Read 1 Samuel 16 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
16:1-6 {s} YHVH sent Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king
16:7-12a {p} YHVH refused the first seven of Jesse’s sons; so he sent for David
16:12b-16 {p} Samuel anointed David/ the Spirit of YHVH came on David but departed from Saul
16:17-23 {p} Saul asked for David to remain in his service and play for him when he was troubled
The Strong themes:
16:1-12a {s+p} YHVH sent Samuel to Jesse, but He refused his first seven sons
1 Samuel 16:1-16 Chiastic Structure:
And with the completion of this structure, we can see that the 1 Sam 15:1-35 Chiasm noted yesterday extends out both backwards and forwards.
Now why does Scripture say that Saul was tormented by an evil spirit sent from God? Actually, the Hebrew says that the evil spirit was from YHVH, not that the evil spirit was sent from YHVH. The verb for “to send,” shalach, Strong’s H7971, is not present.
In harmonizing what we are reading, if we take a position in one verse, which other verses clearly contradict, then we have not yet come to a correct understanding of that one verse or what Scripture is saying. We learned from our study of Matthew that it is demons who torment people, while it is Messiah Yeshua who frees them from torment (see Matthew 8, for example).
Therefore my understanding is that because the verb for “to send” is absent, it is not so much that YHVH ordained a tormenting evil spirit for Saul, but more likely that Saul’s rejection of the command of God, which caused God to reject him as king over Israel, opened up a doorway, if you will, in the spiritual world, which an evil spirit took advantage of to torment him. Therefore YHVH allowed it, without ordaining it. Notice that David’s worship music (the Psalms are the repository of his hymns) caused the evil spirit to depart from Saul.
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