WORD STUDY – A GOOD SPIRIT
II Samuel 18:10: “And it came to pass on the morrow that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul and he prophesied in the midst of the house.”
“There is no witness so terrible, no accuser so powerful as conscience which dwells within us.” – Sophocles
The spelling for the word ra’ah (evil) is identical for an adjective or a verb. As an adjective the root word would be ra’ah. Ra’ah is an evil so consuming that it causes envy, sorrow and/or sadness. As a verb the root word would also be ra’ah which is something that consumes you or feeds upon you. There is positive side to ra’ah and that is that it is a consuming passion where we could say God has a ra’ah or consuming passion for us and we have a ra’ah a consuming passion for Him. The context will determine if this is a positive ra’ah or a negative ra’ah. In this case I believe it is safe to say this is a negative ra’ah, a consuming passion for evil. But soft, is it really? Let’s examine this a little.
Yesterday a gunman entered a church in Texas and killed 26 members and wounding 20 others. The is the negative side of ra’ah. This gunman was consumed by evil. A few weeks ago in Las Vegas a gunman fired upon a crowd and witnesses told of men who threw themselves on top of their girlfriends, fiancé and/or wives so that the bullets would strike them and not the one they love. They had such a ra’ah a consuming passion for their loved one that they were ready to die in their place. That is a the positive side of ra’ah. The context in this case seems pretty obvious. Both the defenders and the shooter were ra’ah, but one showed the positive side of ra’ah and the other the negative side.
In our study passage the context may seem obvious, until we look at the syntax which seems to be very ambiguous. Most your modern translations will take a traditional approach and render this as an adjective expressed as an evil spirit from God. However, a literal rendering would say: “The spirit of God was evil to Saul.” Now the context of ra’ah gets a little blurry. If we say: “The Spirit of God was consuming or feeding on Saul” how would we define ra’ah, as negative or positive, bad or good?
We automatically think of a demonic spirit when we read the words evil spirit. I believe the Bible does clearly teach the existence of demonic spirits, but that could very well not be the case here, especially considering this spirit is sent by God. Would God actually send a demonic spirit to torment someone for being disobedient? I have a problem with that. I personally believe that God did not need to send a demonic spirit upon Saul; he just needed to fire up the old conscience. A guilty conscience can manifest itself in many ways, it could come out as depression, fear or anger. Saul had once worshipped God with all his heart and he had once loved God with all his heart. But when sin and disobedience entered his life there grew a separation between himself and God.
God often uses our conscience or as we like to say the conviction of the Holy Spirit to awaken us to our disobedience or sin. I remember watching my father as he lead a man to the Lord. This man was crying, sweating, shaking his head, wringing his hands. He was under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. When he finally accepted the Lord I watch an amazing transformation take place as this man who was so filled with guilt was suddenly freed from his guilt and started praising God.
I believe the Spirit that came upon Saul was not ra’ah evil spirit but a ra’ah Holy Spirit filled with a consuming passion of love for Saul. It filled Saul with such guilt that he became depressed and angry. God was wooing Saul back to Him through the conviction of the Holy Spirit and like many who resist the loving persuasion of the Holy Spirit they become depressed or angry because they often interpret the conviction or consuming passion of the Spirit of God as just a guilty conscience. Such moves by the Holy Spirit will either bring us to repentance or cause us to rebel all the more and do exactly what Saul did become filled with rage. Have you ever shared the Gospel with someone and suddenly they break into a rage? Maybe they are resisting the Holy Spirit. To resist that loving persuasion of the Holy Spirit, making you feel guilty and sorrowful over your sins is blasphemy.
Blasphemy is defined by Webster as an act of insult or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God. When you share God’s Good News of Salvation, the forgiveness of sin, tell me how someone who rejects and scorns the loving persuasion of the Holy Spirit, making him mindful of his sins when being shown the way to receive forgiveness and cleansing of these sin does not fit the definition of blasphemy. Mark 3:29: “But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:”
The Holy Spirit is pictured as a dove. I have two pet doves. One day I was trying to concentrate and they started to cheerfully coo. It broke my concentration and annoyed me and I walked up to the cage shouted at them: “Would you shut up so I can concentrate.” They flew to the edge of the cage and would not look at me. For some time after that whenever I approached the cage they would turn away from me. I committed an act of blasphemy against them. I could not help but think how gentle the Holy Spirit is and how easily offended the Holy Spirit is when He is gently prompting you and you reject it.
I believe what happened to Saul was that God sent His Holy Spirit to convict him of his sin and disobedience. Saul rejected that soft prompting and it turned to rage. Then when the time came that he really needed the Holy Spirit to direct him, the Holy Spirit wasn’t there. In desperation he sought out a witch. I believe Saul committed blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and thus the Holy Spirit left him and without that conviction and prompting Saul could never seek forgiveness of his sin. Saul had his chance but he rejected it. To him the Spirit of God was a ra’ah evil in the negative sense. Many years later a king in a foreign city called Ninevah heard the Good News that God would forgive. He did not reject the prompting of the Holy Spirit to convict him of his sins. Unlike Saul he tore his robes, sat in sackcloth and ashes and wept in repentance. As a result he and his people were all saved from destruction. For him the ra’ah Spirit was not evil but Good.
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