Five Ways to Read Violence in the Old Testament
Why those disturbing passages might actually be part of a much bigger story.
Welcome to today’s reflection from Sacred and Secular
Where ancient texts meet modern questions, one day at a time.
Do the violent stories in the Old Testament make you cringe?
They should.
But rather than being embarrassed and quickly moving on, let’s talk about every violent, jaw-dropping, what-on-earth-is-going-on passage in the Old Testament.
Like the stoning commandments (throwing, not smoking).
That strange bit in Numbers where a woman has to drink temple dust to test her faithfulness.
Abraham’s hideous near-sacrifice of Isaac because “that’s what people did.”
If you’ve ever read these stories and wondered what on earth God was playing at, you’re not alone.
So here are five ways to read those passages. Spoiler alert: the answer says more about us than we might be comfortable with.
1. Remember who’s telling the story
Every story in the Bible was told by people.
That sounds obvious, but it matters.
People were (and are) at different stages of consciousness.
Think of it like a lens through which you view the world. Most of the stories in the Old Testament were told by people living at a tribal stage of consciousness. Their world was divided into “us” and “them.” When tribes went to war, it was our god versus their god. Winning meant wiping out your enemies so they couldn’t retaliate later, and yes, people believed their gods approved.
That’s how life worked.
That’s how they made sense of their world.
That’s how they survived.
When ancient writers said, “God told us to do this,” it reflected their perspective on the world at the time. It was less about divine instruction and more about human interpretation.
2. These stories show how people made sense of their experiences
What you’re reading isn’t a transcript from heaven; it’s the record of how different people understood the world around them.
When someone won a battle and said, “Our God gave us victory,” that made perfect sense in their worldview.
When they destroyed a city and claimed God told them to, that was what people did.
Even Lot offering his daughters instead of his guests, unthinkable to us, was sadly consistent with the cultural norms of his world.
It’s not that God was bloodthirsty; it’s that people genuinely believed that was how gods operated.
3. You’re right to be horrified
If these stories disturb you, good.
They’re violent, primitive, and often barbaric because the people who told them lived in a violent, primitive, and often barbaric world.
If you don’t find them shocking, something’s wrong.
People who read them and shrug, saying “that’s just how God is,” have a warped and dangerous view of God.
The horror you feel is a sign that your understanding of justice and mercy has evolved far beyond the world of the ancient storytellers, and that’s exactly the point.
4. The Bible isn’t all violence — it’s also evolution
Not every story in the Torah is about bloodshed.
Deuteronomy commands care for widows and orphans.
Leviticus tells farmers to leave part of their fields unharvested so the poor can eat.
Exodus declares that slaves should be set free.
These were not primitive ideas; they were revolutionary for their time.
Even in Ezekiel, the prophet quotes God saying, “I will restore the fortunes of Sodom.” Apparently, even Sodom’s story wasn’t finished.
Violence and compassion sit side by side in Scripture.
Old ideas and new ones coexist.
Awakening consciousness happens within the old systems, not outside them.
Seeds of justice and mercy are planted in the soil of ancient violence, and over time, those seeds grow.
5. Change — whether in Scripture or in us — takes time
Consciousness doesn’t evolve overnight, and neither does yours.
You might wake up one morning and think, I should eat healthier. Do you become a raw vegan by lunch? Probably not.
You might decide to exercise more. Do you start training for an Ironman the next day? Unlikely.
Transformation is gradual. We usually take it step by step, moment by moment, if we want meaningful, long-lasting change.
It was the same for humanity. The Bible is a record of people growing up, slowly discovering new ways to understand justice, mercy, and ultimately, God.
Each story marks a small step forward, sometimes clumsy, sometimes cruel, but still a step.
Why these stories still matter
You and I look back at those violent passages and rightly feel revulsion.
That’s not disbelief, it’s progress.
The very reason you’re horrified is that you see the world differently. You believe genocide, rape, and vengeance are wrong. You have a broader, kinder, more humane understanding of life and faith.
Something, or Someone, has been at work, pulling us forward.
Your disgust isn’t a loss of faith; it’s evidence of growth.
It’s the Spirit at work within history.
It shows that humanity’s moral imagination has expanded, and that the image of God in us continues to awaken.
It’s an unfolding story
If you read the Bible as a static record of a God who orders people to kill other people, it will never make sense.
If you read it as an unfolding story, the record of how people’s understanding of God has grown and evolved, suddenly it comes alive.
You start to see something moving beneath the surface:
a slow current of grace,
a whisper quietly pulling humanity forward —
from violence to peace,
from vengeance to mercy,
from law to love.
As the prophet Micah put it: “Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.”
Or as Paul prayed in Ephesians, that we would keep “growing in enlightenment.”
The Bible isn’t a manual dropped from the sky; it’s a mirror showing how far we’ve come and how far we’ve still to go.
If that’s true, then maybe those violent old stories aren’t something to be ashamed of after all.
Maybe they’re proof that we’re still evolving, that the story of humanity waking up is still being written, and we’re part of it.
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