1 Ne 20:9 Nevertheless, for my name’s sake will I defer mine anger

On occasion, prophets have plead with the Lord that he not destroy the house of Israel. One of the arguments used is that if He does, he will seem to be a ruthless, merciless God to those nations who do not know Him. Therefore, he preserves them for His name’s sake:

   And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:

   Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

   And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?

   Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.

   Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever (Ex 32:9-13).

   And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard said unto the servant: Let us go to and hew down the trees of the vineyard and cast them into the fire, that they shall not cumber the ground of my vineyard, for I have done all. What could I have done more for my vineyard?

   But, behold, the servant said unto the Lord of the vineyard: Spare it a little longer.

   And the Lord said: Yea, I will spare it a little longer, for it grieveth me that I should lose the trees of my vineyard. (Jacob 5:49-51)

“The Lord Jehovah had placed his name and the promise of his power upon the nation of Israel. They were his people; they were to become his peculiar treasure. He had given that name and power to none other, and had no intention of his holy name being forgotten, ignored, or profaned by the surrounding nations. ‘I will not suffer my name to be polluted,’ he said, ‘and I will not give my glory unto another.’ ("1 Ne. 20:41 Ne. 20:4, "1 Ne. 20:8"1 Ne. 20:98-9,11)"1 Ne. 20:11” (Kent P. Jackson, ed., Studies in Scripture, Vol. 7: 1 Nephi to Alma 29 [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1987], 78.)