It has often been wondered why the biblical God of the Hebrews led them through trials and tribulations, floods and disaster when, from time to time, he appears to have performed with a quite contrary and merciful personality. The answer is that, although now seemingly embraced as the One God by the Jewish and Christian faiths, there was originally a distinct difference between the figures of Jehovah and the Lord. They were, in fact, quite separate deities. The god referred to as Jehovah was traditionally a storm god - a god of wrath and vengeance - whereas the god referred to as the Lord, was a god of fertility and wisdom
from a lecture by Laurence Gardner.
I have been reading his stuff lately and some of it is pretty interesting