There are a lot of nature images and metaphors in the Psalms but in this one, it seems nature is being used in a different way. Through his affect on nature, God is putting fear into people such as, " lightning bolt shot", "channels of water were exposed and the world's foundations laid bare", and " the earth heaved and shuddered." Nature also fears God. While God has created both nature and humans, he also has the power to destroy, which is the fear he is instilling. He has so much power and is now showing how he can use it (which seems negative).
The Psalm is affective because it is not saying that God will hurt all, but that he will harshly punish those who are the "enemies" ( those who the speaker of the psalm refers to as the opposition- wrongdoers, those who are faithless, etc). The speaker will be given a "shield of rescue" but " the God who grants vengeance to me and crushes people[the enemies] beneath me"- God will not come to the rescue of the enemies and therefore those who read this psalm will not want to be included in the "enemies."
I do think the image of God in Psalm 18 is alarming but that helps in its purpose- to convince those who read it to follow the rules set out by God and to fear his power by doing good and being faithful.
Also, I don't think it is problematic that elements of this God have been borrowed from other religious traditions. It only furthers the importance in the religion because it has connections to other religions and more depth. When religions are tied, the people in those groups may have similar beliefs and hopefully can get along rather than have tension and anger.
I am glad someone else caught the hellish connotations of the words used to describe God in the Psalm! The God depicted in here is a very different one that many of us probably grew up with.
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