Not coincidentally, as the church of Christendom arose, the reinterpretation approach to the OT’s violent portraits of God quickly faded away. And the reason is obvious. As Christians acclimated to the use of violence, the OT’s violent depictions of God became less problematic. In fact, these portraits went from being problematic to being positively advantageous, for now Christendom’s leaders could appeal to them whenever they needed to motivate Christians to engage in violence on behalf of the empire. Tragically, this is the primary role these violent portraits have played ever since.
