Exodus 32:14

14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do to his people.

Exodus 32:14 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 32:14

And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do
unto his people.
] He did not do what he threatened to do, and seemed to have in his thoughts and designs, but did what Moses desired he would, ( Exodus 32:12 ) not that any of God's thoughts or the determinations of his mind are alterable; for the thoughts of his heart are to all generations; but he changes the outward dispensations of his providence, or his methods of acting with men, which he has been taking or threatened to take; and this being similar to what they do when they repent of anything, who alter their course, hence repentance is ascribed to God, though, properly speaking, it does not belong to him, see ( Jeremiah 18:8 ) . Aben Ezra thinks that the above prayer of Moses, which was so prevalent with God, does not stand in its proper place, but should come after ( Exodus 32:31 ) for, to what purpose, says he, should Moses say to the Israelites, ( Exodus 32:30 ) "peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin": if he was appeased by his prayer before?

Exodus 32:14 In-Context

12 Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.

13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou didst swear by thine own self, and didst say to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it for ever.'"

14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do to his people.

15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mountain with the two tables of the testimony in his hands, tables that were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.

16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.