8 Moses immediately bowed down to the ground and worshiped.

9 “O Lord,” he said, “if I have indeed found favor in Your sight, my Lord, please go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our iniquity and sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”

— Exodus 34:8-9

Surely the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets.

— Amos 3:7

18 So the LORD was very angry with Israel, and He removed them from His presence. Only the tribe of Judah remained,

19 and even Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but lived according to the customs Israel had introduced.

20 So the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel. He afflicted them and delivered them into the hands of plunderers, until He had banished them from His presence.

23 Finally, the LORD removed Israel from His presence, as He had declared through all His servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their homeland into Assyria, where they are to this day.

— 2 Kings 17:18-20, 23

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, mercy and salvation from Christ to you.

From the repeated instances in the Old Testament we see even as God’s wrath fell upon rebellious people, God still reveals Himself as compassionate, gracious, and abounding in love. The Old Testament resounds with accounts of God’s merciful intervention to uphold His purposes and His people. God did not ignore His people’s mounting sin but continued to show them mercy. When ungodly kings led His covenant people into idolatry and overt sin, God repeatedly sent prophets to call for repentance and warn His people of the consequences of their rebellion.

God’s judgment indeed brought the defeat by foreign nations and exile in distant lands that He had promised. Despite His judgment, God mercifully allowed His people to return to their land and preserved the Davidic line of His promised Messiah. We can see God exercises judgment in purposeful and redemptive ways. He disciplines His people to bring them to repentance. The Old Testament proves we deserve God’s judgment and need His mercy. Flagrant failures prepare us for the ultimate expression of grace through God’s gift of His Son.