Pastor John,
So many times God forgave Israel for their transgressions. I think that is so telling when considering how in Deuteronomy 17, God commanded that any Israelite man or woman caught worshipping other Gods were to be taken outside the city and killed.
It wasn’t because God hated the offender that God destroyed the man or woman, but it was His love for those who hadn’t gone astray that caused Him to take their life. God loved them all too much to let an ungodly heart influence them.
The Father proved over and over that He loved them and would forgive them if they only would obey so they could be blessed.
It makes for a very different view of the living God versus the one so many have misunderstood as being cruel in the Old Testament for handing out death sentences.
Jerry