Why does the bible describe God breaking the very rules that are said to be from God? Not to kill, not to steal, not to lie, etc? It tells us that God sent 'lying spirits' in order to deceive, hardened the heart of the Pharoah, killed the firstborn of Egypt, ordered slaughter and rape......Why this double standard?
I speculate that when there was competition amongst a selection of gods made to the superstitious that the bad-ass berserkers were more likely to stand out, at least in the OT. Once the sale was made it was moderated a little bit in the NT.
