Today's Reading - How Can God Regret?

[PeteZaHut]

“The LORD then sent a pestilence over Israel
from morning until the time appointed,
and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beer-sheba died.
But when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it,
the LORD regretted the calamity
and said to the angel causing the destruction among the people,
“Enough now! Stay your hand.””

 

[cheeto1]

I think He just meant that He decided against destroying Jerusalem too…

 

[Verbum]

Hi Pete,

God is unchangeable. However Bible passages often attribute to God emotions that humans would have in similar circumstances : God is angry, glad, moved etc. God knows from all eternity what he will do at a particular time. And he knows why, whereas we do not. The Bible uses our language so that we can more readily understand what is being conveyed.

Verbum

 

[Blind_Didymus_1]

Another perspective is that perhaps the future doesn’t exist until it is decided. God knows everything that exists to know, and upon seeing the outcome of events in the scriptural passage mentioned, he was disappointed with how they came out.

I’m not trying to tout the Open Theist viewpoint as much as it might seem here, but I’m just offering a different interpretation.

 

[rocketrob]

The Douay Rheims has a slightly different rendering of the passage:

…And when the angel of the Lord had stretched out his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord had pity on the affliction, and said to the angel that slew the people: It is enough: now hold thy hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the thrashingfloor of Areuna the Jebusite.

rocketrob

 

[jimmyjames]

Hi Pete,

God is unchangeable. However Bible passages often attribute to God emotions that humans would have in similar circumstances : God is angry, glad, moved etc. God knows from all eternity what he will do at a particular time. And he knows why, whereas we do not. The Bible uses our language so that we can more readily understand what is being conveyed.

Verbum

Verbum, i believe the term for this is Anthropomorphism. God does not actually have hands or wings, although some OT verses describe God as having those apendages. Moreover, it is possible that God does not regret his actions, though “regret” may be a close human emotion to what God may have felt. That is if God Himself even feels or has emotions like humans do.

 

[thoff3]

I sympathize much with Pete’s question. I wondered the exact same thing. What was the Holy Spirit trying to convey when he inspired this writing. Why did he want people at that time and since to see this description of God? Was it to emphasize his fatherhood? In other words, just like a father can become very angry and punish his child, but then regret the severity and so refrain from further punishment out of love.

So, maybe it’s less us anthropomorphisizing God, than his anthropomorphosizing himself so that we can better understand him as Father and therefore regard our disobedience more acutely. It’s easier to imagine how your own father would react to your disobedience than something much more abstract and distant like the unnamed creator.

Of course, the ultimate act of anthropomorphisization was when God became man to finally close the gap between himself and his creation. And I ramble.

 

[Blind_Didymus_1]

I think when you talk about attributing human thoughts/feelings to God the technical term is “anthropopathism.”

Just saying.

 

[rocketrob]

Interestingly enough, I read a passage on this topic just last night from Scott Hahn’s book “Scripture Matters.”

Many Fathers of the Church, most notably Saint John Chrysostom, spoke of God’s revelation in terms of ‘accomodation’ and ‘condescension,’ which Chrysostom understood as fatherly actions. In order to reveal Himself, God accomodates Himself to man, just as a human father stoops down to look his children in the eye. As a human father will sometimes resort to ‘baby talk,’ God sometimes communicates by condescension - that is, He speaks as humans would speak, in the language of humans, as if He had the same passions and weaknesses. Thus, in Scripture, we read of God ‘repenting’ His decisions, when surely God is never in need of repentance.

rocketrob

 

[Verbum]

Hi Didymus,

Another perspective is that perhaps the future doesn’t exist until it is decided. God knows everything that exists to know, and upon seeing the outcome of events in the scriptural passage mentioned, he was disappointed with how they came out.

God is one eternal simple act. For God there is only the present and he sees everything at once. He cannot be “disappointed” because he has no emotions. He is unchangeable.

Verbum