ABSTRACT
God's behavior in the pages of Scripture raises some very troubling questions about the nature of God and about the role the Bible should play in informing the ethics and beliefs. As the Bible tells it, God's violent exploits include drowning virtually the entire human race, scorching cities, sanctioning war, commissioning genocide, and killing large numbers of people in massive acts of divine judgment. This chapter aims to explore how various scholars, particularly Christian scholars, have responded to descriptions of divine violence and divinely sanctioned violence in the Old Testament. The just cause approach is popular among scholars whose view of Scripture requires them to approve of God's behavior in the Bible, regardless of how outrageous or immoral it might seem. Sometimes, Christian scholars attempt to defend God's violent behavior in the Old Testament by explaining how God's actions served a greater good.
