Day 166 What ticks God off?

YHWH has gained a reputation for being a thunderous and angry God of the Old Testament, but as far as I can see,there has only been 6 times when "the anger of the Lord burned against Israel"


1. The first is found in Numbers 25:3 Israelites are now on their journey of deliverance to the promised land and they become worshipers of lesser gods.

2. Next in Numbers 32:13 they refuse to engage in fighting to possess the promised land and end up going in circles for 40 years in the desert.

3. Joshua 7:1 They stole from God (Achan). God swiftly put an end to the whole family.

4.Judges 3:7-9 "they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. The anger of the LORD burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim." They served other gods and He sold them into the hand of the enemy.

5. 2 Sam 24 God incites David to number the army.
While we aren't told why God was angry at Israel but when David realizes what he had done he says to Gad, "I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men." This is something to learn from, God does have a greater picture always, we know from the NT book of James God does not tempt us, even so we don't know what happened here. We just see what Davids response was. He relied on God's mercy and knew that he was safer in Gods punishment and in the hands of men.
Also "I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." that also marks David out as someone who needs to show YHWH that he, David, is serious in his devotion to God. I have heard it say our pocket book often shows where we are most devoted.

6. Lastly, 2 Kings 13:3 "He did evil in the eyes of the LORD by following the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit, and he did not turn away from them. ³ So the LORD's anger burned against Israel, and for a long time he kept them under the power of Hazael king of Aram and Ben-Hadad his son.
We are without excuse when we choose to follow another's sin.
"Following the sins of another will get us into bother"!

In each instance, God's anger came to an end. The punishment is out and that is the end of it. His punishments may be to three or four generations but his blessings are to thousands.

Let's recap, God got angry 6 times in how many thousands of years? 6 times for many of us is once a day - and of course nobody get angry on Sunday do they??
Have a blessed peaceful day