Why Is There So Much Violence in the Bible?At first sight, the God of the Bible appears to be a war leader who leads His people to victory and commandsthem to destroy their enemies. In fact, He reveals His identity only gradually:1. The “God of hosts” - 2. The God who “breaks wars” - 3. The “Prince of Peace” - 4. The “Unarmed” God. -5. The God who teaches us to forgive. - 6. The God who will gather all people together* Excursus: A God “Slow to Anger” toward a People “Slow to Believe”The Lord is slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love (Numbers 14:18).Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because ofyour righteousness; for you are a stubborn people (Deuteronomy 9:6).The Lord reluctantly grants His people a king:All the elders of Israel came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “Behold, you are old and yoursons do not walk in your ways; now appoint for us a king to govern us like all the nations.” But thething displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” And Samuel prayed to theLord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to you;for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According toall the deeds which they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to thisday, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, hearken to theirvoice; only, you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reignover them.” (1 Samuel 8:4-9)Jesus' tireless patience with His disciples. He said (Matthew 17:17):O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear withyou?When we open the Old Testament, we have the impression that we are confronted with one continuous series ofwars: the slaughter of the Egyptians during the Exodus, the conquest of the Promised Land in the time of theJudges, David's raids against Saul and the P...