Every once in a while, I run across a word for phrase in the Bible that just throws me for a loop. The most recent example came while I was brushing up on my David character study I’m writing for my Bar and Bat Mitzvah kids.
We know the Bible teaches that nothing evil can come from Adonai our G-d; as a holy G-d, nothing evil can enter his presence.
We also know that King Sha’ul’s madness was probably brought on by both the horrors of war and the rebuke he’d received from Adonai, in which G-d ultimately rejected him as king over all Israel. There’s only so much a flawed Israeli king can take, right?
And then, there it is in front of me. A verse in I Sh’mu’el states that after Adonai’s blessing was removed, King Sha’ul was tormented by, “an evil spirit from G-d.”
An evil spirit? From G-d?
Maybe it’s the translation, but… something fishy’s going on there. Could someone be playing games with our theology…? …No, probably not.
Personally, I think it’s a colloquialism, in this instance. Clearly, King Sha’ul had fallen to some form of mental illness, given that his outbursts of temper stemming from this were often violent, and that David’s music soothed his troubled spirit.