Why Does God Allow Killing in the Old Testament?

If God is love… then why does the Old Testament feel so violent?

Today we confront one of Scripture’s most difficult questions: Why does God allow killing in

the Old Testament? To understand this, we need to step into the ancient Near East—a

world ruled by war and brutality. Israel wasn’t a modern nation… it was a tiny

tribe surrounded by empires. Theologically, some passages reveal divine justice,

where God confronts extreme evil—like in Genesis 6:5–7. Or the judgment on violent nations

in Deuteronomy 9:4–5. Others reflect human free will and the consequences of

rejecting God’s ways—like 1 Samuel 8:10–18 and Judges 21:25. And woven through it all is