Chapter 3 - Yahweh - A Capricious Created Being

While the Old Authorities corrupted and whitewashed the Source Narratives to paint Yahweh as the Supreme Creator / God / Ultimate Reality, The Story makes far more sense when We recognize that Yahweh is a created male being, one among many Elohim, who is tyrannical, genocidal, and capricious.

It is not merely one or two tyrannical, vengeful acts that come across as worse than the worst of human tyrants; it is the through-line of Yahweh's personality and character.

Multiple figures in the early church sought to distance the emerging legacy of Jesus from the capricious Elohim of the Jewish stories, accurately pointing out that in order to accept them, We would have to believe of God "such things as we would not believe of the most savage and unjust of men." (Origin).

Building on their rightful concerns that were swept into the Darkness by the Roman Empire and Roman Catholic Church, below are 30+ of the most obvious examples of thought, speech, and behavior irreconcilable with a Perfectly Loving, Wise, Right, and Good Being.

1. Leviticus 10:1–2: "Fire came out from the presence of Yahweh and consumed them, and they died before Yahweh."

   • Yahweh burns Aaron’s sons alive for approaching him and offering “unauthorized fire,” a minor ritual infraction.

2. 2 Samuel 6:6–7: "Yahweh’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore, Yahweh struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of Yahweh."

   • Uzzah touches the Ark of the Covenant to steady it and is killed instantly.

3. Numbers 11:1–2: "Now the people complained about their hardships... Then fire from Yahweh burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp."

   • Complaining about hardships is met with lethal punishment.

4. Hosea 13:16: "The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their pregnant women ripped open."

   • Yahweh’s judgment involves brutal acts against infants and pregnant women.

5. Deuteronomy 21:18–21: "If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son... all the men of his town are to stone him to death."

   • Yahweh commands the execution of rebellious children.

6. Numbers 31:17–18: "Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man."

   • Yahweh orders mass slaughter and the capture of virgin girls.

7. Judges 11:30–39: Jephthah vows to offer whatever comes out of his house as a sacrifice to Yahweh, leading to the burning of his own daughter.

   • Yahweh does not intervene to stop this human sacrifice.

8. Joshua 7:23-25: “So they took them from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the sons of Israel; and they laid them out before Yahweh... And all Israel stoned them with stones; and they burned them with fire... and Yahweh turned from the fierceness of his anger.”

   • Yahweh, apparently present in physical form, is angry and demands the stoning and burning of an entire family for one man's theft.

9. Deuteronomy 20:16–17: "Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—as Yahweh your God has commanded you."

   • Yahweh commands the extermination of entire peoples.

10. 2 Samuel 24:15: "So Yahweh sent a plague on Israel, and 70,000 people died."

    • David’s decision to take a census results in Yahweh killing tens of thousands of innocent people.

11. Numbers 16:20: "The Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying "Separate yourselves from among this congregation so that I may consume them instantly." ...(Aaron and Moses protest the injustice)... "Then Yahweh spoke to Moses saying, "Speak to the congregation, saying, 'Get away from the areas around the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram."... So they moved away... and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrances of their tents, along with their wives, their sons, and their little ones.... and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them... Fire also came out of Yahweh and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense."

    • Yahweh destroys entire families, including innocent children, for a rebellion.

12. Deuteronomy 21:10–14: "When you go to war against your enemies and Yahweh your God delivers them into your hands... if you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife."

    • Captured women can be taken as wives, essentially allowing for forced marriage and implied sexual exploitation.

13. Leviticus 25:44–46: "Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them, you may buy slaves. You can make them your property for life."

    • Yahweh commands the enslavement of foreigners and their perpetual inheritance as property.

14. Judges 21:10–14: "Go and strike down the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead with the sword, including the women and children. But you may keep for yourselves every young woman who has never slept with a man."

    • Innocent women and children slaughtered. The young virgins are taken as spoils of war to become wives or slaves.

15. Exodus 21:7–11: "If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do."

    • Fathers are instructed to sell their daughters into permanent slavery.

16. Deuteronomy 20:10–11: "When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you... If it does not make peace with you... when Yahweh your god (Elohe-ka) gives it into your hand, you shall strike all the men in it with the edge of the sword. However the women, the children... you shall take as plunder for yourself..."

    • Yahweh commands the genocide of populations and the enslavement and sexual exploitation of conquered peoples.

17. Exodus 21:5–6: "If a slave declares, 'I love my master... I do not want to go free,' then his master must pierce his ear with an awl, and he will be his slave for life."

    • Yahweh endorses lifelong enslavement and the physical branding of slaves.

18. 2 Samuel 12:11–12: "Out of your own household, I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes, I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight."

    • Yahweh orchestrates the public rape of David’s wives as punishment.

19. Deuteronomy 22:20–21: "If... no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death."

    • Yahweh commands the execution of young women if their virginity cannot be proven.

20. Deuteronomy 22:28–29: "If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her, and they are discovered, he shall pay her father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman."

    • Yahweh commands that a rape victim be wed to her rapist.

21. Exodus 22:29–30: "You shall not revile (your Elohim), nor revile a ruler of your people. You must give me the firstborn of your sons. Do the same with your cattle and your sheep."

    • Yahweh demands that the Israelites give him the first of theirs sons in the same way he demands their oxen and sheep. This may human sacrifice until later replaced by animal substitution.

22. Joshua 6:21: "They devoted the city to Yahweh and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, and donkeys."

    • Yahweh commands the complete annihilation of Jericho’s population, including non-combatants.

23. Joshua 8:24–25: "When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the wilderness, they went back to the city and put it to the sword. Twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai."

    • Another city is completely wiped out at Yahweh’s command.

24. Genesis 38:6–10: "But Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the sight of Yahweh, so Yahweh took his life... (Onan is then commanded to impregnate his deceased brother's wife)... But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground... What he did was displeasing in Yahweh’s sight; so Yahweh too his life also."

    • Yahweh kills Judah's firstborn. Onan then refuses to impregnate his deceased brother’s wife, so Yahweh kills him too.

25. Numbers 15:32–36: "Then Yahweh said to Moses, 'The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.'"

    • Yahweh demands that the whole assembly stone a man for the minor infraction of gathering wood in the wilderness on the Sabbath.

26. Numbers 25:6–9: "Yahweh said to Moses, 'Take all the leaders of these people, kill them and expose them in broad daylight before Yahweh, so that Yahweh’s fierce anger may turn away from Israel... So the plague on the sons of Israel was brought to a halt. But those who died from the plague were twenty four thousand in number.'"

    • Israelites are killed for intermarrying with Moabite women and participating in sacrifices to their (Elohehen / Elohim). Yahweh responds by sending a plague that kills 24,000 of them.

27. Exodus 32:27–28: "Then he said to them, 'This is what Yahweh, the Elohim of Israel (Elohe Yis-ra-el) says: Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp and kill your brother and friend and neighbor.' The Levites did as Moses commanded, and about three thousand people died that day."

    • Worshiping the golden calf (a symbol associated with another Elohim) leads to mass slaughter ordered by Yahweh.

28. Numbers 21:6: "Then Yahweh sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died."

    • Yahweh punishes complaints against his provision in the wilderness with lethal snake attacks.

29. Numbers 11:31–34: "...you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the ears of Yahweh... Therefore Yahweh will give you meat... until it comes out of your nose and makes you nauseated... because you have rejected Yahweh who is among you... now a wind burst forth from Yahweh and it brought quail from the sea... and the people gathered the quail... While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of Yahweh was kindled against the people, and Yahweh struck the people with a very severe plague... there they buried the people who had been greedy."

    • Yahweh tricks the Israelite and strikes them with a deadly plague for desiring meat instead of the manna he was feeding them in the wilderness.

30. Deuteronomy 7:1–2: "When Yahweh your (god / Eloheka) has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy."

    • Yahweh commands the systematic extermination of multiple Canaanite tribes, including the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. This genocidal campaign explicitly calls for categorical ethnic cleansing, leaving no survivors.

31. 1 Samuel 15:2–3: "This is what Yahweh almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel... Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’" - Yahweh orders the total annihilation / genocide of the Amalekites, explicitly including infants and children. This command involves the deliberate genocidal targeting of non-combatants, a hallmark of crimes against humanity.

32. Jeremiah 19:9: "I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh because their enemies will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them."

    • Yahweh proclaims that He will bring such severe famine during a siege that the people of Jerusalem will resort to cannibalism. This intentional act of psychological and physical suffering inflicted on civilians is a violation of basic human dignity.

Crimes Against Humanity

• Arbitrary and Collective Punishments: Entire groups, including innocents, are viciously punished for the actions of a few.
• Systematic Genocide, Violence and Cruelty: Yahweh repeatedly commands the slaughter of men, women, children, and animals.
• Violence Against Innocents: Many of Yahweh’s actions involve punishing innocents, such as children or entire populations.
• Excessive Retribution: Minor offenses or improper conduct often result in extreme and lethal consequences.
• Favoritism and Partiality: Commands often reflect tribal loyalty and disregard for the well-being of others.
• Rape and Sexual Exploitation: Many passages involve Yahweh permitting or commanding the capture and sexual exploitation of women.
• Endorsement of Cruelty and Oppression: Yahweh’s commands and tyrannical example perpetuate systems of ignorance, cruelty, and oppression, particularly against women and foreigners.
• Slavery: Yahweh explicitly condones and instructs the institution of slavery.
• Violence Against Infants, Women and Children: Yahweh's commands and judgments often involve disproportionate and brutal violence against the most vulnerable, such as pregnant women and infants.
• Ethical Problems: These passages are irreconcilable with the idea of Yahweh as a perfectly loving or moral being.
• Moral Inconsistency: Yahweh’s actions are often tyrannical, harsh, excessive, and irreconcilable with basic enlightened moral sensibilities.

As Jesus said: "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You shall know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So then, you will know them by their fruits."

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