Does God Change His Mind? Exploring Nacham In 1 Samuel 15 Series

For free audio or video download of this message, visit https://www.treasuringgod.com/sermons-by-scripture or my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@DarrellFerguson.

1 Samuel 15:10 Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel: 11 "I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions." Samuel was troubled, and he cried out to the LORD all that night. 19 Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?" 20 "But I did obey the LORD," Saul said. "I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. 21 The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal." 22 But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. 28 Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors-- to one better than you. 29 He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or grieve; for he is not a man, that he should grieve." 35 Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the LORD was grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.

Introduction: The Problem

1 Samuel 15:11 "I am grieved that I have made Saul king

The word translated grieved is NACHAM, which can mean either to grieve or to change your mind. So God is either grieving about His decision to make Saul king, or He is changing His mind. God’s attitude toward Saul is NACHAM. Now look at verse 29.

29 He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or NACHAM; for he is not a man, that he should NACHAM.

God does not ever do that because He is not a man. So the word NACHAM does not describe what God is like. Now look at the end of verse 35.

35 … the LORD was NACHAM that he had made Saul king over Israel.

How can we explain that? Is that not a flat out contradiction? God did that with Saul; He never does that; God did that with Saul.

Most people just write off verses 11 and 35 as anthropomorphism. (Anthropomorphism is a description of God in human terms to make Him more understandable – like talking about His hands or feet or tears or wings). The problem is, the purpose of anthropomorphism is to take something true about God and explain it in a way that makes it easier to understand. So if God never grieves over a past decision, how does saying that He did in Saul’s case help me more easily understand that He never does it?

Let’s see if we can figure out the answer. We will start by looking at the context. God rejected Saul’s line back in chapter 13, now in chapter 15 we see a second, more forceful rejection of Saul himself as king. And again, it is not just Saul committing and act of disobedience and God punishing him. If that is all there were to it we would not need a whole chapter. If we want to understand the vast difference between Saul and the man after God’s own heart (David), we are not going to find it in the nature of their sins. We find it in their hearts, which can be seen in their reaction to their own sins.

And when we see what Saul tries to do in this chapter in response to his own sin, we not only see into Saul’s heart, but we learn something very important about the nature of God. Something surprising. This passage opened my eyes to some truths about God that I had never understood very well before – regarding God’s emotions.

Saul’s Unrepentance

1. The sin

Chapter 15 begins by describing Saul’s act of disobedience. God gives Saul some very clear, very easy to understand instructions. He tells Saul to go completely destroy the Amalekites.

3 …totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.'"

All the people, all the animals, and all the possessions. And Saul just flat out disobeys. He keeps Agag (their king) alive and lets the soldiers keep the best of the animals. What was supposed to be a holy war Saul turns into just another slaughter of one people by another to get all their stuff. He turns what was to be a perfect act of judgment by a holy God into an ugly act of aggression by Saul.