If you compare the old testament god to the new testament god in the form of his son jesus christ, the difference is almost night and day.
My first reading of the whole Bible in 1968 was a revelation !
I decided to read it because a dear school friend had just got himself converted to Christianity, much to my surprise, as he was great fun up to then.
I did indeed conclude that God evolved, almost perceptibly chapter by chapter. After a few pages in Genesis it quickly becomes clear that God was the tribal God of the Israelites and hated all the nearby tribes. Quite often he punished his own chosen tribe for disobeying trivial rules. In the New Testament, he is often rather nice and becomes the God of the Gentiles, but you need to ignore the last book (Revelation) to retain this opinion, for in that book he dishes out horrendous punishment to much of mankind, saving only a few thousand Jews who will become the inhabitants of a new Jerusalem. You also need to ignore the references to the wailing and gnashing of teeth.
After reading it, I was totally convinced it was mostly invented history embellished by magic as a literary device.
Another interesting thing I noticed, is the long conversations with God in the Old testament, that gradually disappear.
God actually dwelt among the Israelites, sometimes in a tent, and was regularly revealing himself in the form of a cloudy or fiery column.
He even had a seat on the famous ark of the covenant. Later, he hid in a bush up a mountain.
In the New Testament there are no conversations with God (unless you assume Jesus was God). God says very little at all.
It's almost as if he's retired to some remote realm, just above the clouds, sitting on a golden throne.
According to some historians, much of the Old testament was written down centuries after the events depicted
Try this test: Think of a long conversation you had, say, a year ago.
Could you write down, from memory, word for word, exactly what was said by each person without inventing anything or summarizing ?
Much of the Pentateuch involves extremely long conversations with God and with only one person present as a "witness".
Even if a scribe was present, recording conversations, there is still a problem.
I have, in my working life, sometimes taken "minutes" at meetings. It's quite a tricky occupation. I was often criticized for recording falsehoods.
For my part, writing down conversations, hundreds of years later, from oral tradition, without resorting to invention, stretches credulity to breaking point.
