Name God’s acts of mercy in the Old Testament

[TommySoda]

Preferably your favorite ones.

 

[thecolorsblend]

Not wiping out Nineveh was kind of a big deal.

 

[Jonaitis]

The story of Manassah, king of Judah, from 2 Chronicles 33:1-17 is one of my favorites, it relates to my own personal conversion.

Manassah: The Beginning of His Reign

Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had broken down, and he erected altars to the Baals, and made Asheroth, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.” And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. And the carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever, and I will no more remove the foot of Israel from the land that I appointed for your fathers, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the rules given through Moses.” Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.

The King Removed and Taken to Babylon

The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.

His Return to Jerusalem

Afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David west of Gihon, in the valley, and for the entrance into the Fish Gate, and carried it around Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah. And he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city. He also restored the altar of the Lord and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and he commanded Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel. Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.

 

[HTacianas]

Preferably your favorite ones.

Probably the most well known was the sparing of Nineveh. But then you wonder about the ordeal Jonah went through to get there. Nobody likes being swallowed by a whale.

Probably my favorite is God's changing his mind about destroying the Israelites in Exodus 32. It demonstrates the power of the prayer of a righteous man. But for that, the salvation of mankind might not have come for hundreds of years later than it did. But then God did destroy those who were guilty, demonstrating justice.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

Preferably your favorite ones.

.....hmmm, I guess if we start from the beginning of the Bible, and despite whether the story of the Garden of Eden is literally true or just metaphorically relevant, I'm glad to see that God didn't just outright kill Adam and Eve with a lightning bolt from the get go and send their souls into instance oblivion ....................

No, He instead mercifully banished them from the Garden and applied another way to 'work things out.'

 

[Jonaitis]

I'm glad to see that God didn't just outright kill Adam and Eve...No, He instead mercifully banished from them from the Garden and applied another way to 'work things out.'

That is true, Adam should have also immediately and physically died. Instead, God provided them an animal sacrifice to atone for a temporal death and promised the one true Sacrifice to atone for their true sin.

Another thing to note about this banishment out of the garden, which was an act of mercy, was the tree of life . Had they eaten of the tree of life after they had sin, imagine what sort of world we would live in? There wouldn't be death in a fallen world.

 

[Brian Mcnamee]

david after adultery and killing Uriah even in Gods mercy there are consequences. Psalm 51 is a great plea or repentance.

 

[TommySoda]

Bump