1 Samuel 16:14

[Romans922]

The evil spirit sent upon Saul by the Lord. Is it necessarily a 'satanic' spirit? Could it not be an angel bring judgment upon Saul from God (at least a possibility)?

I know some of the old commentators views, but is this not at least a possibility? Seeing as angels bring judgment -->

Gen 19:1-25; 2Sa. 24:16-17; 1Ch. 21:15-16; 2Ki. 19:35; 2Ch. 32:21; Isa. 37:36; Psa. 35:5-6; Psa. 78:49; Mat. 13:41-42; Mat. 13:49-50; Act. 12:23; Act. 27:23-24; Jud. 1:14-15; Rev. 7:1-2; Rev. 9:15; Rev. 15:1

 

[Romans922]

nothing....?

 

[Skyler]

Could it not be a satanic angel bringing judgment from God upon Saul?

I'm thinking of the passage where an evil angel suggests to God that he will be a lying spirit in the mouth of some king's prophet...

 

[Contra_Mundum]

I would search through such designations as you can find for "ra'ah" and "spirit" together, and try to think how many (any?) of them besides here could accommodate the notion of being a holy-messenger with a judgmental message.

 

[A5pointer]

Hot Potato Alert, Danger Danger Will Robinson

 

[Romans922]

Yes, I think it is a possibility, this would be very similar to the Job account.

However, I'm asking could it also not be a possibility that they were angels sent from God to bring judgment?

[Obviously we don't know for sure, the text is not clear, i think. I'm just trying to think of the possibilities.]

-----Added 3/6/2009 at 12:56:58 EST-----

I would search through such designations as you can find for "ra'ah" and "spirit" together, and try to think how many (any?) of them besides here could accommodate the notion of being a holy-messenger with a judgmental message.

Besides the accounts in 1 Samuel, possibly

1 Kings 22:23/2 Chronicles 18:22 - "Now therefore, behold, the LORD has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and the LORD has proclaimed disaster against you."

 

[Skyler]

Yes, I think it is a possibility, this would be very similar to the Job account.

However, I'm asking could it also not be a possibility that they were angels sent from God to bring judgment?

[Obviously we don't know for sure, the text is not clear, i think. I'm just trying to think of the possibilities.]

I'm not sure I see the difference between what I said and what you asked. Are you asking could it have been a holy angel bringing judgment rather than an evil angel bringing judgment?

 

[Romans922]

Yes. Just asking about possibilities.

 

[Skyler]

Yes. Just asking about possibilities.

I suppose it's possible. I don't see that God has used holy angels to bring that kind of judgment before, but I haven't really studied it either, so I don't know.

 

[Romans922]

I did try to show in the opening post, angels from the Lord who did bring judgment.

 

[Skyler]

I did try to show in the opening post, angels from the Lord who did bring judgment.

I realize that God used both elect and reprobate angels to bring judgment. Pending analysis of the references you provided(and I missed), though, it seems to me that there is a difference between judgment in temptation to further sin and judgment in physical destruction. God's holy angels carry out His justice in physically destroying His enemies and/or throwing them into the lake of fire, as your references indicate, but the reprobate angels also play a part in judging His enemies, by tempting them to sin.

This is the impression I get from reading this passage. If you've ever listened to Curt Daniel's series on Calvinism, I've gotten some of my theology from him.