What do you think about 1 Samuel 16:14? In my bible it says that God sent an evil spirit to trouble King Saul. 1 Sam 16:14 "Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him."
When Saul became king of Israel, God's Spirit filled him:
1 Sam 10:6 "The Spirit of the LORD will come upon you in
power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be
changed into a different person."
Saul was a great leader for twenty years: 1 Sam 14:47-48
"After Saul had assumed rule over Israel, he fought against
their enemies on every side: Moab, the Ammonites, Edom, the
kings of Zobah, and the Philistines. Wherever he turned, he
inflicted punishment on them. He fought valiantly and
defeated the Amalekites, delivering Israel from the hands of
those who had plundered them."
But then, Saul began to disobey God. Melancholy and
self-conceit started to take over his life and God's Spirit
withdrew from him. It is then that: " . . . an evil spirit
from God came forcefully upon Saul." 1 Sam 18:10. The
ancient historian Josephus explained this as follows: "But
as for Saul, some strange and demonical disorders came upon
him, and brought upon him such suffocations as were ready to
choke him" (Antiquities 6.8.2). The Bible explains clearly
what this means in Ps 81:8-12: "'Hear, O my people, and I
will warn you-- if you would but listen to me, O Israel! You
shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not bow down
to an alien god. I am the LORD your God, who brought you up
out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.' But
my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to
me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow
their own devices."
In other words that evil spirit comes unto someone when that
person rebels against God and decides to do his/her own
will. God's grace is removed from that person as God will
not impose Himself on anyone. This opens the doors to the
devil's influence. It looks as if God sends these evil
spirits, but in reality, we make our own choice by turning
our backs on God and following our own devices.
God is a just God. It would be far from Him to impose
Himself on anyone. Unfortunately, the devil does not do us
the same courtesy. He does NOT respect anyone. He wants to
devour us! He wants our destruction: 1 Peter 5:8 "Your enemy
the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for
someone to devour."
The choice is ours to make. We can either choose to be blessed by the presence of God in our lives, or be cursed by a roaring lion whose only desire is to dominate our lives. What will be your choice today? Only God can give you inner peace. Will you accept Him in your life now?
Rob Chaffart
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I didn't go to the scripture, but from just this, I would think that King Saul upset God so severely, and God wanted to bring King Saul back to realization, that He sent an evil spirit to trouble King Saul.
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It is interesting this would come up because I am right now studying this {1st Samuel} in my Quiet Time! I have not looked at any commentary yet, but I believe the Scripture says this because the Lord uses "trouble" for his plans - not that he normally "sends" evil spirits! In this case Saul had disobeyed God a number of times { 1st Samuel 13:8-14;15:1-29} and was told god would remove him as king! At this point in time David was already anointed {future} king! See 1st Samuel 16:1-13! As is always the case all scripture must be seen in context in order to be understood! In this passage - as it says - the Holy Spirit had been removed - he was not given as now to born-again believers - and as this "opened the door" for David - a "mere shepherd boy" to be in the king's service. God's plan can be seen, in preparing the way for David to be readied for being a king!
This is also why believers should study the word literally by the book, i.e. Read the whole book chapter by chapter, verse by verse, a little each day ~ not ~ racing through on someone's else's schedule - just you, the lord, and his word!!! Praying first for insight. This is how we come to really know him!!! Yours for the pure word of God,
Carolyn
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I've heard and read many versions of what happened to King Saul. I don't think God sent an evil spirit to torment him. I think Saul invited the evil spirit in by worshiping other god's. He really got into some heavy stuff. God gives each of us a free will. And, Saul choose what he was going to do. I really don't believe God sends evil spirits to torment us. i think He lets Satan send out his demons to do that. Why would God do this? I don't know. If He did it to Job, are we any better?
Janet
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Evil spirits only come from God in the sense of being permitted by Him to trouble those who are backslidden and persist in sin and rebellion. The idea is that God does not protect such a person from spirits as He would if the person yielded and obeyed Him. God gave Saul over to an evil spirit as punishment for his sins and self will. When the Holy Spirit left him he was open to an evil spirit of Satan to torment him.
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1Sam16:14 Did God send the evil spirit to posses Saul?? If it is God's will to destroy all evil and no evil can stand in His sight because He is all good. Then the answer is no. An evil spirit is just that a spirit looking for a body to enter into and if it finds a house empty of God's spirit then it can enter. God took His Spirit away from Saul So this gave the evil spirit an opportunity to enter the mind of Saul. Seeing is how He know longer was wearing the Mind of Christ( God) This is why in the last days when cloning becomes a part of the world is going to be a great day of evil because a cloned being has know spirit and this being then can be occupied by a demonic spirit.
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The problem to me is; I cannot equate Evil with GOD. Therefore, I will look at the verse as God ALLOWING an evil spirit to enter Saul when his spirit was withdrawn from him. It it quite evident that when the spirit of God is withdrawn from our lives there is space for the evil spirit to dwell.
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This means simply that OUR GOD, is SOVEREIGN ! He is over everything... He can make the sun stand still... He can change the evil hearts of the wicked... HE is LORD of EVERYTHING.
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I believe Saul was tormented because
he knew he had displeased the Lord & that knowledge that he
was not in God's grace filled him with agony & sent him into
a deep depression. I think anyone who is separated from God
is touched by an evil spirit. It is only when we acknowledge
our Lord & do his bidding that we find peace in our lives.
JR rushair@webtv.net
