Exodus 32:14

14 So the Lord changed his mind and did not destroy the people as he had said he might.

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 Don't let the people of Egypt say, 'The Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt for an evil purpose. He planned to kill them in the mountains and destroy them from the earth.' So stop being angry, and don't destroy your people.

13 Remember the men who served you -- Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. You promised with an oath to them and said, 'I will make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky. I will give your descendants all this land that I have promised them, and it will be theirs forever.'"

14 So the Lord changed his mind and did not destroy the people as he had said he might.

15 Then Moses went down the mountain, and in his hands he had the two stone tablets with the Agreement on them. The commands were written on both sides of each stone, front and back.

16 God himself had made the tablets, and God himself had written the commands on the tablets.