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Jeremiah 7:31
and it did not come into My mind
"And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in
the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their
daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come
into My mind," (Jer. 7:31).
Is the Lord
actually saying that He did not think of something? Even in open
theism, God knows all things actual as well as potential. That
means that God can know all things in the present tense as well as all
possibilities of things that could exist. Certainly God who knew
the past sins of Israel would have thought about them doing such sin --
as horrible as it was. So, it doesn't make sense to interpret this
as God admitting that He had never thought of something.
Furthermore, the NASB1 NIV,
RSV, 1901 ASV, translate this as "and it did not come into My mind,"
where the KJV, and NKJV translate it as "and it did not come into my
heart." What is interesting is that the LXX2
uses the Greek word "kardia", "heart" instead of the
Greek word for mind. Since we
can conclude that God can contemplate all potential forms of rebellion,
we can then also conclude that God is addressing the issue of human
moral behavior instead of expressing ignorance since that is what God is
talking about. In other words, their sin did not enter the
intention of God's heart in His plans for Judah.
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1. The NASB has a marginal note of "heart."
2. The LXX, or Septuagint, is the Greek Translation of
the Hebrew Old Testament. It was translated by Jews around 200
B.C.
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