Jehovah Sneaky

For some reason this story gives people a lot of trouble. It makes perfect sense to me though. For 2 reasons.

1. This happened to King David.

How? In 2 Samuel 24:1 it says, "Again the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”

But in 1 Chronicles 21:1 it says, "And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel."

Wait what? I thought God made David number the people. Well the stories of David numbering the people, Ahab asking for a prophesy, and Job being tested will give you a couple insights into one of the ways God works and how things sometimes get done in heaven.

2. This happened to Job. 

In Job 1:6-12 and 2:1-7 we see the same thing happening as in Kings. God is on his throne and apparently there is a recurring time when all the angels, and apparently even fallen angels are required to present themselves before God. That is another topic entirely, that Satan and his minions are even required to report to God. 

Basically if you read 1 Kings 22, and Job 1-2 you'll notice that something takes place in heaven on a regular basis that they don't tell you about in Sunday school. Satan, has regular audience before God. I think that's why in the New Testament, he's called "The Accuser of the Brethren". After all, God is a Judge and he hears the defense and the prosecution.

So Satan is minding his own business and all of a sudden God brings up Job during one of these meetings. Satan is then allowed to go on a mission to cause Job heartache, and then even physical pain short of taking his life, in order to test him. At the end of the story, Job gets back twice what he lost, and even twice the lifespan he would have had prior.

What this means

In 1 Kings 22 we see that a spirit (apparently not Satan) is responsible for the lies told to Ahab by the prophets. So we can either assume this to be a fallen angel or demon (assuming they are different). But even then it shows that Satan probably has his entourage with him at these recurring meetings.

This now begins to make the Story of King David make sense. In 2 Samuel 24, Israel did something to make God mad, and he wished to punish them.

I believe what happened in David numbering Israel is the exact same thing that happened regarding Ahab, and the exact same thing that happened to Job.

I believe God held a meeting with all the heavenly beings as he regularly does, and Satan was there too. It was his idea to punish Israel, so he let the assembly know and asked for volunteers. Satan volunteered to deceive David.

With Job, the exact same thing happened, though God didn't seem mad at Job. Maybe in this case, God just wanted to make a bible story to show teach us something about himself, and there are many lessons to be learned from Job. I'm convinced some things were allowed to happen in the bible simply to be a lesson to those of us who would read it in the future.

I'm not saying anytime anything bad happens that God is somehow behind it, I don't know enough to make such a claim. I'm fairly certain that Satan doesn't ask God's permission to steal, kill, and destroy. 

I am saying that occasionally God uses whatever means he wishes to enact his will on the earth. Sometimes God presents a situation and Satan is more than happy to oblige. But at the end of the day it's about God's will and purpose. In the grand scheme of the universe, Satan is not even a player, just another pawn. God is sovereign and is teaching us about himself through those he loves and those he hates (Romans 9). A lot of crazy things have happened on this earth since the beginning of time, and we can't understand them all, but God is a being that is awesome and beyond imagination and we don't know him as well as we think we do. To paraphrase what C.S. Lewis said, "He is good, but he is not safe."

Anyways, there you have it. Sometimes God holds meetings.

Created almost 2 years ago