Does God regret?

Originally posted on November 14, 2008 – by Andre Piet

regret?

This week I was asked (not for the first time) how it is possible that we read several times in the Bible that God has regret (see, for example, Genesis 6:7 and Jeremiah 42:10). One who has regret in fact says: if I had known it beforehand, I would not have done it. But how can this ever apply to God, who after all knows all things in advance? Is not the whole idea of “regret” in God a direct denial of His omniscience?

anthropomorphism

Or does God only have regret “by way of speaking”? Just as He also, “by way of speaking,” walks (Gen. 3:8), smells (Exod. 29:41), sleeps and awakens (Ps. 44:23), descends and ascends (Gen. 11:5), and has arms, eyes, ears, a nose, inward parts, and even a backside (Exod. 33:23). One by one, these are human ways of speaking about God. Anthropomorphisms (the technical term for this phenomenon) are a very common figure of speech in the Bible. Figuratively speaking, God has a nose, eyes, and ears, but in a literal sense GOD is spirit (John 4:24). Figuratively speaking, God sleeps and awakens, but in a literal sense He never grows weary (Isa. 40:28). And so on.

seemingly contradictory statements

That also in the case of God’s regret we are indeed to think of a human-shaped way of speaking becomes clear as soon as we also involve other statements of Scripture in our investigation. Statements that precisely deny that God has regret. Thus we read in Numbers 23:19:

God is NOT a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should have regret. Would He say and not do it, or speak and not carry it out?

1 Samuel 15 is, in connection with our question, an exceptionally interesting chapter altogether. At the end of this chapter (15:35) we read:

… Samuel grieved over Saul. And the LORD had regret that He had appointed Saul king over Israel.

A few verses earlier (15:29), however, Samuel had solemnly declared:

Also the Unchangeable One of Israel does not lie and has NO regret; for He is not a man, that He should have regret.

Two seemingly contradictory statements almost directly following one another. Both statements obviously cannot be true at the same time in a literal sense. One of the two must be meant “by way of speaking.” In this case that is not difficult to recognize. In a relative sense, that is, in a way understandable to humans, God’s regret expresses how intense His sorrow is. But in an absolute sense GOD of course has no regret, “for He is not a man” who makes mistakes or is ever taken by surprise.

regret or comfort?

What is also not unimportant is that the Hebrew word that underlies our translated word “regret” (nāḥam) has a much broader meaning. It is related to the word for “warm” (cham). It is therefore often used for warm feelings such as “to have compassion,” “to show mercy,” and “to comfort.” When Genesis 6:6 says, “the LORD regretted,” the same word is used there (Str. 1562) as in Genesis 24:67, where we read, “and thus Isaac found comfort.”

If the translators in Genesis 6:6 had therefore used the same translation word as in 24:67, we would read: “it comforted the LORD that He had made humanity…”. Does this rendering not cast a splendid light on our GOD? However corrupt humanity may manifest itself, it comforts God that HE has made humanity. Precisely the fact that HE is the Maker and Former of humanity is the best guarantee for a good outcome!

Delen: