Thanks Blondie!
Now when I look back on articles like these, the Old Testament looks like a total disaster! And WT's application is really idiotic.
It is so clear that Jehovah has no ability to "read hearts." Saul was a total loser as J's first, hand-picked king. David would have never had to run for his life if J hadn't chosen a dude that went nutso as soon as he put on a crown.
David seems to have married wonderful women... but then forgot about them. But from what's written about the love between him and Jonathan, I think he played for both teams. And when David committed the sins of the census, adultery, and murder, Jehovah knew how to teach him a lesson... he saw to it that others were killed as a consequence of David's errors.
Then J had Solomon become king and granted him super-fantastic wisdom. Solomon acted wisely by marrying every women he could, accumulate fabulous wealth, and worship idols instead of J. So, J did the reasonable thing and chopped the kingdom into two pieces after Solomon was dead.
The 10 tribes never had a king that truly worshipped J. Even Jehu, who WT idolizes as a champion of true worship, stopped worshipping J and idolized the golden calves as soon as he became king. The kingdom of Judah had very few kings that put any effort into following the Mosaic Law. And why should they? Josiah was promised prophetically that he would die in peace... but he died in war instead.
The OT strikes me as a mess. It was no wonder that the Jews would look elsewhere for direction. And this is the foundation that WT builds on that all kinds of crazy sh!t can be forgiven if you're "really, really sorry"? It's know wonder WT has issues with molestation, domestic violence, etc.