Psalm Ethics

While reading through the Psalms, I find a very general ethic. For instance, in many of the Psalms, the author writes that the righteous will earn God's favor and the wicked will be punished, but rarely is it stated what constitutes righteous or wicked behavior. Some examples of the specific ethics that are implied in the Psalms include:

- (Psalm 4) do not "love vain things and seek out lies... offer righteous sacrifices and trust in the LORD"
- (Psalm 5) "You destroy the pronouncers of lies, a man of blood and deceit the LORD loathes"
- (Psalm 7) "If a man repent not, He sharpens His sword"
- (Psalm 10) "In the wicked man's pride he pursues the poor... the wicked did vaunt in his very lust, grasping for gain--cursed, blasphemed the LORD"
- (Psalm 15) "LORD, who will sojourn in Your tent, who will dwell on Your holy mountain? He who walks blameless and does justice and speaks the truth in his heart. Who slanders not with his tongue nor does to his fellow man evil"

Clearly, even these examples are fairly vague and general. The ethic described mostly entails being faithful in God, being honest, do not deceive, repent one's sins, do not exploit, lust, be greedy, blaspheme, etc. This does seem like a liveable ethic, however I do see one glaring contradiction. Psalm 5 states that "a man of blood and deceit the LORD loathes." I take this to mean that violence is unjust and goes against God's ethic. However, in nearly every Psalm there is some imagery of the Lord destroying and killing the author's enemies for him. I think that a God who looks down upon violence and murder should not be praised for commiting the same acts. It also seems to me that the ethic described by the Psalms is very different from the ethic that I associate with Christianity. When I think of the Christian God, I think of a God who is forgiving, one who seeks the end of evil, but does not seek the death of people who sin, which seems to be implied in the Psalms. Of Christians, I think of people who wish for the salvation of others - even those who have sinned against them - not their deaths.