Here are yet more glorious texts telling of the glorious reign of God over all (and they just keep coming, being everywhere as they are): 1 Sam. 2:21 (over the womb); 1 Sam. 2:25 (over wills); 1 Sam. 5:6 (afflicting with tumors); 1 Sam. 6:19 (smiting irreverence in his holiness; note also the response in 1 Sam. 6:19-20); 1 Sam. 7:10 (throwing pagans into confusion and routing them militarily); 1 Sam. 10:9 (changing hearts).
Now note especially 1 Sam. 2:25. Why did Eli's son's not listen to the voice of their father? Autonomous free will that God would not touch? No. That's clearly not what the text says. Yes, they are responsible, as the whole Bible loudly shouts, and held responsible, as the narrative bears out. But, the text says that they did not listen to their father "because it was the will of the Lord to put them to death." God's purpose had a hand in their free choice, a decisive hand.
Look also at 1 Sam 5:6ff, an awesome statement of God's sovereign judgment on the Philistines. God's heavy hand on the Philistines was manifested in tumors breaking out (vv. 6, 9, 12). Now do we even have categories for reckoning with tumors from God, suffused with naturalistic and deistic assumptions as we are? Is a tumor sent from God even a possibility in our minds? Are most Christians today deists?
No comments:
Post a Comment