Why is god considered to be male?

[John Dibble]

Jews and Muslims also believe god is male, at least in terms of how the gender of his character is usually described. It's not necessarily that the Abrahamic god has male sex organs or anything like that, and there are some things in the Bible where he is described in a more maternal fashion.

As to why, I imagine it has to do with the culture of the Hebrews at the time when the Abrahamic god was conceived of. If you look in the Old Testament you'll find that their society was rather male-centric, with females usually playing a subordinate role. Since it's a monotheistic religion, the one god would be of the dominant gender as to represent what the culture would think of as the 'natural order'.