PSALM 136: NEGATIVE MIRACLES IN THE BIBLE

 Let's start out with some interesting statistics regarding miracles. If you leave out occasions of God supernaturally communicating to people through dreams and prophetic utterances, and don't count the general passages where Jesus or his followers are said to have cured many people in a town, these are the rough numbers you arrive at for specific miracles:

Old Testament – 61 miracles: 30 are "negative"; 31 are "positive."

Gospels and Acts – 65 miracles: 5 are "negative"; 60 are "positive."

These statistics have convinced some people that the God of the OT is portrayed as much crueler and less loving than the God of the NT.

But look at these verses taken from Psalm 136:

        O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good

                Who struck Egypt through their firstborn,

                            For his steadfast love endures forever;

                Who overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea

                           For his steadfast love endures forever;

                Who struck down great kings,

                           For his steadfast love endures forever.

Note that God's negative miracles toward his enemies are alternated with a repeated chorus indicating that these same miracles actually demonstrate God's great love for His chosen people. And when God did turn against the Jews themselves, it was to punish overtly sinful behavior that threatened to destroy them from within, or to chasten them so that they would reconsider their course of action.

“The fact that Yahweh is pictured more as a smiter than a healer in the OT is due to the historically sinful character of the people, not to any lack of beneficence in the character of the Lord.” (Chan, et. al., Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, III, p. 1170)