Why Does Genesis 6:8 Say that God Repented? Does God Repent?

And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them (Genesis 6:7).

Many English translations prefer to say that God was sorry he made people or that he was grieved; but a BLB.org search into how the original Hebrew word for repent (nacham) was used throughout the Old Testament gives us a little different view on the matter.

Nacham was used 108 times in the Old Testament with two distinct meanings.  One meaning is "to comfort or be comforted;"  the other is to change one's mind, regret, or repent.  This second meaning often defines God's behavior and emotions (as will be seen below).  So how does this look like in the Old Testament?

Even Bible translator's have a difficult time grasping that God "repents" - that He changes His mind from time to time.  They struggle with it for two reasons.  The first is because repentance has become a foundational word to Christians meaning to turn from sin to God.  The word repent in this respect is always negative and something we could never see God doing.  But the Old Testament did not see repentance as only turning from some moral bad to good. Often it is a neutral word that means to change one's view or to change from one direction to another.

The second reason it is so hard to argue that God repents is because on two occasions God emphatically stated that He does not repent.  But looking at Genesis 6, before the flood, God repented.  So I decided to get to the bottom of the issue and find out how the word nacham (repent) is used in the Bible.

AS NACHAM REFERS TO PEOPLE

When God finally spoke to Job, correcting him, Job said, "Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes (Job 42:6).”

When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt (Exodus 13:17).” 

And in Jeremiah, God noticed that people did not turning from their wickedness:

I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. None of them repent of their wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Each pursues their own course like a horse charging into battle (Jeremiah 8:6).

So there are a few passages of of people changing their plans or changing their ways, and when people repent, it is always from bad to good.  But repentance in the Old Testament is not always a change of morality (from bad to good, from following sin to following God) for most of repenting in the Old Testament is not accomplished by people but by God.  Examples of God repenting in the Old Testament are numerous.  So even before studying these, we must conclude that the word repent does not always refer to the turning away from individual or moral sin, for God does not sin.  What it does refer to is changing course - turning around.

GOD IS NOT A MAN THAT HE SHOULD REPENT

First of all, there are the commonly known verses that says that God is not man that he should repent.  When King Balak called upon Balaam to curse Israel, no matter which spot he went to, he could not curse Israel.  Eventually Balaam told the king, "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent (Numbers 23:19)."  Balaam wanted to curse Israel and make money doing so, but could not because God had warned him previously to say only what God told him to say.  Balaam knew that God was determined only to bless His people, so Balaam tried another tactic to change God's mind, because Balaam knew that there was a way around the steadfast Word of God.  The Bible doesn't say it, but Balaam's advice to King Barak reveals that he knew that God will repent under the right circumstances.  This will be addressed later in this page.

The prophet and priest Samuel also claimed that God was not One to repent as he told King Saul: 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).

These two verses are used over and over and over again in sermons and writings to claim that God is a constant that will never change.  But these two verses are offset by dozens of examples throughout the Bible where God repented of His intentions or acts and where the Bible says clearly that God repented of something.

There are three other places in the Bible where God said He would not change His mind (Psalm 110:4, Jeremiah 4:28, Ezekiel 24:14), but in those examples, God was claiming that in those particular cases, He was not going to repent. 

WHEN GOD DOES REPENT

The Old Testament gives us several examples of God repenting from actions he had already begun or planned to accomplish.

Moses

While Moses was on the Mt. Sinai receiving commandments, Israel turned to idolatry and made plans to return to Egypt.  Because of this, God wanted to kill off the entire nation and raise up Moses as the father of a nation, but Moses would not have it and reminded God of the consequences of such an action.  Moses argued that God would lose credibility in the world and gain a reputation of being a God who could not protect His own people after having delivered them from Egyptian slavery.  God listened to Moses and "the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people (Exodus 32:14)."

Amos

When God spoke through Amos declaring that the fields would be destroyed by locusts, Amos talked God out of this decision. Amos 7:3 tells us that God repented from what he was planning: "The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD."  In this passage, the people haven't even had time to change their ways.  Instead, like in the example with Moses, the prophet talked God out of His plan to destroy His people.  Both Moses and Amos knew that it was possible to argue with God and change His plans for evil toward His people.

Jeremiah

Years after telling Balaam and Samuel that He does not repent, God told Jeremiah that He will repent under certain circumstances.  He told Jeremiah that He would repent when nations change in good or in bad directions.  For example, when God promised evil to some nation and that nation changes its course, God said:

If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them (Jeremiah 18:8). God also gave a message for Jeremiah for the people of Judah who came to worship at the temple: If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings (Jeremiah 26:3). So God reserves the right to change His mind - to repent - of evil or good promised to a nation if that nation changes course in the opposite direction. A very interesting passage in Jeremiah is God's word to him stating: You have forsaken Me,” says the LORD, “You have gone backward. Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you; I am weary of relenting (Jeremiah 15:6)! Both the NLT and the NIV have translated this verse in a way that deflects from God being tired of repenting and somehow translates the verse to say something completely different.  The NLT says, "I am tired of always giving you another chance." And the NIV says, "I am tired of holding back."   The NIV comes closer to the idea of repentance in that He held back from what He determined to do, but the Bible is a little more specific in claiming that God was tired of repenting of the evil He determined to do to Israel which Jeremiah recorded several times. Jonah This change of heart toward a nation is clearly spelled out in Jonah. God gave Jonah a message of destruction for Nineveh, but Jonah knew God was capable of repenting from His word and Jonah did not want that to happen.  Jonah wanted God to follow through with his plans to destroy the city and he was afraid that if he preached evil toward Nineveh, the city would have the opportunity to turn away from their evil and change God' mind (as the Bible says, God would repent from the evil he planned).  So Jonah ran from the presence of the Lord. Eventually after being tossed into the sea and swallowed up and puked out by a fish, Jonah went to Nineveh and told them what God wanted them to hear: They had 40 days before God was going to destroy the city.  The people turned away from their wickedness, fasted and then turned to God who repented of the evil He decided against them.   And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not (Jonah 3:10). After all was said and done, Jonah grew angry and let God know that he expected God to change his mind all along.  Jonah got angry with God because he knew that God could very easily repent from His determination to destroy Ninevah.  Jonah hated Nineveh which was an enemy to Judah and to Israel and he wanted Nineveh to be destroyed and that's why he ran away in the first place.  For if he didn't preach, they would not know to repent and turn to God, and then their evil would stir up the wrath of God to its ultimate degree. Weird thing is, all the events that happened on the ship, the calming of the sea when Jonah was thrown overboard, and being swallowed and thrown up by a fish; stories of Jonah's run from the Lord and God's amazing deliverance may have been the very reason Nineveh listened to this crazy preacher from Judah.  Jonah's original plan backfired. NUMBERS 23 AND BALAAM Going back to the original verse in Numbers 23:19 that says God does not repent, if we look a little bit closer, something very interesting surfaces.  In Numbers23, God told Balaam that what He says does not change and no amount of trying to change God will have any affect on Him.  Balaam, a prophet who took money for his pronouncements, wanted to curse Israel to make a large sum of money, but could not because God would not allow it.  No matter how much Balaam tried to, he could not curse Israel because God would only have him bless Israel. But Balaam knew what would make God repent from His word.  He told the king (who hired him to proclaim evil against Israel) to send young women into the camp of Israel and fornicate with the men, because fornication at such a level would turn God against His own people and away from the blessing He issued. His plan worked and God punished His people after having blessed them through Balaam.  The Bible does not say that God repented in this case, but like Jonah, Balaam knew that God changed His attitude toward nations based on their behaviors. WHEN GOD REPENTS FOR WHAT HE DOES God regretted making Saul king. After God sent an angel to kill people in Judah, and in the middle of this destruction, God repented. When the Psalmist in Psalm 106 recounts the story of Israel during the time of the Judges, he wrote that after Israel sacrificed their children to other gods, in His wrath, He gave them over to their enemies.  But as their oppression got worse, God repented. CONCLUSIONS God does repent - not from sin to righteousness, but in His decisions and actions.  God changes His mind for good or for evil.  When I say for good or for evil, these are not universal terms, but terms that refer to humankind.  When God turns against a nation because of sin, that will seem to be evil for that nation, but in fact, may be good in the long run; or it may be the complete and utter ruin of such a nation.  God reserves the right to repent based upon the actions of people.  He clearly spelled this out for Jeremiah. 5 times in the Bible God states that He does repent, but 29 times in the Bible God either repents or prophets talk about Him repenting. Some people have the ability to change God's intentions through supplication.  Both Moses and Amos were able to change God's intentions.  In both cases a nation continued because of two men who argued with God and were able to convince God to repent. Finally, God does make some decisions He afterwards regrets (repents of).  He regretted making Saul king and He regretted making humankind in Genesis 6. But after the flood, even though Genesis does not say God repented, it does say, “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done (Genesis 8:21)."

The Genesis of Covenants

There were several covenants made in Genesis.  God made covenants with Adam and Eve, Noah and Abraham.  What were covenants and how did they begin?

We live in a world of readers and writers.  Most children in my country can read and write - but in ancient days, most people - even most adults - could not read and write, so spoken words became very important.

When people could read and write they made deals with with each other in words.  Any type of agreement was rarely made in writing in the ancient world.  Every agreement was made with words - and this became a problem.

Let's say Bruce wants to marry Fred's daughter, and Fred promises Bruce his daughter in marriage. But in 10 years when Fred's daughter is 12 and old enough to marry (and they did marry young in those days) and when Fred's daughter is old enough to marry, Fred tells Bruce that he never made such a deal because he found a better suitor for his daughter.  Bruce has only his memory to bring to the agreement, and his memory cannot compete with Fred's denial.  So Bruce concludes that if he wants to make an agreement with someone else, he needs something bigger than simple words.

Words were not enough because people forgot or denied ever having said things.  So a new level of words had to come into the agreements to help raise the level of commitment.  People began to promise certain things - but even promises could and were forgotten and broken.  So a higher level of promise called vows were used.  But even vows were forgotten and broken - so the highest of all levels of words were established - covenants.

Covenants were made between two parties and included certain events that helped people to remember.  Those events may be a meal or some strange ritual - both of which would be remembered years later.

Large meals in those days were costly and rare, so were easy to remember even years later.  And when Bruce says,  "Do you remember the agreement we had, when we shared a meal together?"  Fred cannot easily deny.

WITNESSES

But even though they were so powerful, people could still deny or break promises, vows, and covenants; so on occasion there were witnesses to the agreement.

Finally, whether there were witnesses or not, another form of protection was developed.

CURSES AND BLESSINGS

There were no police or outside protectors of the covenant to make sure agreements were established, so people began to using curses and blessings to protect what was said.

In a world of words, blessings spoke good for people and future generations; but curses created bad things that were expected to happen from those who cursed.   People believed that blessings truly brought good things to their lives.  And most people believed that curses really brought bad things to people, so curses and blessings became the protectors of covenants.

The Rainbow Covenant with Noah

CONTEXT - WHAT PRECEDED

Right after Noah stepped off the ark, he sacrificed a lot of animals.  This may seem weird to some who believe that only two of every kind went on board, but the biblical text suggests that there were 7 of many types of the animals who went on board.  So there would be plenty to sacrifice.

God resigned Himself to the fact that people will always be evil; so God set up certain ground rules to protect people from animals and from each other.  Those rules were set up within the surroundings of a blessing with which God blessed Noah.  That blessing immediately precedes the covenant that God made with Noah.

THE COVENANT

Covenants were common forms of promises made between 2 parties.  I believe that covenants began in order to confirm long standing promises in a day when there was very little reading or writing.  As years came and went, promises, vows and simple agreements were forgotten or left behind for some reason after another.  Covenants then became binding agreements that were not forgotten because they were often (but not always) made with accompanying actions and marked by unusual events. 

Noah's covenant was made on a day when Noah sacrificed dozens if not hundreds of animals.  It was made on a day when a rainbow filled the sky.  It was made on a day that Noah and his children would never forget.

GOD'S COVENANT WITH NOAH (Genesis 9:8-17)

 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying,

“Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you,  
and with your descendants after you;    
and with every living creature that is with you, 
the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth.   
I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood,
neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.”  

God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; 
I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.   
It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud,
and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.   
When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”  

And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
 

There is a lot of repetition in the covenant that God established with Noah:

9 times - God names the parties involved in the covenant which include Noah, his children, animals, and the earth.
7 times - the covenant is mentioned.
3 times water or flood is mentioned

3 times the bow is mentioned

2 times the sign is mentioned (which refers to the bow)

2 times God says that He will remember

2 times God says that a world wide flood will never again take place

Repetition usually tells us what is important in a passage.  With it we can break down the covenant into a simple formula. 

God made a covenant with humanity, the animals and the earth.
God covenanted never again to destroy the earth by water.
God set the rainbow in the sky to let us know that the bow is a memorial sign to himself of this covenant.

This last part seems to be the climax of the covenant.  God said, "When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember...."  Does God need to remember?  Or does He say this for our benefit?  No doubt, He said that for us.

Genesis 9:1-7 - Noah's Blessing

THE BLESSING

The first thing to notice about Noah's Blessing is what I call the sandwich effect - a style of writing that is very common in the Bible.  In the sandwich effect, two identical passages begin a section and end the section.  In Genesis 9, the passages before and after are:

God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth (Genesis 9:1)." and  But you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out over the earth and multiply on it (Genesis 9:7).” Everything in the middle then belongs to these verses.  So what is in the middle?  And how does it relate to the blessing? IN THE MIDDLE 1.  God puts the fear of humanity into the animals. 2.  God gives humanity rule over animals: 3.  God gives humanity animals to eat for the first time.  Until Genesis 9 people were vegetarians. 4.  God forbids eating blood. 5.  Capital punishment is required for any animal or human who kills a human being. CONTEXT Just before Genesis 9 Noah and the animals entered the ark. God flooded the world and then Noah and his family walked safely back onto dry ground.  From the writing about this journey in Genesis, the only clearly defined sin that provoked the destruction of the world at that time was the sin of violence - the world was filled with violence (Genesis 6:13).  What kind of violence was around before the flood? Before the flood was even mentioned, the violence in Genesis consisted of Cain who killed his brother Abel, and Lamech who killed a man for hurting him.  In the passage I am studying (Genesis 9), the only mention of violence is murder either caused from animals or people.  So I conclude that the world was destroyed because people murdered each other. WORD STUDIES Fruitful (Parah) The word fruitful no doubt is taken from the image of a tree bearing plenty of fruit.  In Genesis it is used 14 times in the sense of people prospering and having children.  As such it is a dominant theme in Genesis.  Being fruitful was one of the main values held dear to the people of the time. As I read the many times parah is used in Genesis, I discover that being fruitful meant prospering in every way, and most of all in having children and a large family that continued to grow into future generations.  God's blessing for Noah and his sons was exactly for that type of growth.  God's placing barriers and consequences around animals and people was designed to protect people from the loss of becoming fruitful due to an untimely death.  For the biggest barrier of becoming fruitful was being killed either from a human or from an animal. Replenish (Male') The word "replenish" in the Hebrew does not add much more than how it is translated into the English.  It simply means to fill up; "fill the earth" and "the earth was filled with violence" are the only ways the word was used in the early chapters of Genesis. CONTEXT What Went Before The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. (Genesis 8:21) Before this blessing, Noah left the ark after God had destroyed people, animals, and the entire world.  Upon leaving the ark, Noah sacrificed some of the animals to God (even though the animals went in 2 by 2, there were 7 of each that went into the ark).  After Noah's sacrifice and before this blessing, with the sacrifices fresh before God, God reconciled Himself to the fact that killing all things was not going to happen again.  God accepted that people will be violent. What Went After Immediately after the blessing, God made a covenant between humanity, animals, the earth and Himself. The covenant was a vow never again to destroy the earth with water. CONCLUSIONS Even though there was only 2 cases of violence mentioned in the early chapters of Genesis, we can assume that there was a lot of it going on.  Genesis 9:1-7 introduced protection measures that God set up for humanity to escape violence.  By putting fear into animals, generally they would shy away from humans rather than attack them.  By giving humanity dominance over the animals, God was protecting humans even more from animals attacking. By giving humans the right to kill and eat animals gave us even further protection and dominance over the animal kingdom.  With all these measures sandwiched in the middle of a blessing, animals were no longer as much of a threat. Within the blessing was one more protective decree.  Capital punishment was set up to deter individuals from killing others.  The threat would always remain that if you kill someone, you must be killed. Before this announcement, people killed without the consequence of the death penalty.  Cain was the prime example.  After he killed Abel, God sent him out from the good land (Genesis 4:16 suggest that he was expelled from the land where God presence dwelt) and made him to be a wanderer away from God's presence.