Invisible Redemption
Thus the Lord God showed me, and behold, He was forming a locust-swarm when the spring crop began to sprout. And behold, the spring crop was after the king’s mowing. And it came about, when it had finished eating the vegetation of the land, that I said, “Lord God, please pardon! How can Jacob stand, For he is small?” The Lord changed His mind about this. “It shall not be,” said the Lord. Amos 7:1-3 NASB
Changed His mind– YHVH shows the prophet Amos that He is about to destroy the land with locusts because of the sin of the people. Amos pleads for pardon. YHVH “changes His mind” and the plague of locusts never happens. But the people don’t repent. In fact, they don’t even know that they were about to be destroyed. The redemption they experience is entirely invisible.
Two issues immediately surface from this conversation between Amos and YHVH. First, of course, is the idea that God changes His mind. Theologically, this is a contradiction of the doctrine of immutability. A perfect God has no need to change, in fact, is logically incapable of change, for if He did, then He wouldn’t be perfect. There is a rather long history behind the development of immutability; a history that weaves its way back to the Greek philosopher Parmenides, not the Hebrew prophet Moses. If you’re really interested, you can read about it here.
The second issue which we will investigate today is about repentance. In this story, God forgives despite the fact that the people never repent. In fact, they don’t know anything about this. They go right on being sinful, unconscious of their brush with doom. Nevertheless, God alters His plan. If we read the story as it stands, we might even conclude that God is the one who repents, not the people. This is quite different from the typical idea of repentance in religious circles. Our idea assumes that restitution, reconciliation and redemption presuppose repentance. In other words, if a person or group does not repent, then the ensuing consequences are justified. They must repent in order to forestall divine reprisals. The popularized version is found in the “Four Spiritual Laws” (by the way, did you ever ask yourself why they are called spiritual laws?). God has a plan, but your sin prevents it from happening. You must repent and ask Jesus to be your savior, after which the great divine plan will come to pass. This idea is pervasive in our culture. Sermon after sermon exhorts us to act, to repent of our ways and gain God’s favor. In fact, the Church is built upon this idea. What role would the priest and the confessional play if repentance wasn’t necessary? And how are we going to understand John the Baptist without an “alter call” version of repentance?
It’s very difficult to grapple with the possibility that we have misunderstood such a fundamental concept. Not misunderstood exactly. More like taking a practice that entered into the religious world after the Hellenized concept of the inner person emerged in late antiquity and reading it back into the Hebraic world of the fourteenth and tenth centuries BCE. In other words, the emergence of repentance doesn’t mean it isn’t real or valuable, but it does mean that we might have seen it where it doesn’t actually exist simply because we are the victims of a religious paradigm. It’s possible that repentance, like the idea of a personal Messiah, emerged gradually from the experiences of the people of Israel due to other factors like politics, social economics and the evolution of linguistic terms. If that is the case, then we need to take a step back from our penchant to read the Bible as if it is a divinely-authored, heavenly uniform set of instructions given by God. That too is a paradigmatic assumption. We need to read the text for what it is—a progression in the experience of the God of Israel, mapped on human conditions, written in human blood, sweat and tears.
But it’s scary to think like this, isn’t it?
Topical Index: repentance, perfection, changed His mind, paradigm, Amos 7:1-3
ADDENDUM
Apparently some of you did not get the photo of the marvelous marble sculpture yesterday. It is available on the web here. Don’t know why there was a problem.
I sure love God. He delights in surprising us and he delights in us surprising him.
“…and he delights in us surprising him.”
Pam, this surprises me! I love it! Thank you for sharing this!
I don’t know, Skip. I don’t find it scary. To the contrary, the further I walk this way the more peace I have because I’m free to be obedient to what is logical rather than to what is not.
A good example of how God rewards the prayers of a righteous person. Those who seek not their own benefit and favour but rather from a true heart the forgiveness and or healing of others.
YHVH often gives us a long leash, but IMO repentance is ultimately expected if we are to have a meaningful relationship with Him. I suspect all of us can recount times in our lives when we were aware of our personal sin, yet YHVH withheld punishment. Often, we look back with shock and shame at out audacity (and naivety.) I’m incredibly grateful for that long leash. By all rights, I shouldn’t be here.
Yes, and how often has he changed the circumstances so that our intent could not be achieved… Does he then save us or prevent sin from manifesting and making the circumstances worse. The greater purpose is most probably the manifestation of God’s control and our inner humiliation and reflection so that we can repent… Not those we are using to manifest our sin or weakness.
I wonder if YHVY isn’t chuckling as He observes us trying to figure out “if, when, and why” He changes his mind. Or…is repentance mandatory or optional? There is so much mystery, yet He also reveals much about himself through His Scriptures. In it all, He demonstrates his Sovereignty. Perhaps some people find that scary. Others may find it comforting.
Not sure this is a story about repentance (as we understand it) as much as a story about options, and mercy and longsuffering displayed in those options, as a number of scenarios were given. The judgement did occur and it occurred according to covenant terms. It always amazes me when it’s shown that God as sovereign creator and sustainer, seeks “counsel” from His creation, but that’s according to covenant as well, insofar as man is made in His Image. God is faithful to those terms even when we are not.
I think when one contemplates this idea of divine im/mutability one needs to consider other texts, such as Numbers 23:19. There’s an excellent article discussing this issue: David T. Lamb’s “The Immutable Mutability Of YHWH” (Southeastern Theological Review 2 [2011]). Below is the author’s conclusion.
This is included in my Accordance Bible software. Though I’ve made some ill-thought-out purchases, and have had to liquidate the large majority of my investments at the most inopportune of times, this is one ‘investment’ that has stood the test of time.
Thanks Craig. That was helpful! It makes sense and sounds right to me.
You’re welcome. I would like to add that I think it right to view YHWH’s mercy and justice as two sides of the same coin, and I think that if we factor this in, YHWH is not really mutable. In other words, YHWH must be just; but, in His mercy, he will spare the repentant. The unrepentant will suffer His wrath–because He is just. On the other hand, should they repent (or another intercedes for them), YHWH will show mercy–because He is just. Therefore, it’s not so much that He changes His mind, it’s a function of our un/repentance. As the author above well-articulates, it’s YHWH’s divine flexibility at play here, which, in my mind, doesn’t violate divine immutability.
It’s interesting to note that in the vision of Amos that the first scenario presented was a devastation of the crop AFTER the kings mowing. In other words, the king would have been allowed sustenance, but the “people” would starve. You’ve gotta ask why! I think this is at least some of what you seem to be pointing toward. (and I agree with you) The final word was that a sword would be brought against the “source” of the disobedience. (the king, who initiated policy) The only question left is, what allows deliverance and mercy to those who willingly chose to remove themselves from the source of the judgement. I still contend that God isn’t “changing His mind” here, but rather working exactly in accordance with the covenant presented to His people. What’s amazing, is that He choses to run this by Amos at all, but like David when he sinned in counting the people, He looks for an intercessor.
Yes, and Jonah, the reluctant intercessor, provides a tangential example.
I don’t think God ever changes his mind, we just think He did. Our lives are non-stop 24/7 moments of nonstop decision making. What do I do next? MY ENTIRE LIFE. Our lives are algorithms of either/or choices. It doesn’t even mean that what looks like a final choice necessarily is. We can put a gun to our head and pull the trigger but does that mean we will be dead immediately? NO! The gun can misfire, or shoot into a location in the brain where we are incapacitated or we miss altother and we live to make more choices. We probably WILL die but not necessarily.
If we do not die, we get to start the decision making process as usual it WILL be different from the first. And over and over and over………… each with a different result. How many times did Pharoah have to make a different decision? Nine. Was his last decision his own last decision for himself or country? No just the last for his army and the Hebrews. Could it have been different for the Hebrews? Absolutely YES but we don’t know WHAT plan 1,2, 3… or 11, 12, 13 ….. might have been because they weren’t taken, just 10 and ONLY the 10th counted for the Exodus story to be written as is.