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.
"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 (vv. 27-35), the central themes of the subsequent narratives focus on God's compassion and a new start for Israel."513
God called the Israelites Moses' people (v. 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 (v. 8).
God offered to destroy the rebellious Israelites and to make Moses' descendants into a great nation (v. 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. Num. 14:12). This offer constituted a test of Moses' ministry as Israel's mediator. Moses passed the test. He did not forsake his people but urged God to have mercy on them.
In his model intercessory prayer (vv. 11-13) Moses appealed to God on the basis of several things: God's previous work for Israel (v. 11), God's glory and reputation (v. 12), and God's word (v. 13).
The reference to God changing His mind (v. 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 decided to take a different course of action than He had previously intended.514
"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) that aims at showing us that he can and does change in his actions and emotions to men when given proper grounds for doing so, and thereby he does not change in his basic integrity or character (cf. Pss 99:6; 106:45; Jer 18:8; Amos 7:3, 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 (Jer 18:3-11; Jonah 3:9-10); and (3) compassion (Deut 32:36; Judg 2:18; 2 Sam 24:16)."515
