God is an “unchanging God” when it comes to His Divine attributes (of Omniscience, Omnipotence, and Omnipresence) and His Divine nature (of Love and Holiness), yet this verse teaches us that God can indeed “change His mind.” If you read verses 1-10 you will see that His people had worshipped a golden calf, and God was going to destroy them for committing idolatry. He told Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation” (verses 9-10). In other words, God is planning on destroying His people and starting another nation with Moses as the head of that nation.

How would Moses respond? Surely, Moses was very angry too by Israel’s horrible sin of idolatry and knew they deserved to be punished. Add to this the offer God was making him to become a leader of a new nation, which was quite an attractive offer. To his credit Moses pleaded with the Lord to spare them with these words, “LORD, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from Your fierce wrath and relent from this harm to Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever’” (verses 11-13). In this prayer Moses was pleading for mercy for two reasons: 1) God’s testimony to the Egyptians, and 2) God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel (Jacob). Moses was a humble man who loved the Lord and knew that His honor and glory was at stake in that God had told Pharoah that He would deliver His people and bring them to the Promised Land. If they were destroyed the Egyptians would mock Him. And Moses knew that God had made “unconditional promises” to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel regarding their descendants inheriting the Promised Land (see Genesis 15:5, 18-21; 22:17; 26:4; 28:13-14). Moses knew that God would never go back on these promises, for they were not dependent on the actions of His people. Moses had been “TESTED by God” and he passed the test. In essence, Moses was pleading with God to “make good on His promises.” Of course, God would “never change His mind” regarding those promises and thus He spared His people as we saw in verse 14, “And the LORD repented of the evil (harm) which He thought to do unto His people.”

It is good to know that “God knew that Moses would pass the test and faithfully plead with Him not to destroy the people.” He never would have made that offer to Moses otherwise. As we noted, God’s purposes for Israel were rooted in His “unconditional promises” to them. I would encourage you to read Romans chapter 11 which bring out that God will eventually fulfill ALL HIS PROMISES to Israel when Christ comes in power and glory to deliver them from their enemies and to forgive them of their sins. We read of this in verses 26-29, “And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.’ Concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sake but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.” God had called Israel to be His people, and He will never change His mind regarding them.  (DO)  (651.1)