A message from the dead

God has forbidden us to communicate with the dead in an effort to discover truth.

There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD.  (Deuteronomy 18:10-12)

In Luke 16:19-31 Jesus described the afterlife and revealed that God places some restrictions on the dead who wish to communicate with us.  (Many believe this is a parable and not something that actually happened.  I have discussed that in this post: Lazarus and the rich man – parable or actual event? )  When the rich man saw Abraham and Lazarus he asked that Lazarus be allowed to come to him to give him some relief from his suffering.

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The Gibeonites

God commanded Joshua to lead the Israelites into the promised land and take possession of it.  He began by destroying Jericho and Ai.  Most of the other kings banded together to resist, but one group took a different approach.

But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they on their part acted with cunning and went and made ready provisions and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins, worn-out and torn and mended, with worn-out, patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes. And all their provisions were dry and crumbly. And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us.”  (Joshua 9:3-6)

The Israelites believed the Gibeonites and made a covenant without asking God for guidance.  Afterward they learned the Gibeonites lived nearby.

Saul and Jabesh-Gilead

In chapter ten of First Samuel Saul was anointed as king of Israel but his actual reign began in response to a crisis which occurred in the next chapter.

Then Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh-gilead, and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.”

But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “On this condition I will make a treaty with you, that I gouge out all your right eyes, and thus bring disgrace on all Israel.”

Bar-Jesus

When Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel in Cyprus they encountered opposition from a false prophet name Bar-Jesus.

When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
Acts 13:6-8

An unintended consequence of showing mercy

Our actions always have unintended consequences that we couldn’t possibly have foreseen.  King David discovered that after he showed mercy to someone whom most people would have considered his enemy.