As we slowly move toward a proposal for why the God of the Old Testament commanded the Israelites to engage in warfare against the the Canaanites, I am laying out some of the views that people have on this tough issue.
One rare view is that the name “Yahweh” in the Hebrew Scriptures represents two different beings: Jesus and Satan. When reading the Bible, the word “Yahweh” can sometimes refer to Jesus Christ and other times depicts Satan. See this article for a more complete explanation: Forgotten Key to Old Testament.
Apparently, one of the basic premises of this view is that ancient Israel cosmology had not yet developed to the point of being able to discern the difference between Yahweh and Satan. Ancient people, it is taught, believed that God was behind everything that happened, and so sometimes wrongly attributed the works of the devil to Yahweh. Today, since we know the difference between God and Satan, we can use the revelation we have received in Jesus Christ to tell the difference.
So according to this view, whenever we see Yahweh mentioned in Scripture (translated as Lord in most Bibles), we should use the revelation of Jesus Christ in the Gospels to determine whether Yahweh is referring to Jesus or to the devil. If Yahweh is doing, saying, or commanding something that appears evil, then Yahweh is the devil, but if Yahweh is doing, saying, or commanding something that looks like Jesus, then in these cases Yahweh is Jesus.
Proponents of this view do not argue that Yahweh is both good and evil, but that the term Yahweh represents two different beings, Jesus and Satan, and we must use later revelation in Scripture to determine when Yahweh refers to one or the other. God Himself, of course, is always loving and just, but sometimes the human authors of Scripture confused the true God as revealed in Jesus Christ with the actions of Satan in history, and referred to the actions of both as coming from “Yahweh.”
I, frankly, am opposed to this view.
This would seem to create a lot of confusion about the text. It would seem that some would attribution certain actions of Yahweh to Satan while others would attribute them to God. If this position were true, it would be difficult to tell when “Yahweh” was referring to Satan and when it referred to Jesus. This could lead to lots of confusion about the nature and work of Jesus Christ.
Besides, this view also contains a rejection of the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture, both of which I would like to retain. Though it might be true that the ancient Israelites had undeveloped cosmology, this is not true of God, and so for this view to be correct, we must either deny inspiration, or have God inspiring the authors of Scripture to write about Himself in inaccurate ways.
Have you ever run across this view? What do you think of it?
How can a God who says "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44) be the same God who instructs His people in the Old Testament to kill their enemies?
These are the sorts of questions we discuss and (try to) answer in my online discipleship group. Members of the group can also take ALL of my online courses (Valued at over $1000) at no charge. Learn more here: Join the RedeemingGod.com Discipleship Group I can't wait to hear what you have to say, and how we can help you better understand God and learn to live like Him in this world!
Check out my new book “Bipolar God: Understanding God’s Link to Mental Illness” now on Amazon. In it I use examples from the Bible that show what I think is evidence of God showing his connection to mental disorders like that. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JO7BA6S
Maybe this adds light? 2 Sam 24:1 and 1 Chron 21:1 both talking about the same event, David in his pride taking a census of his armies, one has the burning anger of God while the other has Satan as the cause. Maybe it’s both somehow.
Yahweh in hebrew means my Lord and is a common reference meaning supreme God.In the bible satan is referred specifically as the adversary in hebrew or slanderer in greek its quite clear there is no confusion.Satan is not in the same league as God he is sovereign in fact God has satan on a leash and limits his control particularly over his people as we read in Job.Christians need to realise that satan can influence us if we walk according to the flesh.In the case of David calling a cencus meant he gave in to his pride he wanted to know how many soldiers he had believing numbers would give him the upper hand and so Satan took advantage of his weakness and Davids choice displeased God.David of all people should have known as he as a young man had defeated goliath a mighty warrior and it was because of his faith and trust in God that he overcame.But it wasnt God that made David make that decision it was his own and satan tempted him and he gave in to that desire In the two verses there is no confusion if you understand how God and satan operate i did at one stage have the same issue with Jesus sending the demons into the pigs why would he help satan or at least it appeared that way? That was the dilemma after praying and seeking the Lord he shows me a couple of things one is God calls the shots not satan satans demons bow to Gods authority and must get his permission so they beg Jesus to send the demons into the pigs.Jesus allows it so we can see satans purpose is always to destroy life.God is still the same yesterday today and forever he is the giver of life.We do know that the pigs were owned by the gentile nations and may well have been offered or about to be offered to there gods which would mean they would belong to satan.Like the example Jesus said about taxes should he pay them and he said give to caesar what is caesars.Or the other option was that it showed Gods mercy to the man that had been healed by delivering him of the demons and he was also protecting the people in the area from the influence of the demons.So God is still the same he is unchangeable and definitely not bipolar.I would say if anyone was bipolar in this situation it is David and he like us struggled with the same choice to walk according to the flesh or walk according to the spirit of God.brentnz
I believe a believer when in a lukewarm stage/faith will become bipolar due to their disobedience towards the ultimate truth of God’s word and commandments. there is no middle ground, your all in or your all out Jesus Christ or Antichrist. The light and darkness, night and day.