Can G-d change His mind, and what would that encompass?

[meltzerboy]

I believe the Bible suggests in several passages that G-d is capable of changing His mind. However, what does that mean and why would that occur for G-d, who lives in a non-temporal eternity? Does G-d change His mind because He realizes He was wrong or too hasty in some way? Does He therefore reconsider the situation and exhibit more mercy and justice? If so, does this mean G-d is not really omniscient or omnipotent? Your thoughts on this issue are appreciated.

 

[passus]

Change is made up of two differences and a measure of time. Since God exists outside of time–His existence defined as one, ever-present act of being–it would be impossible for God to change.

 

[Fink]

Using different words:
God is omniscient. He knows everything in one eternal act of knowing.
God is immutable.

The Biblical references to God`s changing His “mind” have to be taken as being figures of speech (eg regretting that He had created Man, and then, the Flood).

 

[dzheremi]

This is an interesting question. In one of my absolute favorite lessons of the Holy Bible, in the Book of Numbers, God gets mightily fed up with His people’s complaining against Him and tells them (14:30) “Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in.”

It seems on its face that this is an instance of God changing His mind; He had earlier swore to His people that He would make them dwell in this land, and now is going back on that. But I would look at it and say that if they hadn’t complained so darn much against God, this wouldn’t have happened. If you force God’s hand like this, you can’t very well turn around and say God’s not acting as He should or would normally be expected to (as though He just woke up on the wrong side of the cloud one day or something).

So, no, I would ultimately say that regardless of whether He can or cannot, those instances in which it seems He is changing His mind have at their root something other than capriciousness. I’m not sure what implications you have in mind regarding the verses that you think illustrate this, but it seems clear to me that it isn’t a matter of God’s character or logical consistency or what have you, but rather a matter of humanity’s relationship to God. But then I suppose a thread asking if humanity can provoke God would be filled with a lot of one word answers…