I don’t know if the title is appropriate, but having read the New Testament, Jesus was rarely angry; so was the God that he portrayed. He practiced forgiveness, love, inclusivity, and compassion. I’ve already mentioned this in a recent post, but the God of the Old Testament seems to be a different God. Was He really? Is this to do with different styles of writing between different times? It really makes one wonder.

Here are some instances where God punished people when he got angry, from the Book of Numbers:

“Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.”

Numbers‬ ‭11‬:‭1‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague.”

Numbers‬ ‭11‬:‭33‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“The anger of the Lord burned against them (referring to Miriam and Aaron), and he left them. When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam’s skin was leprous—it became as white as snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease,”

Numbers‬ ‭12‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“these men who were responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the Lord.”

Numbers‬ ‭14‬:‭37‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions. They went down alive into the realm of the dead, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!” And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.”

Numbers‬ ‭16‬:‭32‬-‭35‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put incense in it, along with burning coals from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the Lord; the plague has started.” So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them. He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped. But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah.”

Numbers‬ ‭16‬:‭46‬-‭49‬ ‭NIV‬‬

There were so many instances where God got angry and Moses and Aaron had to intervene for the people. He had to keep reminding God that these people were the people He saved and brought out of Egypt. Fortunately, Moses always found favour in God’s eyes and so every time he intervened, God stopped whatever punishment he was giving. To be fair, Got getting angry was not for no reason. Most of the time, it was because people grew impatient and would blame Moses and Aaron for bringing them out of Egypt, where they used to have access to food, to the Wilderness where there was lack of food and they didn’t own lands and vineyards.

I’m still trying to understand why this difference between the God of the Old and New Testament but if anyone comes across this post and has some ideas, please do share and enlighten me!