God"s recounting the news of the golden calf to Moses gives the reader the divine perspective on Israel"s sin. Moses stressed three points in this pericope. [source][source][source]
"These three points-idolatry of the golden calf, Israel"s stiff-necked refusal to obey, and God"s compassion-provide the basis of the subsequent narratives and God"s further dealings with this people. Though a great act of God"s judgment follows immediately ( Exodus 32:27-35), the central themes of the subsequent narratives focus on God"s compassion and a new start for Israel." [1][source]
God called the Israelites Moses" people ( Exodus 32:7) probably because they had repudiated the covenant and God was therefore no longer their God. God regarded the Israelites" sacrificing before the calf as worship of it ( Exodus 32:8). [source][source][source]
God offered to destroy the rebellious Israelites and to make Moses" descendants into a great nation ( Exodus 32:10). He may have meant that He would destroy that older generation of Israelites immediately. God was proposing action that would have been consistent with His promises to the patriarchs and the conditions of the Mosaic Covenant (cf. Numbers 14:12). This offer constituted a test of Moses" ministry as Israel"s mediator. For Moses this test was real, even though the proposed destruction of Israel lay outside God"s plan (cf. the promises to Abraham; Genesis 49:10). Similarly, God told Abraham to offer up Isaac even though God had previously told him that Isaac would be his designated heir. And Jesus offered Himself to Israel as her king even though His death on the cross, according to "the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God" ( Acts 2:23), had to precede the establishment of His kingdom. Moses passed the test. He did not forsake his people but urged God to have mercy on them. [source][source][source]
In his model intercessory prayer ( Exodus 32:11-13) Moses appealed to God on the basis of several things: God"s previous work for Israel ( Exodus 32:11), God"s glory and reputation ( Exodus 32:12), and God"s word ( Exodus 32:13). [source][source][source]
The reference to God changing His mind ( Exodus 32:14) has been a problem to many Bible readers. The expression implies no inconsistency or mutability in the character of God. He does not vacillate but always does everything in harmony with His own character. Within the plan of God, however, He has incorporated enough flexibility so that in most situations there are a number of options that are acceptable to Him. In view of Moses" intercession God proceeded to take a different course of action than He had previously intended. [2][source]
"In only two of the thirty-eight instances in the OT is this word used of men repenting. God"s repentance or "relenting" is an anthropomorphism (a description of God in human forms [3]) that aims at showing us that he can and does change in his actions and emotions to men when given proper grounds for doing Song of Solomon , and thereby he does not change in his basic integrity or character (cf. Psalm 99:6; Psalm 106:45; Jeremiah 18:8; Amos 7:3; Amos 7:6; Jonah 3:10; James 5:16). The grounds for the Lord"s repenting are three: (1) intercession (cf. Amos 7:1-6); (2) repentance of the people ( Jeremiah 18:3-11; Jonah 3:9-10); and (3) compassion ( Deuteronomy 32:36; Judges 2:18; 2 Samuel 24:16[4])." [5][source]
Advocates of the "openness of God" overemphasize this change in God and conclude that He did not just relent from a former proposed course of action but changed in a more fundamental way. They say He took a completely different direction that He had not anticipated previously. This view stresses the free will of Prayer of Manasseh , in this case Moses" intercession, at the expense of the sovereignty of God. [source][source][source]