What if the bible were rewritten?

[SteveII]

You seem to be confusing anger with acting in anger. There is no indication that God acted rashly or hastily.

But he did act in anger, yes?

You think that God is somehow bound by what we consider just or fair.

On the contrary, I am aware that god is NOT bound by what we consider just or fair.  God is not 'bound' by anything, because no one can challenge his power.  It doesn't matter if his actions regarding Job were just or fair, and this is indeed what god made clear to Job, and what Job finally understood.  Note that when god addresses Job, he doesn't speak of obligations or fairness; he compares his magnificent and near-limitless power to that of the weak little human before him.  Job had no recourse.  God has no obstacles.

Regarding your hypothetical if God created beings without freewill, would he send them to Hell (which is best defined as eternal separation from God). No, that would not be within the character of God being the greatest conceivable being. But we do have freewill, so the burden shifts to us.

So why wouldn't god choose for us?  We have free will because he gave it to us, and apparently the only possible use for it is to get on his bad side, seeing as no human as yet has managed to avoid sin.  Job apparently did all he could to get on god's good side, and he was raked over the coals for it.  I'd just as soon that god choose to save us all than that he leave us foundering in a situation where the vast majority of us will end up suffering eternal torment.  That cannot be the best possible outcome.

I don't recall any passage that would be similar to a human smiting another in anger in an unjustified or hasty manner. Judgment was always declared prior to the consequence. 

The major lesson in Job is that bad things do not happen because of retribution or because God was unaware (the two options that Job postulated for his plight). The running of the universe and all the events from creation to the end of it is a little more complicated and cries of "injustice" are not warranted. Understanding our position in relationship with God is important when discussing whether God is a "murderous prick". 

You simply can't have love without freewill. That's what God wanted for us between each other and toward him.