“And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.”
(Isaiah 15:29)
The many false gods of the pagans, according to the mythologies that surrounded them, commonly exhibited whimsical, undesirable human qualities. They were believed to act irrationally, unfairly, and unpredictably toward those who sought their favor.
In contrast, the one true God of Scripture makes it known in numerous passages that he is unchangeable, “the same yesterday, today, and forever,” (Heb. 13:8). Other references, like Psalm 110:4 and Ezekiel 24:14, reaffirm that God does not “repent.” More specifically, God makes it clear in our text in 1 Samuel 15:29, as well as Numbers 23:19, that his nature is not like that of man’s who, because of human failings and weaknesses, must necessarily repent.
And yet 1 Samuel 15:29 falls between two additional verses in this narrative that state God “repented” that he had made Saul king (1 Samuel 15:11, 35). Numerous other examples throughout the Old Testament also reference God “repenting” of something he had done in the past (like Gen. 6:6-7) or something he was about to do in the future (Jer. 4:28 and Jonah 3:9-10 for example). We know Scripture does not contradict itself. So if it seems to indicate opposing views, we can be assured that there is a context in which God does repent and one in which he does not.
A helpful example of God “repenting” is found in Hosea 11:8-9. After pronouncing coming devastation and ruin on Israel for her sins, God breaks into a lament of love for his people, “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel? Mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee….” A similar example is found in 1 Samuel 13:13-14, which states that God intended to bless Saul and prosper his kingdom. But because of Saul’s disobedience to his commands, consistent with his divine nature, God judged him instead.
Scripture shows that the word repentance with reference to men is a serious repentance by which men are converted to God; changed. When it is used of God, it denotes something different, called divine sympathy, a taking away of punishment, as in Exod. 32:12, 14; 2 Sam. 24:16; Psalm 106:45; Jer. 18:8 and 26:3. When God, to converted souls, remits punishment, which he denounced to wicked sinners, he is said to “repent” of the evil by an anthropopathy, a scriptural-theological tool which denotes a linguistical divine use of human emotions, because he seems to do that which repenting men do. But he cannot properly repent because he is not a man, (1 Sam. 15:29). For it is as Augustine states, “the repentance of God is not after any error, but the change of things and constitutions in his power as being noted.”[1] So when Scripture indicates that God “repents,” the change of things is signified in the way men perceive his actions, though his divine prescience remains immutable. Consider it as the moon – when men go out at night and look at the full moon, they stand in relation to the moon in a particular way. Then, as they are seeing it, they turn around, and no longer see the moon since they are now facing in the opposite the direction. It seems the moon changed, but really, “things” have changed; they turned around to see something different.
In summary, when God is said to repent, the immutable God is not changed. Rather, the thing itself is changed. And when he is said not to repent, it is to be understood that things are unchanged. In other words, his divine will remains unchanged, as the moon does in the sky. But as men turn and move in a different direction, the moon seems to shift.
Contemplations:
- Lord, I see that men repent when they refrain from doing what they have done and do the contrary. But when you are said to “repent” in Scripture, there is no change in you, your nature, or your decree. This merely means that the creature changed, which moved them from a place of punishment to a place of your blessing.
- Lord, I understand that you may will a change, but you never change your will. The change is in us, not you. To those who are on a ship in the sea, houses and trees seem to move as they pass. Yet it is the ship that moves and the houses and trees that stay fixed in place.
- Sometimes, Lord, you promise or threaten things which do not come to pass. This indicates that those threatenings and promises were not absolute, only conditional. Your promises are most often conditional to faith and obedience (Deut. 28:13), and your threatenings come with an exception based on conversion and repentance (Psalm 7:2).
Further References for 1 Sam. 15:29:
Num. 23:19; Titus 1:2; Ezek. 24:14; Heb. 6:18
[1] lib. 17. de Civit. Dei.
