Doesn't God sometimes change His mind?
Numbers 23, 1 Samuel 15, Psalm 110, and Jeremiah 18.
The short answer Settled
Scripture does say God regretted making Saul king. It never lets that regret mean God takes back what He has spoken or sworn. In the same chapter it says the opposite, and elsewhere it says plainly that God does not lie, does not fail to do what He says, and does not relent from an oath. When Jeremiah 18 says God may relent of good He announced to a nation, it states how He answers a nation's conduct, not a way to undo what He swore to Israel.
What God says about His own word
When Balak wanted Balaam to reverse God's blessing on Israel, Balaam answered: "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" (). Then he applied it to Israel: "He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it" ().
Regret over Saul
First Samuel 15 does say God regretted making Saul king: "I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king" (), and repeats it. But between those two statements, Samuel tells Saul that the kingdom has been given to another, and says, "the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent" (). The chapter holds both together. God's regret over a judged man is not God retracting the word He has announced.
An oath God will not take back
Psalm 110 puts an oath and a refusal to retract it in one line: "The LORD has sworn And will not relent" (). What He swore is a priesthood "forever," so the refusal governs a lasting appointment. applies this oath to Christ.
The potter's house
Jeremiah 18 is the passage most often raised here. God says that when He speaks of building and planting a nation, "if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it" (). It works the other way too: a nation that turns from its evil can escape the disaster He announced ().
This is a rule for "a nation" and "a kingdom," stated in general (), and God pressed it at once on Judah and Jerusalem as a warning of coming judgment (). It shows that a generation's evil can cost it the good God announced. It does not decide whether the rule reaches everything God has promised, and Jeremiah answers that for Israel directly. Israel would cease "From being a nation before Me forever" only if sun, moon, and stars departed (), and God would cast off Israel's seed "For all that they have done" only if heaven could be measured ().
The word Jeremiah 18 uses for God's relenting is also the word Psalm 110 denies after an oath: "The LORD has sworn And will not relent" (). And the land was promised to Israel under oath, "His oath to Isaac," confirmed "To Israel as an everlasting covenant" ().
Even the picture in Jeremiah 18 fits. When the vessel was marred, the potter "made it again into another vessel" (), and God says to Israel, "as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand" (). The same clay is reshaped; it is not thrown away for other clay.
The usual objection
The objection points to places where God relents or regrets, especially Saul, and argues that God may likewise withdraw a promise or an oath when people's conduct changes. It also points to , where God says He will relent of good He promised a nation that does evil, and argues that Israel's sin set that rule in motion.
The texts themselves keep those things apart. The same chapter that reports God's regret over Saul says God will not lie or relent from His declared word. Numbers ties God's truthfulness to His doing what He says, and applies it to His blessing on Israel. Psalm 110 says in so many words that God will not relent from what He has sworn. Jeremiah 18 states how God answers any nation's conduct, and Judah felt it in the exile. But the same prophet says Israel's conduct will not make God cast off her seed, and Scripture denies of God's oath the very relenting Jeremiah 18 describes.
The words behind it
| Word | Where | Form | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| וִיכַזֵּב ... וְיִתְנֶחָם vikhazzev ... veyitnecham, "that He should lie ... that He should repent" (3576, 5162) | Piel imperfect and Hithpael imperfect | God's truthfulness is tied to doing what He says. | |
| וְלֹא אֲשִׁיבֶנָּה velo ashivennah, "and I cannot reverse it" (3808, 7725) | Negative with Hiphil imperfect, first person | The blessing on Israel cannot be turned back. | |
| נִחַמְתִּי ... לֹא יִנָּחֵם nichamti ... lo yinnachem, "I greatly regret ... will not relent" (5162) | , 29 | The same verb, Niphal, for regret and for the refusal to relent | Context decides what is and is not taken back. |
| נִשְׁבַּע יְהוָה וְלֹא יִנָּחֵם nishba YHWH velo yinnachem, "The LORD has sworn And will not relent" (7650, 3068, 3808, 5162) | Niphal perfect, then negative with Niphal imperfect | A completed oath joined directly to the refusal to relent. | |
| עַל גּוֹי וְעַל מַמְלָכָה al goy ve'al mamlakhah, "concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom" (1471, 4467) | , 9 | Nouns without the article | The rule is stated for any nation. |
| וְנִחַמְתִּי עַל הַטּוֹבָה venichamti al hattovah, "then I will relent concerning the good" (5162, 2896) | Niphal perfect, first person, the same verb as | The relenting of Jeremiah 18 is the act Psalm 110 denies after an oath. |
No textual variants affect the conclusion.
This study checks the Greek Received Text against the Majority Text, and the written Hebrew against its traditional reading. If a difference could change a conclusion, this note explains it. Otherwise it says that none does.