God is merciful and slow to anger

It was a particularly busy day yesterday, but I did not get to enter anything. I apologize to all of my loyal readers. Such is the spiritual battle that we face every day.

From II Kings 13-15:

1. God is merciful and slow to anger - It is neat to see that even though the bible says that Jehoahaz was evil because he did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam led the Israelites into, God still had mercy on him when he sought God's face (see II Kings 13:4). It goes to show that God is an extremely merciful God, slow to anger and abounding in love. (See Psalms 86:15, Psalms 103:8 or Joel 2:13) (By the way, try reading Psalms 103 without being touched...it is hard.)
Additionally, I did a search for "slow to anger abounding in love" and the interesting thing is that it turned up all the results in the old testament. We tend to think of God as being much more unforgiving in the Old Testament; however, I think that it could be argued that the rules are much more stringent in the New Testament. See the sermon on the mount speech if you doubt this. However, God does not change, so he is always merciful and loving.

2. Jehoash is also recorded as having done evil in the eyes of the Lord for not having turned from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat. Nothing is mentioned about what these kings did wrong besides continuing in the idol worship that had been instituted generations before. I think it again re-iterates the need to evaluate customs and traditions to make sure that they are pleasing to God.

3. It is interesting to note that the king was judged according to his own actions. In chapter 14 it says that Amaziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord; however, it also says that the people continued to worship at the high places that Solomon had built. Amaziah could have done even better if, in addition to what he did himself, he had led the people to also leave their lives of idol worship. This is in contrast to Jehoash, who not only allowed the people to worship idols, but participated in it also.

4. What a thing to be known for: Menahem ripped open all the pregnant women of Tiphsah. I wonder if the word Mayhem comes from Menahem.