Post by FilmFlaneur on Nov 19, 2020 13:42:43 GMT
If however by 'human idea' you just mean that, as it was an 'inspired' human who made the story up and so hence attributed these actions to the deity as part of a symbolic or metaphorical narrative, or just a good yarn, then I would agree with you. But this would seem to preclude a god to be 'teaching people tricks'.
Some of their neighbors were extremely evil murderers and perverts of an unusually organized variety such that their destruction made more sense. It was a matter of survival. Infant sacrifice was even common in some of them and corroborated by the archaeological record.
Here you seem to be justifying genocide at worst, mass killing at best (including that of children). Not a good look.
In dealing with more civilized opponents such as Egypt, the god of the Bible took slaughter out of the hands of his people, making a "judgement" upon Egypt he denied his people to make.
In which case it seems you agree that God is, at least on occasions, quite happy with mass slaughter, either directly or indirectly which was my point. QED.
The first five books of the Bible were not written by a prophet unless you count Moses who merely compiled the mostly oral traditions of the Hebrew people up to the time he became their leader and including some of his personal experiences toward the end.
When I am talking about whether a prophet wrote anything, then be sure and tell me this again.