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| Sperm whale (Physeter microcephalus) illustration by Uko Gorter |
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This
is one of those verses that low-viewers, who believe Jonah’s story is nothing
more than a fairytale, hit the floor running. In one accord, they seize upon
their so-called proof texts, like Jonah 3:10, to show that God is fickle and
unreliable by citing Num 23:19 and 1 Sam 15:29.
Concerning
Numbers, Balaam, the son of Beor, was a non-Israelite, a sinful prophet, being
pressured by Balak, the king of Moab who arose to make war against Israel, for
Balaam to place a curse upon the Israelites coming out of Egypt for they posed
an ominous threat to him (see the irony and folly of this in Gn 12:1-3).
Balaam
was unable to curse what God had blessed. God had already promised to bless
Israel and would not change His mind because He is reliable and immutable.
Balaam is relaying back to Balak Yahweh message (Num 23:16),
(Num
23:19, NKJV) God is not a man [Heb., iysh], that He should lie [Heb., kazab], nor a son of man
[Heb., adam], that He should repent
[Heb., nacham]. Has He said, and will
He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
This
is critical in understanding the nature and character of God of His reliability
and immutability. There are too many inferences made that God changed His mind
in a situation; therefore, He is considered to be like us: fickle and
unreliable! Nothing could be further from the truth! Satan wants us to
doubt His Word and the promises of God. This verse declares that God keeps His
Word according to the second half of this verse,
Has
He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken and will He not make it good?
And
because of this, Balaam told Balak in v20,
Behold,
I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse
it.”
I
thought it interesting to look at some of the keywords. It is worth sifting through
to see subtle nuances we would miss in an English translation.
Man (iysh, Num 23:19) This masculine noun is referring
to man as an individual (specific) rather than mankind as a whole (adam).
Iysh is used rather than adam to draw a more vivid contrast
between God and the concept of a man, singular, Creator and creature, holy and
unholy. This is the basic Hebrew tenet that God is [definitely] not human [masculine].
There is to be no conflation of the Creator with the
creature. Man who was made in the image of God does not make man God, far from
it. On the usage of iysh here, refer to NICOT.1
Lie (kazab, Num 23:19) a verb to deceive, some translate
“fail” here.
Man (adam, Num 23:19) humankind in
general
Repent (nacham, Num 23:19) to be sorry, moved
to pity, have compassion, to regret, a changing of the mind.
Concerning
Samuel, King Saul is about to receive some good news from Samuel that because Saul
has rejected the word of Yahweh, the kingdom is going to be taken away from him
(1 Sam 15:23, 26-28). How certain is this?
(1
Sam 15:29, NKJV) The Strength of Israel will not lie [Heb., shaqar] nor relent [Heb., nacham]. For He is not
a man [Heb., adam], that He should relent [Heb., nacham].
Lie (shaqar, 1 Sam 15:29). To deal falsely, engaging in
treacherous and deceptive activity. Samuel is making it very clear to Saul here
that such activity (shaqar) is in the domain of man (adam), not the Strength of Israel.
Relent (nacham, 1 Sam 15:29) to be sorry, moved
to pity, have compassion, to regret, a changing of the mind.
Yahweh
will not change
His mind
(NASB) that the kingdom of Israel is to be taken from King Saul and given to
another. And we know that it did.
Man (adam, 1 Sam 15:29) humankind in
general
We
gleam from these two verses that God is absolutely not a man (iysh); He
is holy, immutable, and reliable. It is impossible for Him to lie or repent
like a son of adam (man) who is sinful because He is holy. He is the
Creator unlike His creation (Isa 55:9; Rom 11:33-36). God keeps His Word.
This
is one of the problems of humankind has been guilty of since the fall of man.
We attempt to reduce God to a human level in order to understand Him (the
groundwork for idolatry).
We cannot grab these anthropomorphisms or anthropopathisms,
assigning of non-physical human emotions to God, and recklessly run with them and
concluding, “God is like us!” Compare Rom 1:18-25.
By
so doing we make claims of making ourselves, a sinful created being, the
standard by saying things like, “God is saying or doing what I would say or
do.” It is quite ridiculous, really. It parallels pagan thinking. We are in
essence attempting to change the Creator God as revealed in Scripture to be a
creature, like us.
In reality, God is nothing like us. We need to see the world
through God’s eyes; God doesn’t need to look through our eyes to understand the
world. The Bible instructs us on how to properly view Yahweh and interpret the
world around us according to His viewpoint (cf. 2 Tim 3:16-17; Heb 4:12).
He
is the Creator; we are created. He is holy; we are sinful. God is infinite; we
are finite or limited. God is eternal; we are temporal. We could go on with
this, but one attribute that I need to mention is God’s immutability. He is
constant; we are constantly changing. He cannot change the essence of who He
was; who He is; and who He will be; He is the same in eternity past, eternity
present, and eternity future (cf. Mal 3:6; Heb 13:8).
There I go using words that
we can relate to but makes no sense in eternity! This is an example of the
weakness of language. For most of us, death and taxes are the only forever constant!
God
has no beginning; we have a beginning. God has no end; we have an end. He is
the I AM, the Self-existent One or eternal One. His essence is not evolving or
morphing in the absolute meaning of these words for that would conflict with
His attribute of immutability or unchangeableness.
All His attributes are eternal and unchanging. He makes no mistakes; we are
fallible. He is impervious to error; we are susceptible to error. Jonah is
gone; He still remains and so does His Word!
What
Jonah saw in God in his days; we see in Yahweh today. He is forever the same.
The God of Adam and Eve, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Job, Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, Joseph,
Moses, Samuel, David, Solomon, Elijah, Daniel, Joseph and Mary, John the
Baptist, the apostles, and all the saints from the second century A.D.
to the present is our God in this present hour; Yahweh is no different than He
was with all of those who had come before us.
The
aseity of God teaches us that God is self-existent and independent of His
creation. There is no cause outside of Himself. He is the “uncaused Cause.” He is self-existent and independent of all causes, He cannot be made to
think, feel, or act in any particular way. He is absolutely free of His
creation. There is no causality apart from Him.
God
has no need for anything. He is self-sufficient, relying on nothing for His
existence. His autonomy is absolute. Isa 46:10 speaks of God’s aseity and
sovereignty. It sounds like He could be cold, impervious to our feelings to
even sympathize because of His aseity, but here comes the paradox, and I am not
even going to attempt to explain it but enjoy it for what it is, and you
should, too!
(Heb
4:14) Seeing
then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus
the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
(Heb
4:15) For
we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was
in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
(Heb
4:16) Let
us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need.
We
know Yahweh did not destroy Nineveh primarily because of the response of the
inhabitants who believed in God, not because He was second-guessing His original
position on Nineveh (Jon 3:5). The destruction of those who went through the
motions but had not believed God would still see the error of their ways on their appointed time (cf. Heb 9:27). If this was the case for some, and I believe
that it was; it was an eternal error on their part, without remedy.
When
God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked ways (cf. Jon 1:2, their wickedness has
come up before Me), then God relented (on day forty?) concerning the calamity which He had
declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.
From
our point of view, it looks as though God changed His mind, but in reality, it
was because the people had diverted the destruction of their city through repentance. Sometimes
it appears to me that Satan is creating a straw man in God changing His mind to
divert attention that a change of heart avoids destruction. The adversary
enlists a host of straw men to fuel unbelief!
The truth concerning the savagery
of Satan (cf.2 Cor 4:4; 1 Pet 5:8) is that Lucifer wants all the sons of Adam
who are still in darkness to perish for an eternity, every single one of them. Had
not the Ninevites turned from their wicked ways, they would be dead before day
41.
God
did not change in His essence. His ability to exercise a choice to bring
blessing or destruction predicated on some caveat (destruction in forty days)
is a divine prerogative that is always in alignment with who He is, the I AM.
We could argue based on His immutability that consigning anyone to Hell does
not alter His essence of being a God of wrath or a God of love.
The interworking
of all of Yahweh’s perfections are in absolute unison with one another, not some
attributes working only in the OT economy and another set of attributes operating
in the NT economy.
To
be sorry or have regret suggests a mistake was made or expressed, a change of
mind based on a miscalculation; God cannot make mistakes, therefore, he cannot
be sorry or regretful in that sense. It is, however, a divine reaction against
sin because He is holy; it is predicated of a change in man’s behavior (cf. Gn
6:6; Ex 32:14; 1 Sam 15:11; Jer 18:7-8; 26:3, 13, 19; Jon 3:10).
According
to Leupold, “When God’s repentance is
mentioned, it should be noted that we are using an inadequate human term for a
perfect and entirely good divine action… This repentance [cf. Gn 6:6] is the proper
divine reaction to man’s sin. The parallel
expression well defines it: ‘it grieved Him at His heart,’ Hebrew even
stronger: ‘into His heart,’ ’el-libbo.”2
This kind of rules out a suggestive coldness
of aseity, right? It reflects no inconsistencies in His nature. It comes as no
surprise that a low-viewer will obviously see it differently. Hopefully, the error of a
low-viewer will not be an eternal one! Should they repent, I am almost
certain they will not be criticizing Yahweh for “changing His mind,” yes? <><
____________
1. Timothy R. Ashley, The
New International Commentary on the Old Testament, “The Book of Numbers,”
(Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Erdmans Publishing Co., 1993), e-Sword.
2. Herbert C. Leupold,
Exposition of Genesis, Vol 1, (Grand Rapids, Baker Book House, 1942), 261.
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| End of Jonah 3:10 Addendum |
