I was thinking the other day about how in certain events in Scripture someone changes God’s mind. One example is Abraham pausing God when He wanted to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:20-33
). Then there was Moses when God wanted to wipe out the Israelites and form a nation through him (Exodus 32:9-14). In this event the Scripture even says “the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.” Was the LORD considering evil? Was God’s mind changed. If God knows all and knows the beginning from the end, then why would His mind need to get changed?
I then thought to my children, especially at a younger age. I think this is true of most kids as well. When children are in the “terrible twos” they sometimes feel a beginning of a sense of independence and sometime refuse to come when it is time to leave the park, playground, store, etc. My kids certainly did this. One thing I did at these times instead of struggling with them, was to try and get them to realize and learn that they need their parents, especially at this juncture in their lives. I would say something like, “OK, I am going now. See you later. Hope you can find your way back home.” Was I actually choosing an evil path and really considering leaving my two year old there? Of course not. I would get a bit away, perhaps around a corner and peak back and most often, the child would sense that they are in over their heads and get up and come to where I was going. I would head back to them and then be able to leave with them. Did I change my mind about leaving them there? No, it was never my intention to do so. But, I helped them to learn something, so that the next time they might have that lesson stored away and be more likely to obey, rather than risk my attempting to leave them again.
Might it be the same thing with God, might he be teaching us a lesson, as well as the people involved at the time? I think it just might. God most likely knew that there was not even ten righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah, but “allowing Abraham to change His mind” gave Abraham a chance to trust God better in His words and in His ways. In a similar vein, Moses learned of God’s love for His people, for His ability to forgive and remain faithful to His covenant, as God allowed Moses to work it all out in his own mind. I don’t think God ever intentioned to destroy His people, which would invalidate the promise made to Abraham, Issac and Jacob and form a great nation out of Moses. God knows better and is true to His word and His covenants.
So does God change His mind? I don’t think so. And that is something that I am glad about and can rest therein.
B”H
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2 responses so far ↓
1 Names Bookworm // Jun 14, 2008 at 2:31 pm
I can totally relate to this question, and the use of that line of reasoning to draw a conclusion. I use the parent/child analogy a lot to understand things about the Lord that scripture is either silent on or seems to be different about under the Old/New Covenants.
However, how do you address the inevitable question about the validity and truth of scripture? It’s one thing to acknowledge that when an Old Testament character like Job spoke, he was saying his opinion, and not “absolute truth.” But how do we treat the Pentateuch? As Moses’ opinion and interpretation of God? Or as “absolute truth” as written?
The slippery slope is obviously that when you invalidate one part of the scripture, it calls into question even the stuff that everyone might generally agree is True. Even if you blame translation issues or the multi-millennial and geographical culture gap, all this does is encourage uncertainty about our understanding of what the scriptures mean.
Not trying to open a can of worms, but honestly wondering if you’ve ever heard an answer to this ponderance… Thanks!
2 B Z // Jun 15, 2008 at 11:48 am
I didn’t really see it as I was rejecting the Scripture as absolute truth. Are you suggesting that the Scripture “the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.” is therefore not truth and is just an opinion? I was not thinking that way, but thinking that we may interpret it incorrectly. Certainly if I told the story of leaving my kid in the park, most would not take it as literal, but understand the meaning. My guess is that it is similar to a parable by Yeshua, where some totally missed the meaning.
As my blogs subtitle states, I am working all these things out, and just doing it publicly, wherein I can get interesting and helpful responses from other believers. One thing that I do not have is all the answers, and I would certainly not denigrate Scripture to lift up my own opinions. I was blown away when I first heard that Martin Luther called the book of James a straw epistle because it was difficult to understand in light of his theology. If anything I question my theology, not the Scripture, or possibly just leave it as a very hard to understand Scripture.
In this case it is hard to understand how God knows all and yet considers an evil, or changes His mind. This was one thought that came to my mind to explain it. If it means therefore that I am calling Scripture invalid or not true, then I reject that line of though and keep reading and praying and see how God explains it to me further. I have less confidence in my intelligence than I do in the truth of Scripture, so I more doubt my intelligence than Scripture.
It is much more likely that my statements are untrue than it is the Scripture is. I thank you for you input. I will continue to ponder and see if I am indeed saying that the Scripture is untrue in the telling of these events, and if so will continue to seek the truth from the Master.
B’H
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