Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God?

Instead of mindlessly accepting the common mentality of the God of the Old Testament as an angry, punitive God, one might instead ask, why did Israel commit so much serious sin for so long? Contrary to being angry and punitive, the God of the Old Testament is more merciful than not. When Israel strays into idolatry, it is usually an extremely long time before God punishes. No parent would ever be so patient with a child who has been doing serious wrong for so long. However, God always accepts repentance. God is slow to anger. But after long periods, and no repentance is forthcoming, from people who should know better, when God finally responds, parties acting as His agents will kill, enslave, or conquer various Hebrews. The message to us today is to repent.