By: Obed Pineda
“Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy.” (Micah 7:18, emphasis added).
When the prophet Micah was Divinely inspired to write these words, Judah was already separated from Israel as the kingdom of the south and Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah had worn the crown during his tenure as a prophet of the Lord (Micah 1:1). Israel (the kingdom of the north) had yet to be taken captive by the cruel and merciless Assyrian empire since the prophet predicts the Lord’s punishment of their sins in this sacred book (Micah 3:1-7). During his time of wearing the prophet’s mantle, both Israel and Judah were engrossed with sinful living to the point where the prophet describes the Lord lamenting, “I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked; I will make a wailing like the jackals And a mourning like the ostriches, for her wounds are incurable. For it has come to Judah; it has come to the gate of My people – to Jerusalem” (Micah 1:8-9, emphasis added). Indeed, it is a mournful reality to know that Israel’s age of kings, after Solomon’s rule, is also the darkest period in history. In fact, Scripture reveals that it was Solomon’s spiritual infidelity to Jehovah God what put in motion Israel’s rapid decline from glory (1st Kings 11:1-13). The travesty that followed is palpable when one learns that of the kings of Israel, from Jeroboam to Hoshea, all of them were wicked in the sight of God and of the kings of Judah, from Rehoboam to Zedekiah, only three (Asa, Hezekiah, and Josiah) are said to have done what was right in the sight of the Lord (1st Kings 15:9-11, 2nd Kings 18:1-3, and 22:1-2). These astounding facts illumine the horrid state of moral and spiritual decay that prevailed in Israel’s and Judah’s society for three hundred and eighty-seven years. Moreover, it also validates the prophet Micah’s assurance that God “delights in mercy.” Before turning His people over to the Assyrians and Babylonians, the Lord pleaded with His people to repent from their wicked ways. Holy Writ declares, “And the Lord God of their fathers sent a warning to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy” (2nd Chronicles 36:15-16, emphasis added). Keep in mind that the words penned by the inspired Micah predicting that “Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the temple like the bare hills of the forest” as a consequence of their persistence in sin were done so during Hezekiah’s reign in Judah, seventy years prior to Jerusalem’s destruction at the hands of Babylon (Micah 3:12, Jeremiah 26:17-19). Although these words were spoken as a reminder to a murderous mob by certain elders protecting the prophet Jeremiah, the people of God did not follow the example of King Hezekiah who feared Jehovah God and sought His favor. The level of apostasy among His chosen nation had reached its zenith and God’s well of patience had finally run dry. Regrettably, the valiant effort of King Josiah to thoroughly eradicate idolatry, restore true worship, and return the hearts of Judah back to Jehovah God was short-lived, for Judah and her monarchs did indeed return to their evil ways (2nd Chronicles 34:1-36:21). Thus, what can we learn from 2nd Chronicles 36:15-16? One valuable lesson this passage teaches, along with its parallel from Micah, is undeniably the patience, justice, and love of God. It must be taken into account that from the moment the kingdom of Israel divided into two sovereign nations to when Judah was finally taken captive by Babylon, more than three hundred years had passed. Discovering that God this entire time called His disobedient children to repentance and waited for them to comply until He finally poured His righteous wrath upon them, certainly validates Nahum’s proclamation, “God is jealous, and the Lord avenges; the Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies; the Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked” (Nahum 1:2-3a, emphasis added). Ergo, this manifestation of Divine Magnanimity was brought into focus by the Master in response to Peter’s question, “‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven’” (Matthew 18:21-22, emphasis added). Remember that our Lord would never demand from His church that which He has not already put into practice. Therefore, Jesus being God was indirectly reminding His audience that undoubtedly God had forgiven the offenses of the children of Israel for many more times than just seven. Verily, the Redeemer was educating His disciples on the importance of having a compassionate heart, but upright as well. Pay close attention to the explanation provided by the inspired amanuensis as to why Jehovah God eventually handed His chosen people over in captivity to pagan kingdoms: “He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place….til there was no remedy” (2nd Chronicles 36:15-16, emphasis added). This is the exact message heralded by Nahum promulgating that God “will not at all acquit the wicked.” Too often the Almighty’s long-suffering is mistaken for the tolerance of sin. Yet, the other fascinating and urgent lesson that must be grasped from the chronicler is that no matter the lapse of time, God will punish the wicked because “He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation” (Numbers 14:18, emphasis added). Thus, this example of God’s incredible ability to wait for His children to turn away from their sin truly solidifies Peter’s synopsis that “with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night” (2nd Peter 3:8-10a, emphasis added). Understanding then that the Lord’s patience does have a limit, should also help us realize that if He has yet to punish our transgression accordingly, it is because He is magnanimously providing us ample opportunity to repent. This, however, does not mean that our wrongdoing will go unpunished if we do repent, rather that He is gifting us the undeserving “plea bargain” of a lesser punishment if we confess and turn away from our spiritual crimes. This, again, proves why He is the epitome of seventy times seven.