The older strata of the Bible pictured a god (Yahweh) that appeared to be a projection of an unformed, "amoral" stage of ego development: Yahweh's behavior is "lacking in self-reflection," inflated with self-power, "unconscious" of the needs of others, and ruled by the emotions of anger and vengeance. The god of the book of Job projects his own lack of insight onto the innocent and suffering human being. God's sarcastic, defensive, and belligerent thunderings at Job, after all that Job has gone through, are avoidance mechanisms covering his own guilt at causing this human being to be tortured in the first place, and also miss the point of Job's sensitive, honest questions about why he has had to suffer. In his tremendous speech from the whirlwind, Yahweh repeatedly feels the need to tree his own "righteousness" -- significantly, since it is the quality he lacks. His description of the sea and earth monsters he has created (Leviathan and Behemoth), with their impenetrable coats of mail and their hearts as "hard stone" is a self-description. His railings are really self-incriminations veiled as accusations of Job; e.g., "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" and "Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?"
William Paden Interpreting the Sacred, 56-57
