SOUNDING OUT:
God Is Always Good (Part 2 of 2)

  This week we will look at four examples of the usage of the Hebrew idiom of permission in the Bible, and we will see how God emphasizes man’s freewill choice to obey or not obey. We will look at David numbering Israel, the smiting of the firstborn of Egypt, God deceiving His people, and being led into temptation.

The example of David Numbering Israel:

  If we take that verse literally, then we must conclude that God got mad and made David do something against His people… something that would hurt them. If one reads the remainder of the chapter, we will see that what David did was contrary to God's will. Hence, if we were to take what is said in the above passage literally, we would conclude that God moved David to do something that was not His will. In other words, we would conclude that God caused David to sin, and in fact to sin greatly as David himself confessed later in II Samuel 24:10.

  The problem with this literal interpretation when it is put against other parts of the Bible, is obvious. How could God be light if instead of teaching His people how to avoid evil, He moved them to sin and to do evil? Moreover, how could God say in James that He does not tempt anyone with evil, when here the passage seems to say that He moved David to do what was contrary to His will?

  Would you characterize as loving and as light someone that would do something like this to you? I wouldn't. It is exactly in cases like this, where the literal interpretation does not seem to make much sense or does not fit with the rest of the Bible, that we should be alerted. It should attract our attention. We should immediately be aware that God would never work in such a manner. That’s when we should start looking for figures of speech and idioms.

  In this case, as well as in many others, the difficulty is caused by ignorance of the above Hebrew idiom of permission in which God appears to do something that has just been allowed, suffered, or tolerated, by Him.

  Did God make David do it? Did David have no choice in the matter? One thing we can be sure of is that God gives us free will to choose. God allowed, suffered, or tolerated David’s decision. It wasn't the Lord that did it. The one that did it, is identified in
I Chronicles 21:1.

  The books of Samuel and Kings appear one after the other in the second section of the Hebrew cannon called the Prophets. They were written from man’s viewpoint. Chronicles on the other hand is the very last book in the third and last part of the Hebrew cannon. It is in the Kethubim, the rest of the writings, which also contains Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, and the other so-called wisdom literature. Chronicles is written from God’s viewpoint and frequently discloses many of the underlying spiritual causes of things, as is the case in these parallel accounts.

  Satan was the one that moved David to number Israel. Something like this fits his character and is supported by the rest of scripture, which characterizes Satan as the one that works against God's will. In fact, the context shows that God tried, through Joab the commander of the army to persuade David not to do what he finally ended up doing.

  Whose will was Joab doing by trying to persuade David not to do the counting? Obviously, God's will. Joab knew God didn't want this counting to take place, and he warned David about it. While in I Chronicles 21:1 we are told the truth LITERALLY, in II Samuel 24:1 we are told the same truth FIGURATIVELY. It was therefore SATAN that moved David to do what he did. God also warned David, via Joab, but David didn't follow God's counsel. David blew it, and confessed his sin in I Chronicles 21:8 and II Samuel 24:10.

  Also something else that has to be made clear is that when we say that God suffered or allowed David to do what he did, this does not mean that God caused it. He did not determine that David would fall into Satan's trap. God NEVER wants us to fall into a trap. It is WE, who decide whether we will obey God or, under Satan's persuasion and "moving," we will do what is not God’s will. Do you see how our freewill choice is emphasized with this idiom?

Smiting The Firstborn

  Another example where the usage of this idiom is made clear is in the book of Exodus when referring to the last plague that fell upon the Egyptians.

  The first part of this verse is figurative and the second part is literal. The same verse repeats the truth in both ways. Now if the Lord and the destroyer were the same person, then why would it say that God wouldn't allow THE DESTROYER to come into their house? Who is this destroyer? Who does the Bible say came "to steal and to kill and TO DESTROY?" John 10:10 identifies him as the devil. So what is meant is that God wouldn't suffer or allow the destroyer, the devil, to do any harm to His people. However, if one of them disobeyed the things that God had commanded them to do that night, guess what would happen? He would walk outside God's will and consequently outside God's protection, and he would be destroyed by the destroyer, the devil.

  Similarly, who was the one that destroyed the Egyptians? The destroyer i.e. the devil. Why then does it says "the Lord" in the beginning of the verse? Because of the Hebrew idiom according to which God appears to do what is actually done by the devil as a result of walking outside God's will. In our case, those that walked outside God's will, were the Egyptians that didn't let the people of Israel go. Indeed, in Exodus 5:2 Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.” When we take God at His Word and obey we will absolutely have His protection on our lives.

God Deceiving His People:

  Another passage that has been the source of great trouble and confusion is in Jeremiah 4:10 where we read:

  If one reads Jeremiah, he will find that there were many false prophets that prophesied that there would be peace. In fact, the only prophet that spoke the word of God, the only genuine prophet, was Jeremiah whose prophecy was constantly a warning to the people of Israel for the destruction that would come if they continued to disobey God. It finally came, like He said it would. Therefore, if we took the above passage literally, we would conclude that it was God that caused this false prophecy and the deception that followed it as a result.

  Really, why would God deceive His people and cause them to do what is not His will? It is not possible, if God is light without any darkness in Him. On the other hand, who is the one that does not want the will of God to be done? It is the devil. Isn't it? You see how easy it is to get confused, if you are willing to ignore the rest of the Bible and take as literal, things that in the light of the other passages cannot be literal?

  Jeremiah 23 tells us by whom those false prophets that prophesied for peace spoke:

  Those prophets, through whom the deception came, prophesied BY BAAL i.e. by the devil (Jeremiah 2:8). The Lord never spoke to them. This is the literal truth. When Jeremiah 4:10 says that the Lord deceived the people, it is obvious that it cannot be literally true since the Lord never spoke to these false prophets, that deceived the people. The one that spoke to them was Baal, the devil, and Jeremiah 4:10 is one more occurrence of the Hebrew idiom by which God appears to do things that are done by the devil, when people (the false prophets and most of the people of Israel in our case) refuse to obey God and His declared Word and will.

Being Lead Into Temptation

  If we took this passage literally, we would conclude that God can also lead us into temptation and thus we should follow Jesus’ example and ask Him not to do it. However, James 1:13 tells us:

  If God could ever lead us into temptation could James so emphatically state that He does not tempt anyone? Of course not. On the other hand, whose profession is temptation? It is devil's profession who for this reason is called "the tempter" (Matthew 4:3). Now since all these are like that, why then did Jesus say what he said? The answer is that he used a very popular idiom of his language, as you and I use idioms of our own languages. If we take this Hebrew idiom into account, we will have what the above passage actually says: "Do not allow us, do not suffer us, to be tempted" or “protect us from temptation” or “lead us out of temptation.”

  God never tempts us; we are tempted when we are drawn away by our own lust. So often we just don’t want to obey. We want to let God have His way as long as it agrees with our plans.

  Keep your picture of God clear and focused. He is good always. His will is always good, acceptable, and perfect. He desires our freewill, heartfelt, loving obedience. He so cherishes it that he frequently uses the Hebrew idiom of permission to emphasize the choices people make.