Two Very Different Gods
The Loving Father Taught by Jesus vs. the Violent Deity of the Old Testament
One of the most striking tensions in the Bible is not between believers and skeptics, or between denominations—but between the God Jesus describes and the God portrayed throughout much of the Old Testament. When examined carefully, these two figures appear to embody radically different personalities, values, and moral frameworks.
Jesus teaches love, forgiveness, patience, mercy, humility, and non-violence.
The Old Testament repeatedly depicts Yahweh as angry, jealous, vengeful, violent, and destructive, often ordering or directly causing mass death.
This raises an unavoidable question:
Can these two portrayals truly describe the same being?
The God Jesus Taught: Love Without Conditions
Jesus consistently presents God as a loving Father, not a tribal war deity.
Core Teachings of Jesus
Jesus’ teachings are remarkably consistent and revolutionary for their time:
Love your enemies
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)Forgive endlessly
“Not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” (Matthew 18:22)Reject violence
“Put your sword back in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” (Matthew 26:52)God is love
“God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God.” (1 John 4:8)No favoritism, no chosen ethnicity
“He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good.” (Matthew 5:45)
Jesus never commands genocide, never threatens nations with destruction, never demands blood sacrifice, and never claims jealousy or wrath as virtues.
Instead, God is portrayed as:
Patient
Compassionate
Restorative
Non-violent
Universally loving
Yahweh in the Old Testament: A God of Wrath and Bloodshed
In contrast, Yahweh’s portrayal in the Old Testament is often that of a tribal deity who:
Demands exclusive worship
Expresses jealousy
Sanctions genocide
Orders executions
Kills directly through plagues, floods, fire, and warfare
Yahweh Describes Himself as Jealous and Wrathful
“I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God.” (Exodus 20:5)
“My wrath will burn hot.” (Exodus 22:24)
Jealousy and rage—traits Jesus never attributes to God—are central to Yahweh’s self-description.
Catalog of Major Acts of Violence Attributed to Yahweh
Below is a non-exhaustive list of violence directly ordered or carried out by Yahweh according to the Old Testament text.
Mass Killings and Destruction
The Flood – Destruction of nearly all life on Earth (Genesis 6–9)
Sodom and Gomorrah – Entire cities annihilated by fire (Genesis 19)
The Egyptian Firstborn – Every firstborn child killed in one night (Exodus 12)
The Amalekites – Commanded total genocide, including women and children (1 Samuel 15)
Canaanite Conquest – Repeated commands to kill entire populations (Joshua)
Korah’s Rebellion – Earth opens and swallows families alive (Numbers 16)
Plagues of Israel – Tens of thousands killed for complaints or disobedience
David’s Census Punishment – 70,000 Israelites killed for David’s error (2 Samuel 24)
Estimated Death Toll Attributed to Yahweh
While the Bible does not always give precise numbers, scholars and analysts who tally explicit numeric claims in the text arrive at estimates ranging from:
~2 to 3 million deaths directly attributed to Yahweh
This includes:
Flood deaths (implicitly global)
Plagues
Executions
Warfare commanded by divine decree
By contrast, the Bible attributes fewer than 10 deaths directly to Satan.
The overwhelming majority of violence in the Bible is committed by God—not the adversary.
Jesus Explicitly Rejects the Old Model of God
Jesus does more than teach love—he corrects previous theology.
“You have heard it said… but I say to you…” (Matthew 5)
He directly contradicts:
Eye-for-an-eye justice
Tribal favoritism
Legalistic punishment
Retaliatory violence
Most importantly:
Jesus never quotes genocide commands, never endorses Yahweh’s violence, and never describes God as wrathful or jealous.
Instead, Jesus says:
“If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” (John 14:9)
If this is true, then the Father Jesus reveals cannot be the same being who orders the slaughter of infants, commands ethnic cleansing, or destroys cities in rage.
A Theological Conclusion Many Avoid
When taken seriously, the contrast leads to an uncomfortable but logical conclusion:
Jesus reveals a loving Creator of the universe
The Old Testament Yahweh reflects an ancient, tribal war god
They do not share the same moral character
They do not behave like the same personality
They do not teach the same values
This does not require rejecting Jesus.
It requires recognizing that Jesus came to correct humanity’s understanding of God, not reinforce it.
Final Reflection
If God is truly love, then love must be the standard by which all scripture is measured.
When measured honestly:
Jesus passes without contradiction
Yahweh does not
The God Jesus reveals does not kill to prove power.
He heals to reveal love.
And that difference changes everything.
