There’s a lot to unpack in the story - some of the ‘god smites ‘em’ passages can be read as a warning that bad things will happen only because the behavior cont

There’s a lot to unpack in the story - some of the ‘god smites ‘em’ passages can be read as a warning that bad things will happen only because the behavior contains the seeds of it’s own destruction - or punishment if you will. For example - The passage about “visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.” sounds absolutely like God is a rotten SOB. But if you ever see the pain that flows though generations because one father abused his children, you can see that it more of a warning - do something horrible and not only will you suffer, but you’ll cause generations to suffer. So don’t do that.