There are several stories in the Bible that say God sent an evil spirit to someone. Although, really, no evil spirit could ever cause harm without God’s permission. After all, nothing in the universe happens without His knowing and allowing it. But these stories specifically say that God was the source of the spirit. Why?

Let’s look at a couple of those stories and see what they have in common.

Saul

Saul was the first king to lead Israel. Previously, the nation had been a theocracy led only by God, mediated through the judges and prophets that He chose. The people insisted on having a king like the other nations around them. God gave them one, but warned that they should have been careful what they asked for! (See 1 Samuel chapter 8, and then 1 Samuel 12:12-25.)

Saul was a good warrior, and won many battles with the surrounding enemies. A major victory over the Ammonites solidified his role as king (1 Samuel 11). But he was not a good follower of God. His first offense was overstepping his bounds. He had been instructed to wait until the prophet Samuel was there to bless his next venture (going to war against the Philistines). Instead, Saul took it upon himself to act as priest and offer the sacrifices that only priests were authorized to do. (1 Samuel 13:8-14)

Another time, God told him to completely destroy a particularly evil enemy, the Amalekites, killing everyone and all their livestock. But Saul spared the king of the Amalekites, and kept the best of the livestock, as well. He tried to weasel around his disobedience by saying he planned to use the livestock as sacrifices to God. But he was told “Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD? …to obey is better than sacrifice.” (1 Samuel 15:1-23)

As a result of Saul’s lack of faithfulness, God took the kingdom away from him and gave the kingship to David instead. This did not happen instantly; it was a slow process over several years. At first, Saul liked young David and enjoyed having him in his court. But as David grew in popularity, especially after killing the giant Goliath (1 Samuel 17), Saul became jealous. During this time is when we read:

Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him.

1 Samuel 16:14, see also 1 Samuel 16:23, 1 Samuel 18:10-11, and 1 Samuel 19:9-10

The evil spirit driving Saul to irrational behavior and murderous rage against David was punishment for his unrepentant heart. Even though he became king only through God’s grace and favor, he showed an amazing lack of humility. He persisted in his arrogance and disobedience, never truly submitting to God’s sovereignty.

Abimelech

Abimelech was not a king. Instead, he was one of the judges ¹ who ruled Israel during the years before Saul. He was a son of Gideon, a.k.a. Jerubaal ². He came to power by murdering 69 out of 70 other sons of Gideon, with the help of the people of a town named Shechem (Judges 9:1-5).

Now Abimelech ruled over Israel three years. Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech, so that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood might be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the men of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers.

Judges 9:22-24

Again, the evil spirit was well-deserved punishment for massive evil. Abimelech gained his power via treachery, and lost it (and his life) the same way.

Ahab

King Ahab and his lovely wife Jezebel spent his reign worshipping pagan gods and persecuting the prophet Elijah, among others. The Bible records that “Surely there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife incited him.” (1 Kings 21:25). When God had had enough, Ahab was killed in battle — even though he went in disguise — by an enemy soldier who simply fired his arrow at random (1 Kings 22:29-40).

Before that battle, Ahab made a pretense of asking God for direction. His 400 tame prophets told him to go for it; only the true prophet Micaiah prophesied his defeat.

Micaiah said, “Therefore, hear the word of the LORD. I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left. The LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said this while another said that. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD and said, ‘I will entice him.’ The LORD said to him, ‘How?’ And he said, ‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He said, ‘You are to entice him and also prevail. Go and do so.’ Now therefore, behold, the LORD has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and the LORD has proclaimed disaster against you.”

1 Kings 22:19-23

To me, this one has a bit of a humorous aspect. Ahab was enamored of all his false prophets, and didn’t want to hear from the one true prophet. That prophet, though, let him know that all the others were lying to him. Ahab still went to the battle, even after being warned. His disguise trick did not do any good in avoiding God’s judgment, though!

The Bottom Line

In each case above, the evil spirit was used by God to punish sin. Saul, Abimelech, and Ahab were receiving appropriate consequences for their own actions. In none of these cases was God doing evil. In fact, He was actually doing good each time: Allowing their sin to go un-answered, especially as leaders of God’s people, would have been the true evil.

God could easily have just sent fire from heaven, or plague, or drought as punishment for these unrepentant evil leaders. There were times when He used each of those ³. But these times, His choice of tool was a spirit that wanted to do evil. I imagine it really irked those spirits to be used to accomplish a good purpose!

But that is the point: God is sovereign over everything. He can use anything He wants, any time He wants, any way He wants. And what He wants is, by definition, always good…even when an evil spirit is the tool He uses to bring it about.

1. See more about the judges here and here.
2. Gideon was the judge known for his wet-and-dry fleeces and 300-man victorious army (Judges 6-7).
3. Fire on Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19:1-29; plagues in Egypt in Exodus 7 through 11; drought in 1 Kings 17:1.