Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Samuel 15:29

"And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent." — 1 Samuel 15:29 (ASV)

The Strength of Israel will not lie. —This title of the Eternal, translated here as “the Strength of Israel,” would be better translated as the Changeless One of Israel. The Hebrew word is first found in this passage. In later Hebrew, as in 1 Chronicles 29:2, it is translated “glory,” from the Aramaic usage (Keil). Some, less accurately, would translate it here “The Victory,” or “the Triumph of Israel,” will not lie, etc.

In the eleventh verse of this chapter we read of the Eternal saying, “It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king,” while here we find how “the Changeless One (or Strength) of Israel will ... not repent.” The truth is that with God there is no change. Now He approves of men and their works and ways, and promises them rich blessings; now He condemns and punishes the ways and actions of the same men; hence He is said “to repent,” but the change arises solely from a change in the men themselves, not in God. Speaking in human language, the Lord is said “to repent” because there was what appeared to be a change in the Eternal plans.

“One instrument,” well says Dean Payne Smith, “may be laid aside, and another chosen (as was the case of Saul), because God ordains that the instruments by which He works are beings endowed with free will.” So God in the case of King Saul—in human language—was said to repent of His choice because, due to Saul’s deliberate choice of evil, the Divine purposes could not in his case be carried out. Predictions and promises in the Scriptures are never absolute, but are always conditional. Still, God is ever the “Changeless One of Israel.” The counsel of the Lord stands for ever (Psalms 33:11). I am Jehovah; I change not (Malachi 3:6).