seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
1 Samuel 16:14 Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him.
15 Saul’s attendants said to him, “See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. 16 Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the lyre. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes on you, and you will feel better.”
17 So Saul said to his attendants, “Find someone who plays well and bring him to me.”
18 One of the servants answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the Lord is with him.”
19 Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.” 20 So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them with his son David to Saul.
21 David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armor-bearers. 22 Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, “Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him.”
23 Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.
Here's the link to the commentary I read.A distressing spirit from the LORD troubled him: Today, Saul would probably be diagnosed as mentally ill. Yet his problem was spiritual in nature, not mental or psychological.
There are many people in mental hospitals today that are really suffering from spiritual problems. It is certainly wrong to assume that every case of mental distress is spiritual because chemical imbalances and physiological problems are also real in this fallen world. Even so, there are certainly some that need liberation from a distressing spirit and may never find it in our modern mental health system.
OK... translation has opened one huge can of ugly worms.
I read and post the Bible in NIV version. The commentary is using KJV.
The Bible in NIV Version says "an evil spirit of the Lord" tormented Saul.
Wait... isn't God pure love? Didn't God throw all the evil spirits down to earth when He threw Satan out?
The KJV is much less troublesome. It says Saul suffered from a "distressed spirit".
This spirit, however, is also said to come from the Lord!
Wait... isn't God pure love? Why would He send Saul a "distressing spirit"?
Well, here's how I see it. When God is "in you", everything seems to be terrific.
When you get bigheaded and do something totally wrong God will allow you to feel "ashamed".
When the high of worshipping the Lord runs slam into "shame" of knowing you did wrong, it can drive you insane.
When Saul heard that he had angered God by not following God's instructions, but doing what his constituents wanted him to do, he got his "distressed" spirit. He felt "shame".
Something about sitting in the sanctuary listening to soft music will ease the "distressed" sole.
Besides, what better way to bring a little shepherd boy into the king's schedule to be educated?
Saul was "shamed" by his own failure to follow the Word.
Saul went insane.
