Terrence,
Ok, here we go, are you ready for this. I hope so because what you are about to read is graduate level stuff. First of all you have the wrong book. And second, you insinuated that God tempts and you come up with this. Oh well, I guess this is what one should expect from someone who thinks they know it all. So then I will indulge you this one time. To put to rest your petty arguments against the Word of God.
Please turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter 16 verse 14 and beyond. Here we have old king Saul, who was a very bad person. He did not trust (put his faith) in God. Lets back up a bit and give some background on Saul. God chose Saul to be king because the people clamored for one. You see they needed a earthly king, they could not trust God. So God gave them Saul, a man who thought he knew everything. A man who ruled with anger. God knew He would replace Saul one day with a man whose heart was humble, and who had faith and trusted the LORD.
And so that day comes, that's where are narrative comes in. Saul has just anointed David, thereby passing the office of king to him. The Spirit of the LORD leaves Saul. It is the end of his reign and no longer will God's Spirit dwell with him.
Now whenever you have the Spirit of God depart from someone, an evil spirit will take residence. Now God created all things, even the angels that rebelled against Him. Did God create evil? Of course not, all of God's creation, where He gave the power of volition (the angels and mankind), choose for themselves if they want to do good or evil.
Now the word that is translated evil is the Hebrew work "ra". Here is the many ways it can be used. The number after each word is how many times it is used in the Bible.
AV - evil 442, wickedness 59, wicked 25, mischief 21, hurt 20, bad 13,
trouble 10, sore 9, affliction 6, ill 5, adversity 4, favoured 3,
harm 3, naught 3, noisome 2, grievous 2, sad 2, misc 34; 663
adj.
1) bad, evil
1a) bad, disagreeable, malignant
1b) bad, unpleasant, evil (giving pain, unhappiness, misery)
1c) evil, displeasing
1d) bad (of its kind - land, water, etc)
1e) bad (of value)
1f) worse than, worst (comparison)
1g) sad, unhappy
1h) evil (hurtful)
1i) bad, unkind (vicious in disposition)
1j) bad, evil, wicked (ethically)
1j1) in general, of persons, of thoughts
1j2) deeds, actions
n m
2) evil, distress, misery, injury, calamity
2a) evil, distress, adversity
2b) evil, injury, wrong
2c) evil (ethical)
n f
3) evil, misery, distress, injury
3a) evil, misery, distress
3b) evil, injury, wrong
3c) evil (ethical)
God controls all within the universe, and if He wanted to send Saul an evil spirit that's is His business. It served His purpose, and that purpose was to show that David was now the anointed of God.
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