An Evil Spirit from God

1 Samuel 16:14, 23; Judges 9:23


Last week, I preached on the story of Jonathan, one of the most admirable characters in all of ancient literature. After church, someone asked what about that verse which said that Saul was tormented by an evil spirit from God? What’s that about?

There are several classic explanations of the texts that speak about an evil spirit from God

According to some commentators, Saul was a rebellious man. He fully deserved whatever torment he received. God did not cause the spirit to be evil, but given the existence of the evil spirit, God was free to use it for his own purposes, quite independent of its own intentions.

Others explain that the Hebrew Scriptures often use the “active voice” when clearly something less direct is intended. So Hebrews would say God “did” something when we say God “allowed” it. The evil spirit was “from God” only in the sense that God no longer protected Saul from the demonic.

Another point scholars mention is that the Hebrew word translated here as “evil” does not necessarily refer to something with wicked personal intention. So it might be translated better “an injurious spirit” or a “damaging spirit”. In this case the spirit in question might actually have been an angel of God sent to torment or punish Saul. (This assumes that Saul deserved such punishment and that God metes out such punishment.)

Still others insist this text is just wrong. People back in that culture thought God actively exercised retribution. We, however, have outgrown such barbaric notions. We “know” about natural cause and effect, about randomness, about mental illness and the etiology of disease. Much of the Old Testament is too primitive to offer us much in the way of spiritual enlightenment.

I think some of the ideas above are useful. No matter how you understand it, the world of the author is profoundly alien to us. Still I have found some rich spiritual help in reflecting on the story. Here’s the way I read it.

The Way I Read It

I link the “evil spirit from God” with other instances in this story of God’s direct involvement.

Samuel, the prophet from God
God called Samuel to leadership. Samuel was a good man. He makes God’s choice look smart. However, his two sons grow into corrupt leaders. Their corruption is so bad the elders demand Samuel fix the problem by giving them a king.

Saul, the king from God
God reluctantly goes along with the people and chooses Saul to be king. Saul is a jerk and makes God’s choice look dumb. But Saul’s son Jonathan is remarkably noble and heroic. Had he taken the throne, God’s choice of Saul would have looked really smart. But before that can happen, God decides to bypass Jonathan.

David, the king from God
God chooses David to be king. At first, at first this looks like a good choice. David is a great man (if you overlook his constant practice of raiding villages, slaughtering every resident then lying to his Philistine allies about it). Later, of course, David jumps into an affair, has the woman’s husband killed and tries to cover it up.

The Evil Spirit from God
After reading about all these divine initiatives, the “evil spirit from God” is just another example of the author’s notion that God is involved in everything.

Most people I know reject the idea that everything, good and bad, comes from God, because it says to them that God is hopelessly enmeshed with evil, pain and catastrophe. If God is in all this stuff, then “bad stuff” becomes evidence of a “dark side” in God. We rightly reject this. “God is light. In him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).

However, for the very devout there is another way to understand this concept of everything coming from God. If a person has utter confidence in God, God’s involvement, even in the darkest people and events, means there is some beneficent purpose in everything.

This does not assume the “evil spirits” have any good intentions. Only, that no matter what the actual intention of the evil spirit or person, above, beneath, beyond, through—somewhere in connection with the life and action of this evil spirit—God is working to accomplish his own beneficent purpose.

One way I practice this is to spend some part of my morning meditation time consciously, deliberately asking God to help me receive the difficult people in my life as “evil spirits from God.” Rather than seeing them as random hindrances to life, I ask for grace to regard them as unwitting agents of God.

In this time of meditation and prayer, instead of whining, I invite God to help me receive the good he intends through this miserable company.

Again, let me be clear: I do not assume the “evil spirit” has any conscious good intention (though few humans are ever purely evil). I only assume that somewhere, somehow in connection with this person’s life and actions is a beneficent divine intention.

(Please note: Just because we believe God is involved when someone else is acting like “evil spirit” does not mean we ought to be passive. While Saul was actuated by an “evil spirit from God,” that did not mean David was supposed to sit there and let Saul pin him to the wall. Sometimes, what God teaches us through the activity of the “evil spirit from God” is how to dodge and run. If you are in danger, take action. Do your meditation on where God is in the situation after you have moved to safety!)


Obviously, I am not doing exegesis in the usual sense. Instead of asking, “What does this text mean?” I’m asking, “What spiritual help can I receive?” I am deliberately putting on my “God is love” glasses to look for a meaning that helps me cultivate peace and hope.

When I take this approach, I can find great spiritual help even in the most primitive parts of the Bible. I no longer insist on learning only from those whose prejudices and assumptions mirror my own.

Jesus said, “If your eyes are light, then your whole body is full of light. If your eyes are dark then your whole world is full of darkness.” It is your eyes and not the environment. It is our reading, not the text.

How to Read the Bible

When I preached on the Song of Solomon, I used its portrayal of a randy romance as a model of God’s love. The uncritical, starry-eyed adoration of lovers for each other is an essential model of divine-human love.

When I preached on the story of Abraham and Isaac, I argued God deliberately misled Abraham into thinking he was required to sacrifice Isaac, just so God could contradict him at the last minute, thus creating an emotionally powerful narrative that would check individual’s impulses to harm others in the name of serving God.

When I preached on Revelation, I emphasized God’s involvement (rather than the threats posed by the beasts), the unexpected crowd of the faithful (the 144,000=the Great Uncountable Multitude in contrast to their apparent invisibility through most of the book), and God’s intention to place his people on the throne (rather than our ultimate destiny being on our faces before the throne.)

Some people claim that if we would all just agree to accept the Bible and Bible Only as our only authority (or at the very least our supreme authority), we would come a grand, harmonious understanding of spiritual life and God. Of course, this is on the face of it, false. The fiercest disputes in theology are between people who each support their views by appeals to the Bible and Bible Only.

What is the right way to read the Bible. I compare the Bible to a medicine chest. My medicine chest includes Kaopectate and laxatives, antibiotics and asthma medicine, eye-ointment and athlete’s foot medicine. The purpose of the medicine chest is healing not the veneration of medicine. I cannot facilitate healing by indiscriminately applying athlete’s foot medicine to everything. Or by dosing everyone who coughs with antibiotics. So I pull from Scripture those things I believe will be most conducive to spiritual health and healing. My highest, greatest goal is not “being true to Scripture.” That is an important intention. My highest goal is helpfulness to others in their spiritual life.

So most of the time I skip right over the stories of Judges, the summary execution of Uzzah, and the puzzling symbols of Zechariah. I go through the Bible cherry-picking the best stuff to facilitate hope and healing. That’s how I read the Bible.

A Valentine Vision

The Song of Songs

The poem begins, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.” It’s a wild and randy story. The girl’s lover is a king with sixty wives and eighty concubines. The girl, naturally, is enraptured by the king’s attention. He is equally enthralled with her. Here's how he sees her:

How beautiful you are my treasure
Oh, how beautiful
Your eyes behind your veil are dancing coals.
Your hair cascades in leaping ebony waves.
Your teeth are gleaming white
Your lips are scarlet ribbons
Your neck is elegant beyond words
Your breasts are alive and exquisitely formed
Your mound holds me the night long
All beautiful you are my precious one
There is no flaw in you.
You have stolen my heart
Stolen it with one glance.

A stone-hearted objective commentator standing outside the story could read this list and observe that most men in love would be equally rapturous about their love interest. There’s nothing special here. But once you step into the story, this rapture is breathtaking and “accurate.”

There is some action in the poem, though the plot is far from clear. Mostly, it is a celebration of a starry-eyed, lusty romance. The poem ends with the king inviting her to talk to him. He wants to hear her voice. She responds by inviting him to roam the landscape of her body.

What are the lessons of this gently erotic love poem buried in the heart of the Bible?

The first lesson of this poem is God’s involvement with all of life–including sex. Many religious traditions teach that humans can reach the very highest spiritual development only after transcending sexual desire and enjoyment. However, the Bible pictures married sexual intimacy as the very pinnacle of God’s creative intention. Genesis one ends with Adam and Eve entering Sabbath naked with no obligations for 24 hours. Genesis two ends with Adam and Eve becoming one flesh.

We do not achieve spiritual nobility by scorning our sexuality. Rather we live holy lives by focusing our sexuality in appropriate ways.

Second lesson: Human hunger for God is a mirror of divine hunger for humanity. The Shulamite girl longs for the King’s kisses. He delights in her beauty. It is a story of mutual romance. So God’s story cannot be told without us–without his people. God pictures himself as a lover–actively seeking to win the heart of his beloved. What we do affects God. When we do right, it gladdens his heart. When we worship, it brings him joy.

A third lesson: “I am dark but beautiful.” Song of Songs 1:5.

In the Shulamite’s world, a tan was a mark of poverty and low social standing. She had been forced by her family to work as a shepherd. She spent months outdoors in the intense Palestine sun. She was dark–in her eyes–ugly. Now, in the glow of romance, she sees herself through her lover’s eyes. She's beautiful.

If she persisted in seeing herself as undesirable she would have been casting aspersions on the judgment of her lover. He has a harem full of women. He is not desperate or blind or stupid. He would not choose as his lover an unworthy woman. So whatever the color of her skin or the opinions of her brothers or the women in the market place, now as the darling of the king, she sees herself as beautiful, desirable, worthy.

So with us. Jesus loved us so much he would rather die than live without us. That’s romance. He has utterly romantic plans of placing you on his throne and naming you with his name. (Rev. 22) We denigrate Jesus’ judgment if we hate or berate ourselves.

Don’t spend time putting yourself down. To paraphrase Ellen White: “God wanted you else he would not have sent his son on such an expensive errand to redeem you.” (D.A. 668) There is something special about you that holds Jesus’ attention. Something that happens in the chemistry between you and Jesus that happens ONLY between you and him.

The message of Song of Songs is: God is a lover. And you are his beloved. He filters his vision with the lenses of romance, magnifying your loveliness. He loves you because he sees something irreplaceably special about you. Honor his vision. Look through his eyes.

Adventist Identity and Mission

Recently, I have listened to more than one church leader urge Adventist clergy to preserve the unique identity and mission of the Adventist Church. We are not just another denomination. Our mission is different from historic, classic, apostolic, traditional, ordinary, orthodox Christianity. We are the people of Revelation 14, the remnant church, God’s church for the end time. Our mission flows from this divinely-given identity: the proclamation of the eternal gospel in the context of the three angels.

My interpretation: community service, spiritual formation, nurture of the feeble, healing of the broken are all good things, but we can leave most of this work to other churches and ministries, to non-profits, Buddhists, and humanitarians. Our job is to get people ready for the Second Coming. This readiness is radically different from plain, old, faithful discipleship. It consists of believing the Adventist interpretation of Daniel 7-9 and Revelation 12-20.

I demur.

For four reasons.

1. The central meaning of “remnant” is continuity, not novelty. The first 1800 years of Christianity was not the beta version of Adventism. We are not a “finally perfected” version of Christianity. “The remnant” of Revelation 12 continues the identity and mission of the church. There is no hint in Revelation that the remnant reforms or completes the work of the church.

2. Revelation 14 mentions the “hour of judgment.” This is not a reference to 1844. It is a reference to John 12:27-33. It is an announcement of the Christian era not the century and a half and counting beginning in 1844.

3. The eternal gospel–the other “message element” mentioned in Revelation 14–is not a new message applicable from 1844 forward. It is the eternal gospel.

4. Getting people ready for the Second Coming is not different from getting them ready to go to work next Tuesday or Tuesday five hundred years ago. God does not impose a new standard or announce a new ideal for a brief period immediately prior to the Second Coming. Christians have always been called to be perfect as their heavenly Father is perfect. They have always been saved by grace. And so it will remain till the Second Coming.

5. What calls forth the distinctive Adventist accent to Christianity is the shape of the spiritual/ideological world we live in. Truth must be formed so it addresses people where they live. Adventism has unique gifts for making God and the gospel accessible to people living in the third millennium.

The most important elements of Adventist identity and mission are shared with other Christians. We are disciples of Jesus and worshipers of God. The most important elements of our distinctive identity are not endtime scenarios but practices and beliefs that facilitate healthy lives and hopeful theology: God is love, Sabbath, nature of death, nature of hell, judgment, integration of health and holiness.

Daniel and Revelation should not be presented as the soul of Adventism. Rather the distinctive Adventist interpretations of these prophecies should be seen as the special treasure of the Adventist cognoscenti. After you’ve been in the church long enough to become deeply and happily grounded in the eternal gospel, if you demonstrate maturity and stability, then we’ll tell you our secrets–the Mark of the Beast, 1844, the Little Horn, the 1260 days. It is possible to integrate these beliefs into a healthy theology, but like all esoteric theological ideas, they have potential for deranging unstable people–the kind of people often drawn to our evangelistic presentations that major in monsters and plagues and minor in the Savior.

The mission of Jesus–and by extension our mission–is first to preach the gospel to the poor and release to captives. Care for the retarded, those suffering from mental illness or battling addictions, the painfully geriatric is just as central to our mission as is preaching about the Mark of the Beast and the Little Horn. In fact, one easy test of the validity of our prophetic message is its effectiveness in motivating Adventist individuals and institutions to practice “disinterested benevolence.”

It is appropriate for church administrators, in allocating human and financial resources, to make sure the distinctive Adventist identity is not lost in our engagement with broken humanity or in our cooperation with other Christians. Our theology has something to say about God that is not said equally well by anyone else. Our theology, including our prophetic scenarios, is a treasure. But the ultimate test of our faithfulness is not how well we preserve our treasure, but how effectively we put it to work. (Interpret the last clause of the previous sentence in the light of Isaiah 58, Luke 4, 1 Corinthians 13 and Matthew 25).


“I saw that it is in the providence of God that widows and orphans, the blind, the deaf, the lame, and persons afflicted in a variety of ways, have been placed in close Christian relationship to His church; it is to prove His people and develop their true character. Angels of God are watching to see how we treat these persons who need our sympathy, love, and disinterested benevolence. This is God's test of our character.” Ellen G. White, Testimonies to the Church, 3:511.