The God of the Old Testament: was God angry, genocidal, patriarchal and masculine? – Or are Justice and Truth Foundations for Love?
The Genocide of Canaanite Peoples
In 1300BC Israel did Western countries a favour by ridding the Middle East of child sacrifice, temple prostitution and the worship of demons. As Greek and Hebrew values have influenced the West more than any other, this revolution of reason over superstition and the elevation of atonement and faith over the buying of favours from the gods spread through the civilised world. The cleansing of the lands of Canaan by Israel was partly symbolic because of the need to clear out any values from the soul that stem from doctrines of demons, and the need to hate the skewed values of the world. Had Israel’s armies kept the children alive they would have lived with the trauma, and they were likely possessed by evil spirits because of their parents’ evil. The peoples of this region, like those in Jericho and Ammon were carrying Nephilim/Anakim DNA, which is why there were 12 foot tall giants among them. God has the moral right to judge his creation, and Israel was not acting on its own volition, it was carrying out God’s specific instructions. This does not invalidate God’s earlier laws to not murder and to reject child sacrifice.
Yahweh spared the Ninevites from destruction because of their dramatic repentance, but we might conclude that YahWeh knew that the Canaanites would not respond in humility and repentance, even if a prophet like Jonah were to show up, having emerged from a fish (probably resurrected), to give them a message from the most high God. We get a better view of God’s heart for people in general in the story of Jonah, particularly in the last verse “But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?” We therefore need a concept of God that incorporates absolute justice and absolute grace. “Behold the goodness and severity of God.” (Rom 11:22)
Masculine and Feminine Imagery and Moral Foundations
Of course God is neither masculine nor feminine, but as masculine and feminine come from him, he can use them to express aspects of his character. (As a disclaimer I am not setting forth a doctrine on this as I don’t think the Bible specifically tells us this, but I do think this is a helpful way to understand the subject.) God perhaps demonstrates gender principles though his dealings with his people. One way to understand why God’s character in the Old testament appears to be different than the New is to view moral development as a process; firstly laying the foundations of justice, truth, sanctity and courage, and later, the more advanced layer of redemption of mercy, nurture and inspiration. Of course God has always been primarily merciful and gracious, (as he told Moses) but love must lay down boundaries and establish safe foundations and principles. These can take a long time to develop in society. His masculine side inspires, encourages, leads, challenges, judges and requests loyalty. It establishes order and distinction. His feminine side provides restoration, acceptance, comfort and creativity. (Isaiah 61). This metaphor can also relate to Right wing and Left wing politics, the right being masculine.
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s model of six intuitive moral foundations can provide some clarity as it shows this divide is innate and created by God. The political right perspective prioritises: honour, loyalty, sanctity. Left wing priorities are: compassion, fairness and liberty. I also divide it into masculine and feminine. We can see that God was demonstrating the masculine principle in the Old testament of Authority, loyalty and sanctity/disgust. The one seeks to establish distinction and lead by rationality, the other seeks to nurture acceptance and unity, and leads with feeling. Realistically we cannot bring up children with only acceptance and serenity, we must first establish and orient order and self discipline before we can enjoy the fruit of it. The Old testament needs to come first. We cannot have mercy without justice, and we cannot only have the carrot, we need the stick to motivate.
It was never only about keeping laws even in the Old testament, it was to build a model of how a nation state should operate and the use of physical symbolism to inspire sanctity and loyalty. God gave them instruction and moral principles, which they could never live up to entirely, but which helped them relate to himself by pointing them in the right direction. It shows us that our collective moral foundations need to be built on justice and truth before individuals can properly be able to express grace and acceptance. Laws tell us what not to do, but grace tells us to do as much good as we can, with God’s attitudes and with his ability. When we have grace and truth in our heart we no-longer depend on the law.
Is God A Masculine Figure?
People who think it fairer for women to call God mother are playing to the fashionable crowd. Why is God a masculine figure? Firstly we follow Jesus’ example, he regarded God as his father, and asked us to do so. But also because God is using natural fatherhood as a symbol of his authority, strength and dependability. God’s intention for masculinity was distorted at the fall, and Christ demonstrates perfect masculinity; he keeps his power under control and uses his resources to serve a higher purpose without self-defence or pride. When we initially relate to God we must submit to God in humility and trust him to save us, and then later we encounter his more motherly qualities of abundant grace, patient intimacy and guidance. Once we come to God on the basis of faith in his character, and with humility in our heart, then all of the more fluid and gracious elements of God can also be received. Father first then mother, but all spiritual beings seem to be primarily masculine and secondarily feminine. (Angels all appear as masculine) Even after experiencing God’s intimacy on a daily basis, we must still primarily relate to God as a father, with reverence and submission, considering how strong, trustworthy and gracious he is. Not that mothers cannot be responsible and strong leaders, but rather that they are generally inclined towards creativity, nurture, extroversion, agreeableness and empathy. In contrast a man who is irresponsible and cannot control himself or demonstrate courage is not naturally considered a full man, let alone a good man. This sense of masculinity is not only based on our physical size of men and their higher levels of testosterone, but also on their desperate need to find purpose and to achieve status. Men have an innate need to conquer and to defeat an enemy, it is better that their enemy is fear, lies and selfishness than other men. Even androgynous men will still generally possess a systematising brain and the need to prove themselves.
God is primarily merciful, gracious and long-suffering, as he told Moses. But to be able to create a safe space for these to operate without abuse God first needs to lay down justice, criteria for judgement, and to encourage sanctification and self-discipline. The masculine lays the foundation but the feminine is the purpose of life. Even though God often draws people to himself initially through love, when we relate to God we need to submit in humility and trust him to save us from what we deserve and from what we are as rebellious souls. God’s more motherly qualities of abundant grace, patient intimacy and guidance do not remove those basic foundations of the need for reverence and submission. Even after experiencing God’s intimacy on a daily basis, we must still primarily relate to God as a father.
Is Complementariaism Patriarchal?
Does God value women? The ‘complementarian’ view is that men and women are different in their roles due to their innate natural and spiritual differences, but equal in worth due to both sexes having been made in God’s image and equally able to serve him. It may help us to understand this issue if we realise that mental gender is more flexible than biological sex, and if we educate women to be like men from birth, and vice versa, then there will be little difference between the sexes in their interests, although their temperaments retain some of their biological bias. So women can lead and men can become carers without too much difficulty, but that does not mean most men want to become carers, or that most women want to lead. The patriarchy is the result of natural differences having been systematised into culture, and often men have abused their roles. But that does not negate the reality that patriarchy was equally favoured by both men and women for thousands of years as it allowed women to pour unconditional love into their children with grater security, and men to find purpose by providing for their family. Even though in Israel men were expected to use authority, israel’s women had more freedom and respect than those in neighboring Persia or Rome. The image is a virtuous women in Proverbs 31 is not one of a down trodden women or of over bearing husbands; she is praised for buying property to grow food to sell in the market. The early church was mocked by the Romans for its lowliness, being populated by women and slaves.
When God made Adam and Eve he made them in his image–male and female–this suggests that god may have a masculine and feminine aspect to his character as both come from him. Adam needed to come first to lay foundations, but part of his mission is to protect her beauty, imagination and purpose by directing her heart using reason and hard work. She was created last as the pinnacle of creation; masculinity may be foundational, but the feminine is the purpose and glory of life. Yet the bible does not tell us that we ought to rigidly conform to gender stereotypes, even though it does warn against blurring the boundaries between the biological sexes. This is because the body was designed with a rigid purpose, but gender can be more flexible as it concerns the motivations, interest and temperaments of the mind. It is not that mothers cannot be responsible and strong leaders, but rather that they are generally inclined towards creativity, nurture, extroversion, agreeableness and empathy. In contrast a man who is irresponsible and cannot control himself or demonstrate courage is not naturally considered a full man, let alone a good man. Men have an innate need to conquer and to defeat an enemy–although it is better that their enemy is fear, lies and selfishness than other men. Even androgynous men will still generally possess a systematising brain and the need to prove themselves. When Paul advises men to take on responsibility for leadership in the church it is partly an acknowledgment that women are generally more tender and agreeable than men, but also an acknowledgment that men need to be responsible and discerning in order to fulfill their role and to feel healthy.
However we have seen over the years that God has called women into various forms of leadership and has used them effectively, and increasingly today as men and women have greater freedom in their activities. However as the role of elder and deacon was specifically assigned to men it seems wise to restrict that office for men, even if we do not understand Paul’s reasons.
Does God Approve of Slavery?
Neither polygyny not slavery are inherently sinful because they come from our animal nature. At one time half of the population of Rome was made up of slaves. In a basic society they have their utility, but they are not what we should pursue, they are not our destiny. However personal cruelty and greed are always wrong, without exception; the heart is meant to be free from these. Because polygyny and slavery often lead to cruelty and greed they should be replaced with monogamy and equal opportunities when society is ready.
The Slavery built into Israel as a nation was meant to be gentle and as respectful as possible. It reinforced the idea that those who are wise and are organised deserve to rule over those who are not. Which is why in Proverbs 30 the writer warns about “a slave when he becomes king… and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.” We see that hierarchy is something that God created especially for males, and employs it in order to increase performance and health for the family in-group. There is even hierarchy within the Godhead; the Father being the authority and source and the Son and spirit being agents. On the one hand God cares very much for the less fortunate but on the other wants to honour those who do good, and one kind of honour is to have authority over people, and privilege. It could be said that slavery was the old answer to the welfare system and the prison system, as if the poor and the destitute were not slaves they would have lived on their own or starved. (They would have gleaned from fields but that is not a great source of food.) A slave would have a roof over their head and enough food. They had a community to live in and a purpose.
If an Israelite had a Jewish slave they were to be set free after 7 years and they also treated them justly. People became slaves because they owed money they could not pay, as we can see through Jesus’ parables, or if they were criminals or as the spoils of war. See more info here http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/slavery-in-judaism
Yet in a more advanced society everyone is given the opportunity to learn self-discipline, courage and humility, without the need to be controlled by those around them. In this development the individual is given freedom because they are expected to improve their lives through virtue and through education, leading to good motivation and good ideas. This kind of political individualism is a Western phenomenon that emerged out of the foundations laid by the reformation, and enabled by the protestant development of the printing press.
We might say that some of the laws in the Old Testament were to make the best of a bad situation, but do not reflect God’s heart, such as laws regarding rape. Yet even though the laws on rape seem leaneint we can tell it was abhorrent to the Israelite’s because of what Tamar says to her half brother Amnon when her tried to seduce her, “No, my brother!” she cried. “Don’t be foolish! Don’t do this to me! Such wicked things aren’t done in Israel.” (2Samuel 13:12) Amnon is later killed by his brother for this. This is the only recorded rape in the Bible.