God puts to death and…

The barren Hannah, who nonetheless gave birth Samuel, sang in her hymn:

YAHWEH puts to death, and keeps alive, He brings down to Sheol, and brings up. -1Sam.2:6-

Many people have trouble with the first part of both of these lines. GOD puts to death? Does He bring down to Sheol? Yes!, sings Hanna. Please note that she does not sing: YAHWEH murders. The Hebrew word for murder or manslaughter (kill) (ratsach, as in “thou shalt not kill”: Ex.20:13) is a completely different word than what is used here (Heb. mith). Manslaughter is an illegal act of robbing someone of life. But how could such terms as “illegal” and “robbing” be properly applied to GOD? That also becomes clear, when we involve the second part of the two lines, above. A man can kill another man, but it is not “of man” to bring back to life. That is reserved only to God. He is the One Who, as Paul said, “gives to all life and breath and all” (Acts 17:25). And elsewhere: “Who is vivifying the dead and calling what is not as if it were” (Rom.4:17). Death may be a ceiling for man, it is GOD’s floor. Without dying, no victory over death. Without dead, no vivification (no revival). Scripture fixes our eyes on Him “Who is vivifying all” (1Tim.6:13; 1Cor.15: 22) and is, therefore, with solid reason called, “the living God” (1Tim.4:10). Could mortals be hearing a better message than this?

Delen: