Why does God seem so cruel towards people?

In the Old Testament we read many stories of people and whole nations facing heavy consequences. These stories often leave us with a weight on the heart, and with a quiet question: is God truly so cruel? It is an honest question, and it deserves an honest, unhurried look.

A very different world

Let us begin by remembering how different the ancient world was. It was not a safe place. Cruelty was everywhere, life was short, and for most people it was also very hard. Whatever we think of those times, we should read them with that picture in mind.

Into that world, God chose one nation to carry His will to the others and to bring law and order among people. Israel was given the Torah and God's own care, which set the nation apart as a holy example for the rest of the world. Over many centuries, God patiently tried again and again to lead humanity toward something better.

It is worth noticing how far humanity has travelled since then, from times when children were burned on altars, and when abuse, slavery and injustice were ordinary. God is in control of everything, yet He still wants people to grow. He does not wish to destroy us. He wants to bring us to a better future. And as history shows, it is very hard to turn human hearts toward kindness, honesty and selflessness, because people keep returning to the old darkness.

Let us look at what the prophets say, in the order in which they lived, and let their own words show what was happening.

Amos: a warning about cruelty between people

Amos spoke in the eighth century BC, to the nations around Israel and then to Israel itself. He begins with their treatment of one another. Ammon, a neighbouring nation, had gone to war to enlarge its borders and had done something terrible to the weakest:

This is what the LORD says: "The people of Ammon have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! When they attacked Gilead to extend their borders, they ripped open pregnant women with their swords.

( Amos 1:13 )

Then Amos turns to God's own people. They too were guilty, and the list that follows is about money and power being used against the poor:

This is what the LORD says: "The people of Israel have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They sell honorable people for silver and poor people for a pair of sandals. They trample helpless people in the dust and shove the oppressed out of the way. Both father and son sleep with the same woman, corrupting my holy name.

( Amos 2:6-7 )

Jeremiah: a long patience, and a sorrow

Jeremiah served as a prophet in Jerusalem in the last decades before the city fell to Babylon, around 600 BC. Many of his people had turned to the worship of Baal and Molech, and children were offered on altars. Notice how God speaks of this. It was something He never asked for, and had never even thought of:

They have built pagan shrines to Baal, and there they burn their sons as sacrifices to Baal. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing!

( Jeremiah 19:5 )

The prophet also describes a land that was suffering because of the way its people lived:

For the land is full of adultery, and it lies under a curse. The land itself is in mourning-- its wilderness pastures are dried up. For they all do evil and abuse what power they have.

( Jeremiah 23:10 )

Jeremiah then reminds the people how long God had been speaking to them. For twenty-three years he had warned them, and God had sent other prophets before him:

"For the past twenty-three years-- from the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until now-- the LORD has been giving me his messages. I have faithfully passed them on to you, but you have not listened. "Again and again the LORD has sent you his servants, the prophets, but you have not listened or even paid attention. Each time the message was this: 'Turn from the evil road you are traveling and from the evil things you are doing. Only then will I let you live in this land that the LORD gave to you and your ancestors forever.

( Jeremiah 25:3-5 )

The consequences, when they came, were not meant to be the end of the story. God gave His people this promise of care alongside the correction:

For I am with you and will save you," says the LORD. "I will completely destroy the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you, but with justice; I cannot let you go unpunished."

( Jeremiah 30:11 )

He also explains why the correction was needed, speaking gently to people who felt the pain and did not understand it:

Why do you protest your punishment-- this wound that has no cure? I have had to punish you because your sins are many and your guilt is great.

( Jeremiah 30:15 )

And there is a promise that one day it will all make sense:

The fierce anger of the LORD will not diminish until it has finished all he has planned. In the days to come you will understand all this.

( Jeremiah 30:24 )

In the next chapter we see the heart behind it all. Even while correcting Israel, God speaks of the nation as a parent speaks of a beloved child:

"Is not Israel still my son, my darling child?" says the LORD. "I often have to punish him, but I still love him. That's why I long for him and surely will have mercy on him.

( Jeremiah 31:20 )

People in Jeremiah's day used to say that children suffer for what their parents did. God answers that each person is responsible for their own choices:

All people will die for their own sins-- those who eat the sour grapes will be the ones whose mouths will pucker.

( Jeremiah 31:30 )

Later, as Jerusalem was about to fall, Jeremiah spoke again about the altars in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, where children were sacrificed to the god Molech, and God's grief about it is clear:

They have built pagan shrines to Baal in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and there they sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing. What an incredible evil, causing Judah to sin so greatly!

( Jeremiah 32:35 )

Ezekiel: the reasons laid out

Ezekiel was a prophet among the people already taken from Jerusalem to Babylon. His messages describe what was happening back in the city. First, a picture of a land filled with violence:

"Prepare chains for my people, for the land is bloodied by terrible crimes. Jerusalem is filled with violence.

( Ezekiel 7:23 )

The people also told themselves that God did not see or care. God answers that He sees it all:

Then he said to me, "The sins of the people of Israel and Judah are very, very great. The entire land is full of murder; the city is filled with injustice. They are saying, 'The LORD doesn't see it! The LORD has abandoned the land!'

( Ezekiel 9:9 )

Ezekiel warns of the hard judgments coming on Jerusalem, and of a surprising purpose in them: survivors would come to Babylon, and their stories would show the exiles that nothing had happened without a reason.

"Now this is what the Sovereign LORD says: How terrible it will be when all four of these dreadful punishments fall upon Jerusalem-- war, famine, wild animals, and disease-- destroying all her people and animals. Yet there will be survivors, and they will come here to join you as exiles in Babylon. You will see with your own eyes how wicked they are, and then you will feel better about what I have done to Jerusalem. When you meet them and see their behavior, you will understand that these things are not being done to Israel without cause. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!"

( Ezekiel 14:21-23 )

God also speaks of His own children being offered to idols, which He felt as a betrayal:

"Then you took your sons and daughters-- the children you had borne to me-- and sacrificed them to your gods. Was your prostitution not enough? Must you also slaughter my children by sacrificing them to idols?

( Ezekiel 16:20-21 )

And He reminds the people of Sodom, a city famous for its fate. The reason given may be a surprise. It was not only violence, but pride, comfort, and turning away from the poor:

Sodom's sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door. She was proud and committed detestable sins, so I wiped her out, as you have seen.

( Ezekiel 16:49-50 )

Finally, Ezekiel lists, one by one, the wrongs that filled Jerusalem: leaders who killed, widows and orphans who were wronged, false accusations that sent innocent people to their deaths, and cruelty inside the family:

"Every leader in Israel who lives within your walls is bent on murder. Fathers and mothers are treated with contempt. Foreigners are forced to pay for protection. Orphans and widows are wronged and oppressed among you. You despise my holy things and violate my Sabbath days of rest. People accuse others falsely and send them to their death. You are filled with idol worshipers and people who do obscene things. Men sleep with their fathers' wives and have intercourse with women who are menstruating. Within your walls live men who commit adultery with their neighbors' wives, who defile their daughters-in-law, or who rape their own sisters. There are hired murderers, loan racketeers, and extortioners everywhere. They never even think of me and my commands, says the Sovereign LORD.

( Ezekiel 22:6-12 )

What we can take from this

When we read these passages in order, a picture grows clearer. The troubles that came were preceded by long warnings. They followed real cruelty, especially toward the weak and the young. And they came from a God who speaks of His people as His beloved children, who takes no pleasure in correcting them, and who keeps promising a future after it.

There were very hard times, when God was working to turn people back and make this world a better place. We have come a long way since then, and yet there is still much to mend among us today.

Suffering is part of this broken world, and the New Testament does not hide it. It also tells us that God did not stand far from it. In Jesus He entered it, and those who follow Him find that even hardship can show His life:

Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.

( 2 Corinthians 4:10 )

Perhaps the best response to the questions these pages raise is a humble one: to read slowly, to trust that God's patience is greater than we can see, and to ask Him to make us part of the mending.