Could G-d change His mind about the future of humanity?

Question

Jews believe that G-d made a permanent covenant with them. We also believe He made a covenant with mankind. We believe in a Messianic redemption and ultimate restoration of the world to peace and order; we envision a just end in which those separated are reunited, the dead are raised, and humanity is united in serving G-d.

So says our theory. (Sou.rces.) But what if the covenants that were made do not technically exclude an irrevocable end (to human life, to the world) through terrific destruction? Or, far scarier: what if G-d indeed made good covenants, but in the future changes His mind (ch"v)?

Do our texts account for this possibility--do we see it as possible? Why or why not? How likely is such a thing supposed to be? And what are our souls to do then?

Answer 1

God knows the future and therefore He cannot regret and "change His mind". He is not bound to time, all of the past and the future are before Him simultaneously as something in the present (as the Rambam wrote on the mishna in Rosh Hashana "all are examined in one sweeping look").

He also told us the covenant with the Jewish people is permanent through His prophets as for example:

"So says the Lord who gives the sun to illuminate by day, the laws of the moon and the stars to illuminate at night, who stirs up the sea and its waves roar, the Lord of Hosts is His Name. If these laws depart from before Me, says the Lord, so will the seed of Israel cease being a nation before Me for all time" (Jeremiah 31:34).

Answer 2

Another point possibly relevant to this question is the Jewish idea that a bad decree can change, but a good decree cannot. @Fred provides the source:

"The Rambam says that a negative prophecy against the Jewish people is subject to change but that a positive one is not (Hil. Y'sodei HaTorah 10:4, English translation). The Rambam's sources that a positive prophecy for the nation is irrevocable are B'rachos 7a and Yirm'yahu 28:9."

The nature of prophecy, how we test it, and how we know whether to believe it are discussed productively here. Fred adds to these remarks that the Lechem Mishneh "defends the Rambam by limiting the case of an irrevocable positive public decree to wherever at least one of the following conditions were met:

1. The prophet stated it explicitly and in God's name.

2. The people did not relinquish their merit through sin."

A possible exception to these laws of irrevocability is an incident in Chapter 9 of Ezekiel, about which Rav Acha b'Rebbi Chanina says in Shabbos 55a, "Only once, Hash-m said to do something good and retracted." In this incident, Hashem seems to promise to protect certain group of righteous men from slaughter (Y'chezkeil 9:4), but then they are slaughtered anyway (Y'chezkeil 9:6). The Talmud interprets this incident as G-d's revoking His promise. But Fred points out that depending on how one reads the verses, it may be understood that those who were slaughtered were not essentially included in G-d's original protection, suggesting that this need not have been an outright revocation of the decree.

Presumably, the covenants mentioned in this question fall under the above conditions as "irrevocable positive decrees"--although the question of whether we have, or could still, relinquish our merit through sin (ch"v) is a good one.

Answer 3

Malachi 3:6

כִּי אֲנִי יְהֹוָה לֹא שָׁנִיתִי וְאַתֶּם בְּנֵי־יַעֲקֹב לֹא כְלִיתֶם

For I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.

(Soncino translation)

In particular see Malbim’s commentary there, where this verse is specifically a reference to not reneging on the covenant and therefore not destroying Israel:

כי אני ה׳ לא שניתי מעולם את דברי והבטחתי ואני הבטחתי להאבות בל אכלה אתכם ובאשר לא שניתי את הבטחתי לכן אתם בני יעקב לא כליתי

Answer 4

I completely forgot that our tradition actually has an answer for this: It seems G-d does not destroy the world because of the merit of the lamed-vovniks.