The whole Bible is the full revelation, Kosta. If we cut out an entire section, then we lose some of what God wants us to know about Him. We can't just keep the parts that sound nice to us and throw away the rest. We have to take it all as it was given.
So, the only thing we can conclude is that either God did not smite all these people or that the Jews misinterpreted what happened and "credited" God out of their own ignorance.
That's fashioning the God you want, not the one Who is revealed to us. If we conclude that this much of the OT was in total error, then we can't trust any of it. There would be nothing Holy about God's word.
“That’s fashioning the God you want, not the one Who is revealed to us.”
In fact, FK, Kosta’s comments are fully patristic and express the belief of the the One Church from the earliest days. The Fathers and early Christians understood that through the Incarnation, EVERYTHING was different, including our understanding of God. Some months ago you read +Athanasius the Great On the Incarnation. In great measure, FK, what Kosta is saying is in some measure +Athanasius’ point. God became man because men didn’t understand God. Burning bushes and speaking from clouds just wasn’t getting the job done!
Seen through the lens of the Gospels and the New Testament.
If we cut out an entire section, then we lose some of what God wants us to know about Him
No one is cutting anything out. Just shedding the Light Christ placed on it. So that we can see it through His words.
We can't just keep the parts that sound nice to us and throw away the rest
The Protestants should heed their own advice, FK, for the Apostles used the Septuagint and Apocrypha in their witness, and the Protestants rejected both.
That's fashioning the God you want, not the one Who is revealed to us
Our Savior appeared as anything we image the King of Kings would be like. He born by an unwed teen-age mother in a dark cave, with no one to help her, and uncertain what the future would bring (in her culture it was sure death by stoning). He was a poor, humble carpenter. That's not how we fashion and fancy our kings and important people. God showed us through Christ that our whole image of Him was warped. And His His words too.