And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did [it] not.
Ver. 10. And God saw their works] i.e. He noted and noticed them to others; or, he saw them, that is, he approved of them. Videre Dei, est approbare. Let God but see repentance as a rainbow appearing in our hearts and lives, and he will never drown us in destruction. But unless God sees turning, he sees no work in a fast, saith one upon this very text. God may say to impenitent fasters, saith another, as Isaac did to his father, "Behold the fire and wood, but where is the lamb?" Or as Jacob did concerning Joseph, "Here is the coat, but where is the child? Get thee behind me," saith Jehu to the messengers, "what hast thou to do with peace?" Confessions and humiliations are our messengers; but if the heart be not broken, if the life be not amended, what peace? The Talmudists note here, that God is not said to have seen their sackcloth and ashes, but their repentance and works, those fruits of their faith, truth in the inward parts, which God eyeth with singular delight, Jeremiah 5:3; as the work of his own Spirit, Ephesians 2:10. Certum est nos facere quod facimus; sed ille facit ut faciamus (August.); and he is pleased to call his grace in us our works, for our encouragement in well doing, and freely to crown it in us, without any merit on our part.
That they turned from their evil way] To which they were by nature and ill custom so wedded and wedged, that they could never have been loosened but by an extraordinary touch from the hand of Heaven. The conversion of a sinner from the evil of his way is God's own handywork, Jeremiah 31:18 2 Timothy 2:25 Ezekiel 6:9. Plato went three times into Sicily to convert Dionysius, the tyrant, and could do no good on him. Polemo, of a drunkard, by hearing Xenocrates, is said to have become a philosopher. But what saith Ambrose to him? Si resipuit a vino, &c. If he repented of his drunkenness yet he continued an infidel; he was still temulentus sacrilegio, drunk with superstition. He recovered of one disease, and died of another, as Benhadad did; he gave but the half turn, and therefore turned at length, and nevertheless into hell, Psalms 9:17. We conceive better of these Ninevites, though some are of the opinion that their repentance was but feigned and forced, as was that of Pharaoh and Ahab, as appears (say they) by the sequent history, by their dealing against the Jews, and by Nahum.
And God repented] This was mutatio rei non Dei, change of intention not of God himself, as is above noted.