Nehemiah 9:17

"... but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not."

In Nehemiah 9 the priests are recounting the history of Israel. This review is taking place after the exile, when the Jews were returning to, and rebuilding, Jerusalem. And in terms of their love and devotion to God, their history is grim. For while He blessed them abundantly, and guided them every step of the way to the Promised Land, they continually ignored Him and His commands, continually followed after their own ideas of what they should be doing, continually disobeying Him.

This verse is early in the telling. In this part of their history, Israel had just been brought out of Egypt. In their flight they constantly clamored to return. They preferred slavery in Egypt to a few hardships in the desert, refusing to recall that God had promised them a bountiful land. He brought them out of Egypt, He would certainly bring them into the Promised Land. With 20/20 hindsight the priests come to this which is written above, "... but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not."

They could see that for what they had done, God could have easily set them aside, He could have forsaken them. That certainly would have been the human response. After having saved someone out of a terrible situation, to then hear them complain about how things were going, and to hear them desire to return from where they were saved, would weary the strongest of us. We might finally tell them that we would be happy to take them back, if they wanted that so badly. Or, we might just stop right where we are to inform the complainer that we will not take them any further, and that they are on their own. It takes eternal humility to bear with this kind of complaining. God did not respond to Israel in either of these ways. He did not take them back, He did not leave them alone to fend for themselves. The next verse after this one speaks of how God continued to guide with the pillar of cloud during the day and the pillar of fire at night. He continued to provide manna for their sustenance. And He continued to maintain their clothing (which, we are told elsewhere, did not wear out the whole forty years that they wandered in the desert). He did not forsake them.

Why would this be? Why would God treat them so, after they had fought Him at every turn? It is because of who He is. We are told elsewhere that He cannot deny Himself. His character is unchanging. Who He was 1,000,000 years ago is who He is now. This verse lists four characteristics of His that came into play in the history of Israel. He is an infinite Being, and so has an infinite character. But four characteristics in particular are pointed to in this verse.

First, He is ready to pardon. The Heavenly Father is ready to pardon! This statement heads the list, and it is the thing that shines the brightest. After all, it was against God that the Israelites had rebelled (and we too, for that matter). He had removed them from slavery. He had told them in their own hearing what were His commands (Exodus 20). They couldn't say they didn't know. Withing 30 days of having heard God’s command they fell to idolatry. But, He is ready to pardon. Not only was this good news for the Israelites, it is good news for us.

Second, He is gracious and merciful. Grace is giving that which is not deserved. The one who is gracious has it in his ability to bestow a thing on someone else. To be gracious, though, it must be bestowed on someone who is undeserving. As noted, after the statement quoted above, the priests told of how God continued to bless Israel with His presence and His provision. They did not deserve His blessing, but He, being gracious, gave it nonetheless. Mercy is NOT giving something that is deserved. In the case of Israel, they certainly deserved His judgment against their sin. But He is merciful. Being such, He did not pour out upon them what they deserved.

Third, He is slow to anger. Continue to read in Nehemiah 9. You will find that this incident of Israel’s rebellion was only the beginning. Many, many more times they followed the same pattern. And each and every time He blessed them. This was not because He approved of their behavior, but because He keeps His promises, and He is slow to anger. Even today there is much in the world that clearly violates God’s laws and ways. Has He judged? He is slow to anger. The day will surely come when He will hold back His wrath no longer. But He has tolerated the sinfulness of mankind for around 10,000 years so far. He is slow to anger.

Fourth, He is of great kindness. Kindness can be seen in pity. Kindness is applied where there is a sense of the inability of a person to care for himself. This is most wonderful. For it shows us that God remembers our frame, that we are dust. He was kind to the Israelites because, as it is said elsewhere, they were as sheep having no shepherd. A heart that is kind is one that has seen the affliction, and desires to relieve. In spite of their rebellious ways, rather, because of them, they displayed their inability to follow God’s ways. And God’s desire was to be kind to these wayward, rebellious folks. He is fo great kindness.

This is useful for us to take in because God never changes. As He was to the Israelites so many years ago, so is He toward us. In the flood, and at Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, God showed that He is well able to judge. We dare not underestimate this quality of His. Not only can He judge, not only has He judged, but He will again. But for many, many years He has not. Why? Because He is, "... a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness ..."

He is to be praised for who He is. The priests in Nehemiah’s day took it in. We should consider what they related, and ourselves turn to and trust this gracious, merciful, longsuffering, pardoning, kind God.

HJK