Proverbs 16:33 on Providence
Is there such a thing as random occurances? Proverbs 16:33 indicates that there isn’t.
The lot is cast into the lap,
but its every decision is from the LORD.
In this passage, even something as random as lots (or dice) is under the control of YHWH. There is no such thing as an accident. God’s providence is watching over everything. Everything plays a part in His plan. No only does God holds this world together, but He holds history together.
In a Molinist framework, God does this through middle knowledge. He knows what every free creature might freely do in any sort of circumstances. A good example of this in popular culture is the movie It’s a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart. In the movie, Jimmy gets to see what his town would have looked like if he hadn’t been born. The Bible indicates that God has this sort of knowledge (cf. Matt. 11:20-24; 1 Sam. 23:11-12) . And thus, He planned the course of history based on this knowledge.
August 23, 2007 at 5:41 pm
“In this passage, even something as random as lots (or dice) is under the control of YHWH. There is no such thing as an accident. God’s providence is watching over everything. Everything plays a part in His plan. No only does God holds this world together, but He holds history together. ”
That is a lot (no pun intended) to deduce from that single verse in Proverbs and I have a feeling that it’s not saying all that. The lot was one of the ways people in the Bible sought God in making decisions and they believed God was behind it, which he did say he was through certain ways. It’s kind of a fleecing method and I don’t think anyone today would still advocate making decisions based on a method similar to casting lots. I know a lot do this but most of us would probably discourage it. To be consistent with your interpretation of this verse, would you live your life for a week using the lot casting system to make decisions? ; ) In fact I think it is interesting that the choosing of Matthias is the last time we see the casting of lots mentioned in the Bible.
Blessings,
Bryan L
August 24, 2007 at 2:27 pm
My Episcopal priest friend points out that lots of the OT prophecies (especially against nations) are of the form:
1. If you keep doing x,
2. Then y will happen.
Of course these prophecies aren’t necessarily telling us the future as much as they’re telling forth what the consequences are of certain ways of dealing with God and man. The Prophet Jonah, for instance, was sent to tell Nineveh to repent because in forty days God was going to punish them. They repent. None of the smiting takes place. Did Jonah’s prophecy come true? Well yes and no.
It only comes true if you think of parts 1 & 2 as the antecedent and the consequent in a conditional statement in the form x -> y. If x is false (they repent) then the whole statement is true regardless of the end result.
Now, again, this points to God’s stating the consequences of a given set of actions, and not necessarily saying, this is certainly going to happen.
A lot of other prophecies don’t fit this structure.
In general, this is also the way I read God’s promise to Adam “in the day you eat of this you will surely die.” God is stating the consequences of Adam’s separation from Himself. He is not placing a curse on Adam. Death is God’s enemy, not his friend.
August 24, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Levi,
That’s true. There are a lot of conditional prophecies in the OT. But there are several prophecies that don’t fit that category.
For instance, what about Isaiah naming Cyrus as the deliverer of the exiles? Or Jesus and the destruction of Jerusalem? Or the whole book of Daniel? I don’t think that those are conditional prophecies.
Bryan,
It is interesting that the Israelites used a “random” process to discern God’s will. I think that they did that because they didn’t believe in random occurances.
August 24, 2007 at 3:08 pm
“It is interesting that the Israelites used a “random” process to discern God’s will. I think that they did that because they didn’t believe in random occurances.”
Random occurrences? Depends. Casting the lot specifically has to do with decisions they are seeking guidance on not necessarily any random thing in life. Maybe they just believed that God was specifically behind the casting of the lot. Again, would you feel confident living your life according to that kind of process?
I’m just hesitant to make the proverb you cited say more than it actually does: that just because God may have been behind the way the lot fell that every seemingly random act is under the control of God.
Blessings,
Bryan L