You are half right...
Im glad the old testament isnt true.
I can only speak for myself. I've read the old testament.. more than a couple times over the years.. not just the good parts... and if a God like that really existed... we're all fu****. He was cranky, jealous, angry, allowed Job to be hosed to prove a point, allowed Moses and his men to rape the mindianite women and keep the virgins for themselves after killing the children.. the list goes on.... Then, if I KNEW a god existed who claimed to know the hairs on your head, would answer prayers if you had faith and asked, and this god allowed 4 yr old children to be continously raped by their uncle Bob till they committed suicide... yeah I would have a problem "worshipping" such a god.
I wish the New testament was true. Because I would love to look at the faces of all those righteous christians who when judgement day came, Jesus surprised them with the old "Get thee away from me, " because they forgot to read Matthew's parable about the goats and the sheep and while they went to church, and talked about Jesus, they never lifted a finger to help out others in need.
But thats just me..
Ag Approved
Everything you noted speaks about the flaws of man in relation to the perfection of God. The God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament....he doesn't change, nor do the flaws found in people. The jealousy of God is well-documented in scripture so no worries there. If I gave everything to my children, delivered them from turmoil they create themselves again and again and my children chose to give thanks and pledge themselves to an alter made of wood or gold objects they fashioned and ignore me I'd be put out too.......LOL, but that's just me.
As far as rape of the Midianite woman I pulled this from my earmarked favorites:
Moses and the Midianites
Numbers 31:7-18
They fought against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses, and killed every man. Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba - the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder. They burned all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their camps. They took all the plunder and spoils, including the people and animals, and brought the captives, spoils and plunder to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the Israelite assembly at their camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.
Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. Moses was angry with the officers of the army - the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds - who returned from the battle.
"Have you allowed all the women to live?" he asked them. "They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the LORD in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the LORD's people. Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man."
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Weren't the virgin women raped?
There are two parts to this objection: did God instruct or permit the soldiers to rape the women, and did the soldiers actually rape them?
It's clear that God didn't intend for the soldiers to rape the women, but rather to take them captive. The law God had given to the Israelites condemned rape, in some cases punishing it with death (Deuteronomy 22:25-27
But if out in the country a man happens to meet a young woman pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. 26 Do nothing to the woman; she has committed no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders a neighbor, 27 for the man found the young woman out in the country, and though the betrothed woman screamed, there was no one to rescue her.
). Also, immediately following the command to spare the virgin women, the soldiers were instructed to purify themselves and their captives (31:19), and rape (or consensual intercourse) would have violated this command (Lev 15:16-18). In the rest of the chapter, the women are usually referred to as people (using the masculine adam), not women or virgins, underscoring the notion that they were seen as captives rather than sexual objects.1
It's theoretically possible that some of the soldiers raped the women, but given the circumstances it seems very unlikely. The soldiers would have known that rape was a violation of both the law and the instruction to purify themselves, as shown above; they had also seen God punish such violations with death during their travels in the desert. In fact, they had recently experienced a plague and executions resulting from their relations with Midianite women (25:1-9), as Moses reminded them. At that time, all those who had sexual relations with the Midianites were killed. It's highly implausible that the soldiers would have wanted to have anything to do with the Midianite women given this context.
So what did happen to the women (and children)? God gave the Israelites permission to marry women they took captive, but they were to treat their wives with respect: the women were to have time to mourn their families first, and were not to be mistreated (Dt 21:10-14). Those who didn't marry would have become servants, but there were rules against mistreating them as well (Ex 21:26-27, Dt 23:15-16). See the article on slavery laws for more on the treatment of female slaves.
Weren't some of the women and children sacrificed (Num 31:25-41)?
No - they probably became servants of the priests. This passage is dealt with in the article on human sacrifice.
Why were the men and non-virgin women killed?
The Midianites conspired with the Moabites to curse Israel (Num 22:1-7). When the curse was turned into a blessing instead (24:10-11), the Moabite and Midianite woman agreed to seduce the Israelite men and in doing so entice them to serve their idols (25:1-9, 31:15-16, Rev 2:14). The Israelites who fell prey to this and engaged in idolatry were also held responsible, and were executed (25:4-5). Virgin women and young girls were obviously not participants in this, so they were spared.
Why was Balaam killed - didn't he bless Israel?
Balaam did follow God's instructions and blessed Israel instead of cursing it as Balak, the Moabite king, wanted him to (Num 24:10-11 - see ch. 22-24 for the whole story). However, following God was not habitual for Balaam: he often practiced sorcery (24:1) and in fact was his idea to bring destruction on Israel by having the women lure the Israelites into sexual immorality and idolatry (31:15-16, Rev 2:14).
What about the Moabites?
The Moabites were a special case - they were descendents of Lot (Gen 19:36-37), and were to remain in the land God had provided for them (Dt 2:9). However, they were excluded from the Israelite community as a result of their actions (Dt 23:3-6).
It's true that people break God's law time and time again in the Old Testament, but that doesn't take away from salvation in Christ, his love for us or his glorious resurrection.