"Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven,25 and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground." (Genesis 19; 24-25, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah)
It is currently generally accepted that God in the old testament is portrayed as wrathful, while in the new testament God has become (or is simply shown as) more forgiving and mellow. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is a good example of this difference. Perhaps if Sodom had been sinful in the new testament God would have found a way to forgive them. Psalm 18 also appears to be a fairly typical representation of how God's wrath or temper was according to the old testament "The LORD thundered from on high...He let loose his arrows, and scattered them, lightning bolts shot and he panicked them." (Psalm 18; 14-15). What are the implications of such a mighty vengeful God as the one that is followed? I would argue that according to this psalm; this is certainly a very powerful God. However, there is no mention of wrath. The LORD is not acting out of wrath or anger but merely protecting (albeit in a very violent way) on of His important people (supposedly David). This psalm is not one that shows God's wrath such that one needs to fear God. Rather it is a portrayal of the awesome power that this God is capable of using to aid those who cry out to Him. It is one that can make the believer more comforted the think that a God that is so powerful and helpful is near at hand and listens to calls for help.
The issue of the portrayal of what appears to be another religion also appears in Psalm 18 with the image of God riding down from heaven on a Cherub. According to the notes, Cherubs are the steeds of the sky God in Canaanite mythology. This is particularly odd due to the fact that the Canaanites were heathens according to the Hebrews. They were the non-believers (according to the Hebrews) and worshiped many God's such as the one that rode the Cherub. Why is the God of the Hebrews portrayed in the same way that one of the Canaanites might be? Over the years many religions have absorbed others. To do this they use bits of the other religions to appease the newcomers and make their religions similar enough that the converting one would be more likely to convert. The Christmas celebration has been interpreted to be an example of this. The Christians took a pagan rite of worship to their God's and used it in their worship of Jesus so that the pagans would be more likely to follow Christianity. However it is a big leap to assume that merely because of this small passage in one psalm that this was going on. Perhaps a more likely explanation is that the idea of Cherubs was used by the Canaanites and somehow just trickled into the Hebrew ideas through exposure to Canaanite peoples.
Going back to the 'wrath' of God, there are cases in the old testament where God is the forgiving God that appears later (the story of Jonas for example). In fact, there are also cases in the new testament where God is portrayed as more frightening as in the story of the shepherds and the angel "And lo, the angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone upon them and they were terrified" (Luke 2:9) or in Revelations which is all about judgment, punishment and the end of the world. The views of God change and shift and are all about what is read and what is considered important. In Psalm 18, the destruction that God causes takes only a part of the psalm. The rest is about safety and the cradling shelter God provides. How God is seen is not so easy to discern based solely on old or new testament.
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