It seems like things have hit a fever pitch by the time you get to Exodus 32. Not only are the people playing the harlot with a golden calf at the base of Mount Sinai, but God is nearly ready to wipe them all off the face of the earth and start fresh with Moses.
Until, that is, Moses prays about the situation and God changes his mind.
This moment in Exodus 32:14 reveals two things. First, it highlights the amazing relationship that God and Moses share. With the possible exception of Abraham with Sodom and Gomorrah, never before in Scripture have we seen a man successfully ask God to alter His plans. That’s huge.
Second, it shows the power of prayer. If Moses can go to God with a direct request that is contrary to what God wants to do, what does that say about the power that we have in going to our Father as well?
But it also creates one huge problem: If God can change His mind based on prayer, does that make Him reliable? Can we trust Him to carry out His promises if He says He’s going to do something and then pivots?
It’s impossible to answer this question in a completely satisfactory way. There are two components that we know for sure though, and we would do well to remember both.
First, when God promises something, you can take it to the bank. Hebrews 6:13-20 reveals that God confirmed our salvation twice—by both a a promise and an oath. In both situations, it is impossible for God to lie. There are no more surer promises in Scripture than that of our security in salvation.
Second, God hears our prayers. Even in cases where the answer was no, like in the Garden of Gethsemane, God still heard Jesus’ prayer. 1 John 5:13-15 teaches that our confidence in God is based on the understanding that He hears us. If He can’t (or won’t) listen to us, then why even bother?
It’s the intersection of these two thoughts that give most Christians problems. After all, if God has said something, as He does in Exodus 32:14 with annihilating the Israelites, then does that the fact that He didn’t destroy them all make Moses’ prayer more powerful than God’s promises?
In this scene, we have to realize that God didn’t want to destroy Israel (Ezekiel 18:23), but there needed to be some form of punishment for their actions. Moreover, if Moses was to be a leader of these people, he needed to act.
When Moses comes down from the mountain, both events take place. Moses throws the stone tablets with the Law, then crushes the calf into powder and makes the people drink it. In a stroke of true leadership, he also asks for the innocent party to rally close by. This turns out to be the Levites, who Moses commands to kill the ringleaders of the golden calf incident.
What gets lost in the entire conversation around “God changing His mind” is the fact that the people were actually punished that day for their sins, and will be punished again in the future. Exodus 32:33 mentions that God will “blot [the ones who have sinned] from His book” and will, in the future, “punish them for their sin.”
God didn’t cancel judgment because of Moses’ prayer. Annihilation was always an option, but what transpired instead was a watershed moment in Moses’ leadership. God’s purpose was unchanged and His end goal was achieved, it just looked slightly different from the general statement in Exodus 32:14.
