"For the lord thy god is a jealous god among you."

[Lek]

I'll say it for the zillionth time.  There is no need to justify God, apologize or make excuses for him.  The punishment for sin is death and it's inherent in the human race.  If you can't accept that then you can't accept the christian God.  I'd rather die by the sword than by countless many ways that people die.  I must live my life in an imperfect world and then die, and God could alleviate that, but he doesn't because I suffer the consequences of sin.  When this life is over we'll have  much better life thanks to Jesus.  A christian must accept that God has the right to punish us and that he is just in doing so.  Thankfully, no one is forced to accept that, but it is an essential doctrine of christianity.