Does God change his mind? Numbers 23:19 vs Exodus 32:14

The passages

God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

Numbers 23:19

And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.

1 Samuel 15:29

And the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.

1 Samuel 15:35

And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

Exodus 32:14

The problem

The King James Version uses "repent" in both senses. In 1 Samuel 15 the words appear six verses apart: God "will not repent" (verse 29) and "repented that he had made Saul king" (verse 35). In Genesis 6:6 God is grieved that he made humanity. In Exodus 32 and Jonah 3 he relents from a promised punishment after prayer or repentance. Other texts, such as Malachi 3:6 and James 1:17, say God does not change. Philosophers have long asked whether a perfect, unchanging being can respond to prayer.

What believers and scholars say

The same Hebrew word, different senses. The word niham covers regret, relenting and comfort. The classical answer is that God does not change in his nature or purposes, but he changes his dealings with people as they change. When Pharaoh hardens himself, God acts differently than when Nineveh repents. The language of regret is accommodated to human understanding.

A God who is moved. Fretheim, Heschel and Sanders argue that the Bible portrays a God who is genuinely affected by what people do, who suffers and who responds. On this reading the unchangeable passages mean that God is faithful and trustworthy, not static. This view is common in modern theology, but critics say it gives up classical doctrines of divine perfection.

Context in 1 Samuel 15. Verse 29 is part of a statement about the rejection of Saul and says God will not take back his decision. Verse 35 records his sorrow at it. Within one chapter, the writer uses the verb in two ways to say that the decision is final but costly.

Different voices in scripture. Others hold that the Bible contains more than one view of God, from different writers, and that they are left side by side.

Where this leaves it

The tension is on the surface of the text and reflects a long debate about what it means for God to be personal and also reliable. A reader may see a precise doctrine behind the words, or a variety of ways of speaking about God. Both are consistent with the passages.