Sparky - You've brought out a very important point..
Many people don't understand the apparent differences between the Character of Jesus, and that of Jehovah..
Jehovah is portrayed as a hateful, "jealous", war Mongering God, that loved 1,000's of animals to be sacrificed to him.
If you really examine the OT as you have done, you will see Two Narratives.
1. Narrative 1 - Jehovah who is Love, and expects nothing other than following his Simple Laws that are in place for the betterment of Humanity.
2. Narrative 2 - Man made Laws,Traditions and Rituals which were later further distorted by Creeds & Organizations changing the Bible to suit their agendas.
An example of this is seen in Animal Sacrifice.. As we know it is scattered all through out The Old Testament. They are said to be "A restful odor to Jehovah" however compare this to what Jehovah says through his True Prophets - Judge for your selves, if the below words speak of a God that demands Animal Sacrifice, or even Enjoys the death of innocent animals.
Psalm 50:9 "I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens,"
- Psalm 50:7“Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. 8Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me. 9I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. 10For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. 11I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. 12“If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. 13Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? 14Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,band perform your vows to the Most High,
Proverbs 21:3 "To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice."
Jeremiah 7:22 "For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices,"
Isaiah 1:11 ""The multitude of your sacrifices-- what are they to me?" says the LORD. "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats."
Psalm 51:16 "You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings."
Psalm 40:6 "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire-- but my ears you have opened -- burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require."
Psalm 69:30,31 " 30I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. 31This will please the LORD more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs."
Isaiah 40:16 "Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings."
Amos 5:22 "Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them."
Micah 6:6-8 " 6“With what shall I come before the LORD,and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7Will the LORD be pleased witha thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
Micah 6:8 - Shows Jehovah's True Commandment, and what genuinely pleases him :
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Jeremiah 7:21 ""'This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves!"
