Relenting- Ex. 32

What do we learn from God's relenting?
What is the importance of Moses' pleading?
Aaron and the children of Israel make an idol from gold in the shape of a calf. This is the exchange between God and Moses just after the Ten Commandments have been given, written on stone tablets.
Exodus 32:
7 And the LORD said to Moses, "Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. 8 "They have turned aside quickly out of the way which m I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, 'This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!' " 9 And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! 10 "Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation." 11 Then Moses pleaded with the LORD his God, and said: "LORD, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 "Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, 'He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. 13 "Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.' " 14 So the LORD relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.
 
The question should be, did God know he would not do harm to his people, even though he said he would, or did he say that to Moses so he would intercede for them on their behalf?

Pro 16:1 The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.

Did Moses simply speak from his mouth what the Lord wanted him to say without him even knowing it?

1Pe 4:11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
 
What do we learn from God's relenting?
What is the importance of Moses' pleading?
Aaron and the children of Israel make an idol from gold in the shape of a calf. This is the exchange between God and Moses just after the Ten Commandments have been given, written on stone tablets.
Exodus 32:
7 And the LORD said to Moses, "Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. 8 "They have turned aside quickly out of the way which m I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, 'This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!' " 9 And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! 10 "Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation." 11 Then Moses pleaded with the LORD his God, and said: "LORD, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 "Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, 'He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. 13 "Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.' " 14 So the LORD relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.

In my mind it shows God as one who will have mercy on someone who truly repents or changes their heart and attitude. There are several people in the Bible (The people in Ninevah, King Hezekiah, Sodom & Gomorrah, had Abraham sought God one more time.... As it was God rescued Lot anyway :) etc) who were the reciepients of God's mercy.

Blessings
 
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The question should be, did God know he would not do harm to his people, even though he said he would, or did he say that to Moses so he would intercede for them on their behalf?

Pro 16:1 The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.

Did Moses simply speak from his mouth what the Lord wanted him to say without him even knowing it?

1Pe 4:11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
I believe that in verse:
14 So the LORD relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.

It is clear the LORD had the intention to do this, otherwise He (the Holy Spirit) would not say He relented. To relent from something, you must have the intent to do it initially.
 
Do you think Moses' and Abraham's pleadings for others ties in with our prayers for others? I think it does, and I think it does make a difference when we ask for His blessings for others. Just as Paul says to pray for him, and that he prayed for the church and the individuals within the church.
 
I believe that in verse:
14 So the LORD relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.

It is clear the LORD had the intention to do this, otherwise He (the Holy Spirit) would not say He relented. To relent from something, you must have the intent to do it initially.
Do you believe God knew he would relent before he relented, and before he ever said anything to Moses?

The answer is yes he knew he would relent, there by not changing his mind but doing what he knew he would do.
We have to think how God thinks which should not be hard as we have the "mind of Christ"

Remember God knows everything, and knows what is going to happen before it happens. That gives him a huge advantage in how he relates to man, and in what he says to man.
 
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Do you believe God knew he would relent before he relented, and before he ever said anything to Moses?

The answer is yes he knew he would relent, there by not changing his mind but doing what he knew he would do.
We have to think how God thinks which should not be hard as we have the "mind of Christ"

Remember God knows everything, and knows what is going to happen before it happens. That gives him a huge advantage in how he relates to man, and in what he says to man.
It is way more than that. He has every possibility calculated and every choice in mind. He had this relenting allowed for AND, if Moses had not pleaded, He would have started over with Moses. He doesn't just know what is going to happen, He knows the multitude of things that could happen and has worked it all in His plan.
 
It is way more than that. He has every possibility calculated and every choice in mind. He had this relenting allowed for AND, if Moses had not pleaded, He would have started over with Moses. He doesn't just know what is going to happen, He knows the multitude of things that could happen and has worked it all in His plan.

So, the Lord God speaks to man in a way not so he would change his (God's) mind, for he changes not, nor is he ever learning anything new, but he speaks to man so man would change not God him self. Moses did not have any clue as to what God would do, so he stood in the "gap" and interceded for God's own people, and what Moses said out of his mouth was exactly what God wanted to hear, which is why God spoke to him in the way he did.
We should never look at things in this world from a carnal physical man's perspective, but from the advantage point in how God sees things. What we learn from this is that when God has a man of faith living on this earth, coupled together with a all knowing, and all power God, nothing is impossible. Moses was simply working together with God, in the same way we the Church are co-workers together with the Lord. We have faith in God, and God performs what we are believing him to do.
 
Jeremiah 7:31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.

Jeremiah 32:34 But they set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. 35 And they built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.’

Too many places in the Bible where God gets angry and wrathful over disobedience. If He knew this was ordained by Him, why get angry? Or is God manipulating mankind by saying in His Word that He relents, or gets angry, or that we have a choice to obey His commands, when in reality the choice has been made for us already? If we truly have a choice to, for example, choose life or choose to follow the ways of death, then God must be prepared to bless or remove blessing based on this choice.

That is what is meant by "All things work together for good to those who love the Lord and have been called for His purpose." All things will, no matter which way they go, for He has it all covered, the good choices and the bad.
 
That is what is meant by "All things work together for good to those who love the Lord and have been called for His purpose." All things will, no matter which way they go, for He has it all covered, the good choices and the bad.
Brother the "all things" has nothing to do with bad things happening that God causes to work for our good. That scripture is referring to prayers being offered by way of the Holy Spirit. All things are prayers which work together for our good. Is that not what we are talking about here? God speaking to man so he will intercede on behalf of others?

Rom 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Rom 8:27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
 
I wonder if the whole problem is trying to fit God's reaction in human vocabulary. For an example, we say God is Omnipotent. Actually He is more than that. Because Omnipotent means, powerful than what mankind knows of. He is way more powerful than that! Omnipotent is not a sufficient explanation of his power.
 
Brother the "all things" has nothing to do with bad things happening that God causes to work for our good. That scripture is referring to prayers being offered by way of the Holy Spirit. All things are prayers which work together for our good. Is that not what we are talking about here? God speaking to man so he will intercede on behalf of others?

Rom 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Rom 8:27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
I went to look up the translation on Blue Letter Bible for the Strong's entry "de" for the word "And" in verse 28, and I found this under the Thayer's Greek Lexicon:
"5. it serves to mark a transition to something new; by this use of the particle, the new addition is distinguished from and, as it were, opposed to what goes before:" (It then lists scripture which this definition is used. Romans 8:28 is in this list.)

"de" could have just as easily been translated: but, moreover, or also.
I think they translated it "And" as in "also" or "plus".
You will need to reconsider what 8:28 means.
To me it goes with the next two verses, as they define who is called according to His purpose.
Verses 31 says: What then shall we say to these things?
"these things" are listed in the previous verses:
24 and 25 speak on the hope we are saved in
26 and 27 show how the Spirit intercedes for us
28-30 tell us that all things work together for us and that we are chosen
What then shall we say to these 3 things?
They all lead up to the awesome truth: "If God is for us, who can be against us?"

I never pulled all that apart before, even though it is one of my favorite chapters in all the Bible. So thank you CCW95A. :)
 
On "relent" in Strong's, in verse 12, Moses says..."Turn H7725 from thy fierce H2740 wrath, H639 and repent H5162 of this evil H7451 against thy people. H5971"

H5162 nâcham, naw-kham'; a primitive root; properly, to sigh, i.e. breathe strongly; by implication, to be sorry, i.e. (in a favorable sense) to pity, console or (reflexively) rue; or (unfavorably) to avenge (oneself):—comfort (self), ease (one's self), repent(-er,-ing, self).

So "relent" seems appropriate, Moses seems to be saying, "Calm down, take a breather. Reconsider the ramifications, take comfort and pity these people, for my sake."
 
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