our text; Ex. 32:14, "The Lord repented of the evil which he thought
ears, looks with finite eyes, and utters the sentiments of a finite heart. He sees all the present misery and ruin which the scene presents, and they affect him according to their nature; and as they affect him, so does he speak, in the words of man. For the feelings implanted in man must, to some extent, be the same as those existing in the bosom of God. Man was made in God's image in respect of his feelings as truly as in respect of his understanding; the human heart is the counterpart of the divine, just as Israel's earthly tabernacle was the copy of that which is above. Hence it is that God so often uses the language of human feeling. It is not merely that God is condescending to man (though this is true), but it is also because the heart of man, being fashioned after that of God, the language that gives utterance to the feelings of the former, will, in a greater or less degree, according to circumstances, give utterance to the feelings of the latter. God's love, hatred, wrath, pity, joy, grief, are all real; and they are, in kind, the same as man's, only there is no sin in them; so that we may say, that all the feelings of man that are holy, or that can be called forth without sin, do exist in God.
But now let us look at the words of our text,—"repenting,"—"grieving at the heart."
1. Repent.—The word frequently occurs in the same connection as in our text; Ex. 32:14, "The Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people" (see also 1 Sam. 15:11, 35; Jer. 26:13, 19). In these and other like passages, it denotes that change of mind which is produced towards an object by an alteration of circumstances. Nor is this inconsistent with unchangeableness in God. It is true that he is without variableness or shadow of turning; there is no caprice or vacillation in him. But his unchangeableness is not a mere arbitrary principle,—a thing which makes him feel the same towards a person, however he may change from good to evil, or from bad to worse. It does not mean that his proceedings are unchangeable, though it does mean that his purposes are so; nay, the very change of his proceedings may be the result and manifestation of the unchangeableness of his purposes. When Adam fell, God changed his