"Why did God kill Onan for refusing to inseminate his dead brother's widow?"

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"Why did God kill Onan for refusing to inseminate his dead brother's widow?"

Genesis 38:7-10 But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death. Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother's wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he went in to his brother's wife he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother. And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also.

We don't know what wickedness Er was guilty of to warrant his killing, but there are some very confusing events that follow. Judah tells Er's brother Onan to marry Er's widow and give her children. Why does God kill Onan for spilling his seed on the ground rather than inside his dead brother's wife? God wasn't even the one who originally asked Onan to do this. Is there anywhere else in the Bible that informs us God expects this behavior with a punishment of death for disobedience? How was Onan to know that God would find it wicked? We are also not told if Er's widow had any say in the matter. Why is God, or at least the author of Genesis, seemingly unconcerned with the wife's wellbeing or consent in this scenario? Even if this practice was necessary to the culture of the time, why would God not condemn it?

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"Did Jacob really defeat God in a wrestling match?"

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"Did Jacob really defeat God in a wrestling match?"

Genesis 32:24-28 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

In this passage, Jacob wrestles with a man who is later identified as God. God, unable or unwilling to defeat Jacob by conventional means, appears to dislocate Jacob's hip in order to end the fight. Why did God feel the need to deceive Jacob in this fight? Why did he also need to dislocate Jacob's hip to finish it? Afterwards, when Jacob commands God to bless him, God obliges, but does not heal the injury he gave to Jacob. Why not? The God depicted in this Bible story seems eerily similar to the Greek gods and their mischievous human interventions.

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"Why did God reward Leah for allowing Jacob to sleep with her servant?"

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"Why did God reward Leah for allowing Jacob to sleep with her servant?"

Genesis 30:9-10 When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Then Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son.

Genesis 30:18 Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my servant to my husband."

After Leah is no longer able to conceive, she offers her servant to Jacob as a wife so that she may have more children through her. Leah is then rewarded for her actions by being allowed to conceive children again. Why would God reward what is effectively polygamy? 

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"Why did God send bears to kill a group of 42 children for mocking Elisha?"

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"Why did God send bears to kill a group of 42 children for mocking Elisha?"
2 Kings 2:23-24 He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” And he turned around, and when he saw them, che cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys.

At first glance this seems to be an inordinate response to the boys' mean-spirited mockery. Did the children deserve to be killed in this fashion for mocking Elijah? Why did God choose bears for this task? Couldn't he simply strike them dead on his own and spare the boys the torture of being torn apart by bears? More importantly, did they deserve to be killed at all?

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"Why did God bless Abraham if he had concubines?"

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Genesis 25:5-6 Abraham gave all he had to Isaac. But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country.

In Genesis, God gives Abraham everything. He blesses him above all others. Yet Abraham clearly has concubines. Why doesn't God ever mention them, let alone chastise Abraham for having them? Does God support infidelity, promiscuity, sex slavery, and/or polygamy?

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"Why did God tell Abraham to kill his own son?"

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Genesis 22:1-2 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.

Genesis 22:9-12 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

We are told that Abraham was ordered by God to sacrifice his own son.  As Abraham is about to strike Isaac, an angel tells him to stop and that God now knows he is fearful of him, so he spares Isaac.  Why did God need to test Abraham at all? Up to this point Abraham has been extremely loyal. Why did God need to test him in this way? As an omnipotent being, wouldn't he have already known if Abraham was fearful of him?  Why is it important that Abraham fears God?  Why did God choose human sacrifice as the test? Does God support human sacrifice? If he does not support human sacrifice, why would he want a follower who would willingly do such a thing even if commanded to? Abraham obviously believed that his God could and would demand such a sacrifice.

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"Why did God make all of the women in Abimelech's kingdom barren?"

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Genesis 20:14-18 Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him. And Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you, and before everyone you are vindicated.” Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. For the Lord had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

In this verse God made all the women, including the slaves, barren as punishment for Abimelech's crimes. This seems unfair to the women, considering that they did not choose for Abimelech to kidnap Sarah. Why is it just for God to punish one group of people for the actions of someone else? Why wouldn't God punish Abimelech alone?

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"Why did God turn Lot's wife into a pillar of salt?"

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"Why did God turn Lot's wife into a pillar of salt?"
Genesis 19:24-26 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

This seems like a rather harsh punishment for simply looking back on Sodom, which was formerly her home.  Did she really deserve to die for this? Why did god choose a pillar of salt? Why not a tree, or a rock, or simply just kill her?

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"Why did God need to use a rib to create Eve?"

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Genesis 2:21-22 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

When God creates Adam, the Bible says he created him from dust and then breathed life into him. Why then, when it comes to the creation of Eve, does God have to use a rib? Could he have used one of adams fingers, or his tailbone? Why did he need anything from Adam at all? 

There is also the biological question of how could Adam's rib, which contained Adam's DNA, have created anything other than a copy of Adam?

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"Is there any evidence of an unusually long day as described in Joshua?"

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"Joshua 10:12-14 At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,

“Sun, stand still at Gibeon,
    and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.”
And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
    until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.

Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel."

This event seems suspiciously absent from the stories of other ancient cultures during the same period. Wouldn't such a suspension of physics cause all sorts of other catastrophes around the world? Why is the sun described as having "stopped in the midst of heaven"? Is the sky the same thing as heaven? Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that the Earth stopped rotating on its axis? Why would God do this just to support the violence and killing perpetrated by Joshua? What is the Book of Jashar and why is it not included in the Bible?

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