Snickers and Broiled Fish
Calling God out for being cranky
People in the Old Testament used to call God out when He was being cranky. In Numbers 14, God was ready to plague and disinherit all of Israel, but Moses interceded.
He appealed to God’s ego, telling him that, if He did, the Egyptians would think He couldn’t handle His own people, and God wouldn’t want that, would He?
The Psalm 6 psalmist used similar reasoning in verse: Turn, O Lord, save my life; deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love. For in death, there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who can give you praise? You COULD let me die, sure… but think of all the remembrance you’d miss out on. Might as well deliver me so that I can keep on praising you. And Abraham, of course, used super clever negotiation tactics to talk God out of destroying Sodom for the sake of 50, then 45, then all the way down to 10 righteous people.
Contrast that with Jesus. Did anybody stand up to Jesus?
Sure, His authority was challenged by the Pharisees, and He was mocked by Roman soldiers, but that’s not quite the same thing. I don’t remember any of the disciples ever talking him down from anything; I’m not sure if He just never got as grumbly as God did in the old days, or if the disciples were just too in awe of him to ever even consider it.
