The theme of God’s bloody vengeance occurs in the Old Testament even more frequently than the problem of human violence. Approximately one thousand passages speak of Yahweh’s blazing anger, of his punishments by death and destruction, and how like a consuming fire he passes judgment, takes revenge, and threatens annihilation.… No other topic is as often mentioned as God’s bloody works.5 Although one does not find blood dripping from every page, the pervasiveness of violence in the Old Testament is