Why would God write a book of lies and why would you worship such a being?

why? wasn't israel promised to both abraham, and david, as well as moses? israel, as a nation, was not formed under moses. it was formed under israel, jacob, from his 12 sons.and on a secular note, i would argue that israel would be *more* legitimate if they were not a foreign, invading power as in the exodus story, but had always been local residents.

why do you think job trusted god? he calls god unjust, and only seems to show trust when god himself answers his charge. well, his wife did, but perhaps with the notion that god would strike him dead on the spot and end his suffering. his friends had said that god cursed him, because he had sinned. job refused to deny god (outright) because that would be sin, and justify his torment. god himself says that his friends are wrong, and that job, who claimed god was unjust, spoke correctly. that this quiets job perhaps reveals his true intention: job is doubting, though not denying god. he would rather an unjust god than a random existence. and yet, god himself verifies job's argument.this is one of those texts that is so frequently misread by christians on a very basic level. it is akin to people arguing that the tree of knowledge didn't make the man and his wife like god, as the serpent said it would -- even though god says it does. similarly, christians tend to miss the quote by god here:

quote:

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the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: 'My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends; for ye have not spoken of Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job hath. (42:7)

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which is ironic. in a book people claim to be the word of god, those same people are somehow missing the literal words of god.

right; the exodus is the formation of first temple judaism, not the nation. the nation (that is, the people) are merely the descendants of jacob. the kingdom is formed under saul (but mostly david). these are related concepts, so people like to conflate them. but they're separate concerns... "the book of the kings of israel and judah" (or "...judah and israel") might well be something very much like the modern book of kings.

er, a people identified as "israel" or "the sons of israel". even the biblical authors like to equivocate the kingdom and the people, so it's not surprising that people confuse them.the "hebrews" would have been a larger linguistic group; all people speaking hebrew. biblically, they are the sons of eber. עֵבֶר = "eber", עִבְרִית = "ibrit" or "hebrew".