As we continue in our journey through the Bible, we are still in Genesis chapter 6. Our word for today is נחם regret, be sorry, console oneself, be comforted, to be grieved, to groan. It is used 108 times in the Old Testament. What is interesting about this word is that it is used in quite a range of meaning from comfort and console all the way to regret. We see our word in Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they נחם comfort me. So, we have the sense of console as God comforts us when we are in a difficult challenging time.
Here is where this gets interesting, we actually see God who knows all things find himself in a difficult situation where he needs to be consoled. This doesn’t seem possible but yet we see this with King Saul and the people who lived during Noah’s day. 1 Samuel 15:11 The word of the Lord came to Samuel: “I נחם regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And also later in, 1 Samuel 15:35 And the Lord נחם regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.
So why would God make Saul King when he knew how it was going to end? If you know that something ahead of time is a terrible idea why in the world would you allow it to happen? The only answer is freewill. God will not make us follow him and do what is best for us and for those around us. If we really want something that is bad God will warn us like he did the people who wanted a human king instead of him, but he will not stop us from experiencing the consequences of rejecting him. For people like us who are limited in knowing the future we use the word regret more in the sense of wishing we would have known what was going to happen before we made the decision and wanting the ability to go back and make a different choice. But I think here when it is used of God, who already knows exactly what is going to happen and yet decides to make that choice, it is more the sense of being in pain and needing to be consoled. God needs comfort because of the difficult situation he is in. Remember נחם is also translated grieve and groan. This is what I think is meant when נחם is used in Genesis 6. Genesis 6:6-7 And the Lord נחם regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am נחם sorry that I have made them.”
Most of the time a person needs consoling or comforting in a difficult, painful situation that their own sin or foolish actions put them in. But that is not true of God because God does not sin. He is holy separated from sin. So, who then put God in this position where he needs consoling. We did, you and I. Here it was the people who lived during Noah’s day and time. Any parent knows how this works. You love your child, but they get themselves into trouble and you step in to help even though it will cause you pain. But as human parents we don’t know the future like God does. So God willingly allows himself to experience pain for us. Why? The answer is all over the Bible. This verse sums it up really well. Romans 5:8 God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. And 1 John 4:8-10 God is love. In this the love of God was made known to us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Now we could go on and on so just one last verse. 1 John 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.
