1 Samuel 16: "Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him." I don't generally think of evil spirit being "from God", although it makes a certain kind of sense when I think about. Do you guys think this is a special spirit or are all evil spirits like this one?
The Hebrew word in the passage of scripture used to describe the spirit is ra or rah. The word does mean adversity, bad, evil, disagreeable, giving pain,unhappiness, misery or unkind. Genesis 47:9 has Jacob using the same word to Pharaoh in the term of days of misery etc. They were evil days. The definition come from Strong's concordance and Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon. So while the KJV will use evil, the NKJV will use distressing which are both in line with the Hebrew. Now as to why this happened. Go back to the 15th chapter. Start with verse 10. God explains to Samuel that Saul has turned his back on God. By verse 23, after a litany of Saul's offenses, God has pronounce that HE, God, has rejected Saul. Samuel in verse 28 pronounces God has taken the kingdom from Saul. By the end of the chapter, Samuel has left Saul to his sin and God is said to have regretted making Saul king. Chapter 16 is God choosing David. Look at the beginning of 14, it states the Spirit of God departed from Saul. God took away His protection of Saul due to Saul's rejection of God. When God takes away His Spirit, it allows the evil one to torment you terribly. Saul was tormented by the evil one until the day of his death. Saul never repented. He tried to kill David and he did kill the priests of the Lord in Chapter 22. Whenever David was in torment, or suffering under Saul, he turned to God. Saul's last act was the opposite of David's. He turned from God, did not call out to him or stay faithful but destroyed his own life. Samson sinned, repented and through his action he lost his life, his purpose was not to be selfish as was Saul, but to destroy the enemies of God. Saul was only worried about Saul. From chapter 15 til his death, Saul choose to be an enemy of God. And suffered the consequences of his choice. Look at Job. God at times allows us to suffer. Why? Not because he hates us, but to strengthen us or to use our reaction to our suffering to save others. A personal note: about 10 years ago I had a brain tumor removed. Everything did not go as the doctor planned and the damage he had to do to me to save me was more than he thought. The tumor was aggressive and grew quicker than normal. I almost did not make it, and there was a good chance I was going to slip into a coma. Through God's grace and Spirit my wife was able to wake me up. In recovery I suffered from the effects of the drugs they gave me. I did not give up hope. I asked God to use this suffering. I prayed, sang all from memory as I was unable to focus my eyes to read or see much. A young nurse was surprised I was in such good spirits. Why was I so different? My chance God gave me to share Christ with her. My suffering was for God's glory and hopefully her salvation. Four days later I walked out of the hospital, with help, to the amazement of Doctors and Nurses. My Harvard trained Doctor told me later that I was a miracle. I was suppose to be blind and deaf on my right side and needing assistance to walk. Not blind, only 40% deaf and I only lose my balance when I am really tired. Hope this helps in some way. Mark
@Mark- a powerful testimony to the grace of God. Thanks for that. Your explanation for the evil spirit is spot on as well. It's not necessarily a 'moral' understanding of evil. I might vaguely remember DA Carson having a quote concerning this verse in his book Exegetical Fallacies.