory.” Only then will be well prepared to begin looking at some of the violent texts of Scripture to see how they do not reveal a violent and bloody God, but a God that looks surprisingly like Jesus Christ.

The big picture context is that the world God created is a chaotic place.

We humans desire neat answers and tidy solutions, but like it or not, this is not the type of universe God has provided. While it is popular to point out that in Genesis 1 God took what was formless and void and filled it with beauty and light. He brought order to the chaos. The truth, however, is that there was still quite a bit of emptiness and chaos in God’s good creation. Even before sin entered the scene, the universe was a messy place. This is revealed partly by the very fact that sin could enter God’s good creation.

To say, as some do, that God’s universe is a giant machine in which every cog and wheel moves directly under the control of God means not only that every leaf falls and every butterfly flaps its wings at the direct command of God, but also that Adam and Eve sinned at the direct command of God along with every sin, rape, and murder committed since. Such a view makes God a moral monster, and against such a God the only righteous response is atheism.

God, the World, and Relationships

Thankfully, this is not the God that created the world, nor is it the God portrayed in Scripture, nor especially is it the God revealed in Jesus Christ. The true God, the God who created heaven and earth, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who raised up Kings and Prophets in Israel to carry His message, the God ultimately revealed in Jesus Christ, and carried now by the Spirit through His Church, is a God of infinite love, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, long-suffering, patience, kindness, and grace. This is the God who desires a relationship with each person on earth.

But real relationships require freedom. Not the fake “programmed” freedom, where we are actually robots who think we are free but are actually carrying out pre-planned instructions without wavering from our course.

No, God has given us genuine, creative, interactive, relational freedom. And yes, there are limitations to this freedom. Human freedom is within the bounds of God’s overarching divine plan, and even within our freedom there are certain restrictions so that we are not as “free” as God. I have no desire to get off into the weeds of this philosophical discussion. The point for now is that one of the results of genuine freedom is an increase in potential chaos.

This chaos is what helps explain much of what goes on in violent Old Testament texts.

An Analogy from Jurassic Park

An analogy might be helpful. You probably remember the scene from “Jurassic Park” where the wild-eyed scientist, Dr. Ian Malcom, talks about “chaos theory” and illustrates it by watching drops of water roll off his knuckle. He shows that even though the drop of water lands in the same place each time, it rarely goes in the same direction.

His point was that science cannot accurately predict all possible scenarios of any situation, and that the natural order of the universe depends in many ways upon chaos. In any given situation, there are a nearly infinite number of variables which affect the outcome. Since nobody can completely know all these variables, nobody can ever with absolute certainty know the outcome of any particular event. Though there are large, governing rules of the universe which tend to guide all actions and behaviors (such as the laws of gravity and entropy), the nearly infinite number of other variables can often lead to unforeseen outcomes and unexpected results. In other words, not everything can always be explained.

When Bad Things Happen

The same holds true for when bad things happen in this world. In any given event, there are a nearly infinite number of variables which led up to that particular occurrence. The vast majority of these variables can never be known by anyone except for God. He alone, as the only omniscient Being, knows all the variables and causes of any particular event.

Nevertheless, just as in science there are some overarching governing rules of the universe which tend to be active in all situations and events, so also in trying to understand some of the bad things that happen in life, there seem to be some overarching rules which guide and govern these actions.

I believe that the idea presented in the previous posts (see the list below) is only one of these rules. In other words, it is a governing rule that just as Jesus took the sin of the world upon Himself so that He might bear the sin and shame for all, so also God did this in the Old Testament by taking the blame for the sinful actions and behaviors of the people who lived during that time. This rule helps us understand some of what is going on in the Old Testament texts.

However, this is only one of the governing rules. Just as gravity is not the only law of the universe, so also, there is not just one explanation for why bad things happen in this world.

Though I have said that God takes the blame for the sinful actions of human beings, and even inspires people to write that He told them to do these things when He really did not, this guiding principle does not explain every evil situation that takes place in the Old Testament, or in the rest of history. Just as gravity is not the only rule of the universe, so also, Jesus becoming sin for us is also not the only rule for why bad things happen in this universe.

So in the following few posts, I want to present some of the other governing rules.

In any given situation when a bad thing happens, not only is there a nearly infinite number of small variables swirling around that event, but there are also a number of larger, governing principles which may be active, and which help explain why some of these bad things happen.

And just as it is impossible in the physical world to know with certainty why a drop of water runs down the right hand side of a knuckle instead of the left hand side, so also, we can never know with absolute certainty why some bad things happen in this world.

Nevertheless, if we understand some of the larger variables and governing rules that are at work, we can arrive at something close to an answer for why bad things happen.

How can a God who says "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44) be the same God who instructs His people in the Old Testament to kill their enemies?

These are the sorts of questions we discuss and (try to) answer in my online discipleship group. Members of the group can also take ALL of my online courses (Valued at over $1000) at no charge. Learn more here: Join the RedeemingGod.com Discipleship Group I can't wait to hear what you have to say, and how we can help you better understand God and learn to live like Him in this world!

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This is a summary post from much of what I have been writing over the past two weeks or so about the violence of God in the Old Testament. The reason I am summarizing it is because I want to begin looking at some of the key biblical passages which are affected by my proposal to see how we can read and understand these texts.

I know that most of your questions and objections to this view have not been answered, but hopefully as we look at some the key texts of Scripture, what I am proposing will make more sense.

So here is the summary…

Violence of God in Light of the Love of Jesus

When we read about God telling Israel to go slaughter men and women, the natural, right, and godly response is to read such depictions with revulsion, loathing, and disgust. Neither Jesus nor God ever wanted such things to occur. Jesus never laid a hand on anyone to harm or hurt them, nor did He ever command His disciples to do anything of the sort. To the contrary, Jesus always helped, healed, comforted, restored, fed, loved, and forgave, and He always commanded His disciples to do the same.

In previous posts (see the list below), I have argued that since Jesus fully reveals God to us, we can also be certain that God never actually commanded the Israelites to kill and destroy, or to go to war with their enemies. But when Israel set out to do these things, God took the blame for their actions by inspiring the biblical authors to lay the guilt fully in His hands. The violent things that God commanded the Israelites to do in the Old Testament were not actually His will or His commands. The Israelites set out to do such things because this is how nations and countries behaved at that time (and still sometimes today). When God saw that their heart was set on doing these things, God issued the command for it to happen so that later generations could lay the blame for these bloody deeds directly on God Himself.

Though God is not directly guilty for these actions, He knows that He is indirectly responsible, for He created a world where these sorts of actions are possible. So He takes the blame by commanding human agents to carry out the violent actions which they had already set their hearts and minds to doing.

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Have you ever heard someone say that God cannot be near sin? That sin cannot be in God’s presence? That the reason sinners are separated from God is because God is so holy and since we are sinners, we cannot be in the presence of God?

Sin Cannot be in God’s Presence

Doesn’t this seem strange? How is it possible that sin could have this much power over God? Can one sin really do God in? Doesn’t it seem stranger still that if this were the case, God would allow Satan into His presence (Job 1:6)? And more strange still, if God cannot even be near sin, how then did God come to earth as a human being?

No, I think that we have severely misunderstood what the Bible teaches about sin and the holiness of God.

God is an eternal ocean of grace, mercy, love, and righteousness and knows that no amount of sin can diminish or overcome His holiness. Sin does not taint God, but rather, God soaks up all sin. When, in the person of Jesus Christ, God steps into the evil of the world, it does not overpower Him, but He overcomes it.

Sometimes we get this crooked view of God where He cannot be near sin because sin would somehow taint His holiness. Such a view gives sin way too much power and gives God way too little.

God is not like a pristine white couch upon which no one can sit for fear of it getting soiled. No, sin cannot be in the presence of God because whenever God draws near to sin, the raging inferno of His love and holiness washes all sin away. God can no more be tainted by sin than the ocean could be dyed red with a single drop of food coloring.

This is why God takes all sin upon Himself in Jesus and in the Old Testament.

Sin crushes, enslaves, and destroys humanity, but it vanishes away into nothingness at the smallest touch of God’s blazing holiness.

God Takes Our Sin and Guilt

This helps explain some of what I have been arguing in recent posts, that just as Jesus became sin for us (2 Cor 5:21) and took the curse and our guilt upon Himself (Gal 3:13), God took the guilt and sin of Israel upon Himself as well.

In recent posts, I have argued that God does not try to acquit Himself from guilt for the sin of the world because God knows that in a way, He is guilty.

He knows that the only reason there is sin, wickedness, and evil in the world is because He created a world where such things were possible. He created a world in which genuinely free agents could possibly do horrific things. And when they did fall into horror, though they themselves were responsible for the decisions and choices they made, God does not let Himself off the hook.

We tend to think that God created us with freedom, and then when we used that freedom to disobey God, God blames us for it.

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I have been saying in my posts on the violence of God that God inspired the biblical writers to say that He told them to do the violent things they did, even though He did not. The reason God did this was to take their sin upon Himself. Just as Jesus became sin for us (2 Cor 5:21), so God became sin for Israel. This doesn’t mean God became guilty, nor does it mean that God became a sinner. It simply means that God took their guilt upon Himself just as Jesus did upon the cross. To read more about this line of thought, see the list of posts at the bottom of this article.

One of the possible objections to this view is that it makes God out to be a liar.

Yet we know that God does not lie.

So how can God inspire biblical authors to write that He commanded Israel to do things that He did not actually command them to do? I believe it is because that although God is not guilty for these things, nor did He want them to happen, He nevertheless views Himself as ultimately responsible for what goes on in this world. Why? Because He created a world where such sin and horror was possible.

In a way, God truly is guilty. It is not that He sins or is a sinner, but He made a world where horrible sin and nightmarish tragedy was possible. So when the nightmare began, God took the blame, and through divine responsibility, took it upon Himself to make the nightmare stop. Ultimately, God pled guilty for the sins of the world, and paid the penalty on the cross by dying a sinner’s death. One of my favorite theologians put it this way: Jesus “dies as a criminal, under the curse of the Law—as if to say, ‘Look, I’m as guilty as you are in this situation because I set it up in the first place; let’s just forget about blame and get on with the party;” (Capon, Mystery of Christ, 34). 

And this actually reveals the primary problem with all other theories about the violence of God in the Old Testament.

In previous posts we surveyed various proposals about how to understand the violent portrayals of God in the Old Testament in light of Jesus Christ. All of those proposals were rejected for various reasons, but the main problem with all those views is this: they all try to get God off the hook. They all try to wash God’s hands of evil. They all try to explain why a good God can command such horrible things and still be good.

The problem, of course, is that in Scripture God never tries to get Himself off the hook. To the contrary, if He inspired Scripture to contain the information it does, God seems to go out of His way to put Himself on the hook. God seems intent in Scripture on laying the blame for all the sin and violence of the world directly at His own feet.

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