Evil Spirits from God

(This is Appendix “A” from Essay #1)

There are several contexts in the Bible wherein God is said to send “evil” spirits to man. This action raises several questions about the nature of man’s free-will which are important considerations about our relationship with Him. However, this work is not focused on those particular concerns. Its focus is on the function of the Holy Spirit when He interacts with man. As such, the main item of interest on the topic of evil spirits is to see how their function exactly counteracts the work of the Holy Spirit.

As has been shown, the Holy Spirit provides prophetic revelation and abilities to man. As one should expect then, the function of evil spirits is to remove prophetic insight and allow lies to be believed and evil actions to prevail. Below is a list of verses relating to this discussion. Note the highlighted portions in each of the following passages:

• Judges 9:23-24 – And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech, that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the men of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers.
• 1 Samuel 16:14-16 – Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the LORD tormented him. And Saul’s servants said to him, “Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. Let our lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well.”
• 1 Samuel 16:23 – And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.
• 1 Samuel 18:10-12 – The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand. And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David evaded him twice. Saul was afraid of David because the LORD was with him but had departed from Saul.
• 1 Samuel 19:9-10 – Then a harmful spirit from the LORD came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre. And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.
• 1 Kings 22:21-23 (2 Chronicles 18:18-22) – Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ And the LORD said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the LORD has declared disaster for you.”
• Isaiah 19:14 – The LORD has mingled within her a spirit of confusion, and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
• Isaiah 29:10 – For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers).

In each of these contexts, the basic function of the evil spirit is seen easily. They serve to agitate man against the plan of God (or to be the irritant that God needs in His plan). It should be noted that those who receive the evil spirits from God were already evil before the spirit came to them. Abimelech, the men of Shechem, Saul, and the false prophets of Israel were evil before the evil spirit came to them. The spirit they received did not cause them to become evil; His function was to move these evil men to act upon what was already within their hearts. The evil spirits brought a revelation of lies to evil men just as the Holy Spirit brought the revelation of the truth to the righteous people of God. What this emphasizes is again the nature of the work of “spirits” coming from God. Whether those spirits be Holy or evil, their function is tied to the prophetic needs of God’s will.