Was there a conflation between "the Just God" and an abusive tribal father figure? How could there not be?  This reminds me of the popular view that there's nothing wrong with a little rage as long as it's directed toward a "just end."  It also reminds me of a comment from a prayer by St. Anselm:

"So the accused flees from the just God to the good mother of the merciful God"

  Warner, in "Alone of All Her Sex" comments on this kind of maternal reparation of the Imago Dei:  "The Virgin gives Christ the Judge his human face; as Anselm's prayer conveys, she transforms him, by a magician's sweep of her hand, from the God of justice to the God of mercy."