God's decision

[Zoltan777]

When I am reading the bible, sometimes I am wondering why God decided to act in a certain way and in the other situation He didn't act like that. Recently, I am thinking of two incident:

1. Kain killed his brother out of jealousy. God decision was to cast away him forbidding anyone to kill him.

2. The ark of God was taken to Jerusalem on a cart. When the oxen stumbled Uzzah touched it to hold it back from falling. God decision was to kill him.

I am not accusing God or anything like that. But sometimes I don't understand His decision. To be honest when I am reading the bible and see some action of His I am always in awe. If only I could see it nowadays. 

Have you ever wondered why God acted in certain way? And also, why He is not acting nowadays like He used to?

 

 

 

Edited September 18, 2018 by Zoltan777

[Zoltan777]

I will tell you more example.

From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” ²⁴ He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the nameof the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.

WOW. I am wondering...if it's on TV nowadays how many Christians would call him an evil man. 

[John_Leung]

In example #1, I can think of this: if He allowed Cain to be killed, then both Adam and Eve would lose both their sons (their only kids), and therefore had no descendants.  Can you imagine the grief they'd endure?

In the Ark instance, they weren't supposed to wheel the ark, but to carry it with their hands.  The ark presented God's presence and covenant, and they mishandled it, hence the severe punishment.

I don't have all the answers, but He does, and He has the rights to hand out various forms of punishments often by case, and while they may seem unfair, inconsistent, or even contradictory to us, He still knows what He's doing.  it's not like we can judge, complain, or protest God's punishments like we would for judges' decision on sentencing.

[Not me]

 

Hi, I’d like to take a stab at answering your questions. 

1) God didn’t kill Cain beacause God is love. He finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked. For He wants all man to come to repentance. 

2) The man died when he touched the Ark because God’s presents  was really and truly in the Ark, and death is the natural consequence of disorder (fallen man) touching order (GOD). 

Something I try to keep in mind when trying to understand and get to know God. Any interpretation of anything that ascribes or puts anything evil  into GOD is a wrong interpretation. For GOD is good,  in all things and at all times. For He is a “will to all goodness”

Much love in Christ, Not me 

 

Edited September 19, 2018 by Not me

[enoob57]

We are born dead to God in spirit... so it naturally goes we must die to ourselves in repentance and be born again by the power of The Holy Spirit -then to reform our thinking to that of God's through His Word! The problem with man lies in the fact he thinks there is value in that which God is not keeping; hence the confusion that lies within sin... When we use anything of self to evaluate God we have already headed down the path of error.

Titus 3:5

5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
KJV
 

Eph 5:26

26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
KJV
 

[Zoltan777]

On 9/21/2018 at 11:00 AM, Sojourner414 said:

Now to answer your second post:

Actually, there was nothing evil here on Elisha's part; the boys were a murderous gang.

Let's take a look though in Scripture, at the event that precedes the boys attacking poor Elisha:

" Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold now, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad and the land is unfruitful.” He said, “Bring me a new jar, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. He went out to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said, “Thus says the LORD, ‘I have purified these waters; there shall not be from there death or unfruitfulness any longer.’” So the waters have been purified to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke." (2 Kings 2:19-22, NASB, emphasis mine)

Elisha had just performed a miracle, and demonstrated that he was operating in the will and the power of the Lord.  The assault by the boys happened literally right after he had done this:

" Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, young lads came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, “Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!” When he looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up forty-two lads of their number. He went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria." (2 Kings 2:23-25, NASB, emphasis mine)

Let's look at a few things here:

1) Elisha had just healed their city's waters: Elisha had performed a miracle, and these boys would have heard word of this, as the bad water affected the whole area to where they could not grow anything. Yet, these boys decided on their own that this apparently didn't mean much to them.

2) Forty two boys were mauled;, but that may not have been the whole number: Scripture speaks of forty-two being injured by the female bears; but it never says how many were actually there to begin with. There was probably a considerable number more of them surrounding Elisha!

As for the boys who assaulted Elisha: they were not little kindergarteners!  The Hebrew words used to describe them in the original text were qatan, na’ar, and yeled. Qatan means "small in quantity, size, number, age, status, or importance", while Na’ar means a boy or girl, servant, or young man—it is a word that can cover ages from infant to young adult. Yeled in like manner means a boy, child, son, or young man—pretty much, someone’s offspring. In fact, Hadad the Edomite (the young rebel who ran off from Solomon’s kingdom and married pharaoh’s sister-in-law) was described this way in Scripture, and he was no little kid!

 So these were young men, probably between 14-20 years old (you weren't an adult until 30 in Jewish society),  and in considerable numbers.

3) Calling a prophet "bald" was more than just an insult:  To call someone "bald" was a major term of contempt in the East, applied to a person even with a full head of hair. This was due to the fact that lepers had to shave their heads, and no one wanted to be called a leper. To make matters worse: no one who had leprosy could be considered a prophet. Add this to the fact that Elijah had been taken by the Lord, and the insult reads as:

"Hey, baldy! You shouldn't be a prophet!!! Why don't you go die just like your master Elijah!!!"

With likely over 50 or 60 young men taunting one man, Elisha was outnumbered and in danger. And God acted through him. Elisha cursed them in the name of God (this was NOT the same as taking the Lord's name in vain, but pronouncing a curse on them in God's authority as prophets spoke directly for God), and the Lord sent heavy artillery in the shape of two female bears to teach not to mess with the Lord's prophet.

This wasn't a bunch of schoolchildren making fun of an old man, but a gang of PUNKS who wanted to harm a man of the Lord and got a LOT more than they bargained for when GOD fought for His servant!!

When we examine these "examples" of yours in Scripture, we begin to see that in every instance, God was perfectly just to do as He did. 

Now, as to your last comment:

About as many as who do not read Scripture carefully, who are not in prayer constantly, who do not heed the Holy Spirit, and who love the entertainment of this world more than the words of the Lord.

As to your first comment:

God judges the heart and per the situation. Instances where it was an honset mistake and the person truly meant no harm or insult to the Lord, the Lord has been shown to have mercy and grace in both the OT and the NT. Conversely, look in Acts sometime about Ananias and Sapphira ( Acts 5):

" But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife’s full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it. The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him. Now there elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter responded to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?” And she said, “Yes, that was the price.” Then Peter said to her, “Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well.” And immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her last, and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things." (Acts 5:1-11, NASB, emphasis mine)

Same God, same judgment of death upon someone, and this was a someone in the Church!

It was because the Church had just been born, and their act would have poisoned and tainted the body of Christ at a most delicate time.

God has not changed; the way He deals with people may vary per the Dispensation we are under, but His character never changes. He is not unjust, rash or petty, nor is He capricious, but He is serious about what He asks of us and about His holiness.

I hope this answers your questions, Zoltan777.

YBIC,

-Sojo414

It did give me some awnser. But to be honest with you many people behaving in the church much worse than Ananias and Sapphira. 

[Dennis1209]

On 9/18/2018 at 6:07 AM, Zoltan777 said:

When I am reading the bible, sometimes I am wondering why God decided to act in a certain way and in the other situation He didn't act like that. Recently, I am thinking of two incident:

1. Kain killed his brother out of jealousy. God decision was to cast away him forbidding anyone to kill him.

2. The ark of God was taken to Jerusalem on a cart. When the oxen stumbled Uzzah touched it to hold it back from falling. God decision was to kill him.

I am not accusing God or anything like that. But sometimes I don't understand His decision. To be honest when I am reading the bible and see some action of His I am always in awe. If only I could see it nowadays. 

Have you ever wondered why God acted in certain way? And also, why He is not acting nowadays like He used to?

 

 

 

Let's start here:

Proverbs 3:5 (KJV) Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

Isaiah 55:8 (KJV) For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

The Lord has an eternal plan and everything is for His honor, praise and glory. In addition to the examples you are wondering about, I use to wonder why the Lord would order the genocide of an entire people; man, woman, child and beast. With a little study, it's not to difficult to figure out why, as God gives us many of the answers when we search a thing. 

I have many commentaries and books that give scholarly teaching on these various topics, but that doesn't make them right. It does and can give you understanding you didn't have before and point you on a path to being a Berean and see if those things be so. 

One tool I use when I want to find something fast and / or need a fast reference is gotquestions.org. In my personal opinion they are biblical sound and I doubt there's a question a person has that is not addressed and answered if you do diligent checking.

Once again, these are just my thoughts and opinions.