Reading the Bible

I began reading the Bible more than a year ago and I've just now made it through the first five books of the Old Testament (the so-called Mosaic books, as Moses is credited with authoring them). Moses, I suppose, was a good choice of ghost-writers for God, as his style is pretty easy to read and flows more or less naturally. Moses is telling a story, the story of the covenant made between God and Israel, and for the most part, the narration is chronological and well organized. There are moments of tedium in Leviticus and Numbers, where Moses explains in detail the architecture of the Tabernacle and such as well as the census of the Israelites. I skipped most of these sections, as I was uninterested in knowing what the dimensions of the Tabernacle were, or how many Levites and Reubenites there were. (My study bible tells me that the repeated census-taking in these first five books merely serves to illustrate that God increased the Israelites number, even during their desert wanderings, in fulfillment of his promise to Abraham/Israel.) I did read most of the rules and laws for living and worshipping though.

I guess you have to believe that God instructed Moses in what to write in order for these books to be considered "the word of God". He must have told Moses about the prehistory (Adam and Eve, Noah, etc.) so that Moses could write about it authoritatively, including the conversations between God and others. I guess you also have to believe that God was so disappointed by his children that he finally decided to forsake all of them except for Abraham, with whom he made his covenant, and Abraham's descendents. And even then, Abraham's descendents repeatedly disappoint God by disbelieving and worshipping the false Gods of other cultures.

I wonder why he continued to believe in them and help them to the promised land when he'd disowned so many others. Why didn't he abandon them and search for another faithful servant to make his covenant with? Each time Moses talks to the people, he tells them that God will be with them to grant victory in battle, to see to the prosperity of the land in which they will dwell, to increase their numbers though other civilizations may fall, but only if they adhere to all of the commandments and laws that have been given to them by God. And yet, they continually disobey and break the laws. That should make the covenant null and void and give God the go-ahead to pick someone else.

I wondered also at the vengefulness of God and his willingness to kill so many people in battle by siding with the Israelites. I suppose, that as idolators and worshippers of false gods, God found them to be too evil to save, although he gladly accepted anyone who wanted to convert and become a believer in the one true God. In the last book, Deuteronemy, Moses relays the laws of God that the Israelites must live by. Many of these laws end with the words, "the evil must be purged from among you" or something similar. Usually, this follows a command to kill a person who has committed a particular unlawful act.

A lot of Deuteronomy especially seemed to be a recitation of laws commonly held in various cultures at that time, but given a "holy" spin by having God command them and support the methods of punishment. I found it hard to accept a God who would be so cruel. Instead of thinking of him as the "hero" of the story, I keep thinking of him as a puppet master, trying to pull the strings to direct the play, but becoming testy and temperamental when his "actors" don't do as he directs. Not a hero, but a sort of inescapable presence, both benevolent and maleficent.

I was told once to start reading the Bible from the New Testament. I tried it, but I found that I wanted the backstory first, and that Matthew's writing style was hard for me to read. I'll get there eventually, but I want to know what the basis is first, before I go on to the "newer" part of the story.