We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

Satan or God: Who Tempted David to Sin?
The author of 2 Samuel says that Yahweh caused David to sin by taking a census of his military personnel (2 Sam 24:1) while the author of 1 Chronicles attributes this temptation to Satan (1 Chr 21:1). It is clear that the author of 2 Samuel had no problem accepting that Yahweh was capable of inciting David to sin and then punishing him for doing what he incited him to do by slaughtering 70,000 of his subjects with a plague (2 Sam 24:10-7). The Chronicler, on the other hand, understandably found this theology objectionable and so changed the reference from God to Satan. As people developed a heightened sense of the moral character of God and of the depth of evil that engulfs this world in the centuries leading up to Christ, we find other examples of people amending Scripture in this way and/or emphasizing the role of angels to distance God from morally dubious activities.
This alteration is theologically significant inasmuch as it demonstrates how in the progress of revelation, later, more enlightened authors discerned “something else going on” when earlier authors ascribed immoral behaviors to Yahweh. Yet, the crucientric significance of this alteration only becomes apparent when we interpret it in light of the cross, for it confirms that in earlier times Yahweh was willing to stoop as far as needed to remain in covenantal solidarity with his people and to continue to further his historical purposes through them. Not only does this bear witness to the merciful, accommodating character of Yahweh supremely disclosed on the cross, it bears witness to God’s willingness to assume responsibility for all he allows. While the later Chronicler correctly understood that Satan is the one who incites people to sin, God stooped to allow the earlier author to depict him as Satan, thereby making him look guilty of something that he merely allowed.
Category: General
Tags: Cruciform Theology
Related Reading

Does the Old Testament Justify “Just War”?
Since the time of Augustine, Christians have consistently appealed to the violent strand of the Old Testament to justify waging wars when they believed their cause was “just.” (This is Augustine’s famous “just war” theory.) Two things may be said about this. First, the appeal to the OT to justify Christians fighting in “just” wars…

Why a “Christocentric” View of God is Inadequate: God’s Self-Portrait, Part 5
I’m currently working through a series of blogs that will flesh out the theology of the ReKnew Manifesto, and I’m starting with our picture of God, since it is the foundation of everything else. So far I’ve established that Jesus is the one true portrait of God (See: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4).…

Did Yahweh Crush His Son?
Though Isaiah was probably referring to the nation of Israel as Yahweh’s “suffering servant” when these words were penned, the NT authors as well as other early church fathers interpreted this servant to be a prophetic reference to Christ. Speaking proleptically, Isaiah declares that this suffering servant was “punished” and “stricken by God” (Isa 53:4,…

Podcast: How Do You Teach a Cruciform Hermeneutic from the Pulpit?
Greg talks about infallibility and inerrancy. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0281.mp3

The Cross and The Trinity
Out of love for humankind, Scripture tells us, Jesus emptied himself of his divine prerogatives, set aside the glory he had with the Father from before the foundation of the world, became a human being and bore our sin as he died a God-forsaken death on Calvary (Phil 2:5-7). Though Jesus remained fully God, he…

One Word
While I’ve lately been pretty distracted finishing up Benefit of the Doubt (Baker, 2013), my goal is to sprinkle in posts that comment on the distinctive commitments of ReKnew a couple of times a week. I’m presently sharing some thoughts on the second conviction of ReKnew, which is that Jesus Christ is the full and…