S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries

God's desire is that all people repent and be saved (2 Peter 3:9). At the same time, Satan, the "father of lies" (John 8:44), deceives the very people who need to accept the truth. "The god of this...

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July 01 2013 • 7 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Danny Hickman Supporter Believer in The Gospel Of Jesus Christ

I understand the question to be asking about the instances in the bible when God doesn't address a person's lie or other way of deception. This kind of concern can come up about everything pertaining to God and life: Why did God allow Satan to lie to Adam and Eve (Gen 3)? Why didn't He stop Moses from killing an Egyptian, knowing all along He would use Moses to deliver Israel from slavery to the Egyptians (Ex 2:12)? Why did He allow Paul to persecute christians knowing He would use Paul to establish the churches of Asia Minor (Acts 7:58)?

A question like this calls God's integrity into question. Liars profit, He says and does nothing. David murders, he's not impeached as king. Paul was promoted to "Bishop" (overseer) after "consenting unto death" the persecution of the church. He dragged off men and women and committed them to prison (Acts 8).

I think there is a conscious effort to show that even the "good guys" aren't "good." 

Jesus wouldn't have hidden the spies and lied to the men of Jericho. That's why the spies were led to go to Rahab's house; she was okay with lying. I believe they recognized a prostitute's house when they saw one, and went there with that in mind. 

People are corrupt. If God deals with us He will have to allow liars, thieves, murderers, adulterers and fornicators to operate. Men are ungrateful, unholy, unloving, treacherous, conceited, reckless and brutal (2 Tim 3). If He threw a penalty flag every time we stepped out of line in one of these areas, the game would never get played. 

God told Samuel to go to the home of Jesse the Bethlehemite, "for I have selected a king for Myself among his sons" (1 Sam 16:1). Samuel pointed out that Saul was sure to hear about it and kill him. (Saul was rejected by God to be king soon after he took office. He stayed in the job for 42 years, however.... (1 Sam 13:1) And God said, "Take a heifer with you and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.' "You shall invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall annoint for Me the one whom I designate to you." My understanding is that God was sending Samuel there to annoint David to be king.This sacrifice sounds like a "smokescreen." It isn't. Is God authorizing deception? NO!

Why didn't God just tell Samuel which son he had chosen, why was He keeping Samuel in suspense? Surely He had already made up His mind about whom He had picked for the job. I think He wanted to show the difference in the way He chooses people and the way we choose.
Upon arrival Samuel saw Eliab and thought, "Surely the LORD'S anointed is before Him." To which God responded, "Man looks at the outer appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." He had not chosen Eliab.

What about this sacrifice? The sacrifice was the most important part of the coronation. When Samuel anointed Saul he poured the oil on Saul's head and gave Saul instructions on what to do when he left him. He told him to "go down to Gilgal, and I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings. You shall wait 7 days until I come and show you what to do" (1 Sam 10:8). Samuel is detained.

The Ammonites besieged Jabesh-Gilead during Samuel's delay, so instead of Samuel going down and offering the sacrifice a week after he was anointed, Saul offered an unlawful sacrifice to the LORD and forfeited his confirmation as king. The reason God could legally go there and annoint and confirm David was because Saul was never confirmed. So when God tells Samuel to say that he was sent there to sacrifice to the LORD, that is the most important thing he was sent there to do. 

The sacrifice was the confirmation. Saul's was scheduled for a week after he was anointed. It never happened. David's coronation was completed when the sacrifice was offered.

God wasn't trying to deceive anyone, He can do as He pleases. Saul couldn't do anything to Samuel that God didn't want him to do. 
God doesn't authorize deception.

January 01 2020 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report