Our Logic vs The Lord's Logic... Pt. 1

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.
(I Corinthians 1:27)

“Reason is a whore, the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but more frequently than not struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God.” Martin Luther On Bondage of the Will

God's logic is not quantifiably greater than man's logic.  It is qualitatively greater.   It is a different kind of logic than the one that dwells in man.  the only way that man can understand God's logic is to have the mind of God inside him in the form of the living Jesus Christ.  With this new mind he can see and understand, at least partially, why God does what he does.

"They tell of the power of your awesome works-- and I will proclaim your great deeds." (Psalms 145:6)

The Birth of Isaac

Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety? (Genesis 17:17)

The above verse is a perfect display of man's logic.  Would it make any sense for a woman of 90 be able to have a baby?  Even if it were so, would it make any sense for her to have it at that age?  Why not have it at a younger age?  This is what the mind of man would consider logic and prudent.  And it is in this that it can be seen how far man's logic is from God's.

Destruction of Pharaoh's Army At The Red Sea

Militarily, the Egyptian army was the finest army of its time.  It has the most advanced fighting machine of the time - the chariot.  Indeed, this was, at the time, ancient world's finest fighting machine.  Israel was at a strategically terrible position, with its back against the sea.  In man's logic this would have been an impossible victory.  The Israelites had been slaves for 400 years in Egypt.  They were not trained soldiers and no doubt had few weapons at their disposal for battle. No good human general would have allowed his forces to be trapped in the way that Moses did.  BUT, Moses was following the way that God had directed him to go in.  He was following God's logic and not his own.

Joshua's Victory Over Jericho

Imaging a fortified city with strong walls.  Would you think that a group of men blowing trumpets outside the city walls would cause them to tumble?  Most would answer no, but there are some who bring up a concept called sympathetic vibration or resonance as being capable of shaking the walls apart.  This very question was asked in 2016 and answered by Marshall Chasin, a clinical & research audiologist.  He states:

Starting with the walls of Jericho or, for that matter, any stable structure using the building materials available back then, the resonant or best vibrating frequency would be less than 1 Hz and most likely even less than 0.1 Hz. In order to set the Walls of Jericho in vibration enough to break the mortar or other joining materials, one would need a sufficiently intense low frequency stimulus on the order of 1 or 0.1 Hz or 0.1 vibrations per second.
This same line of reasoning holds true for breaking a high quality crystal glass; in this case, the resonant frequency may be 3000-4000 Hz because the glass is so brittle. A well-trained and well situated soprano may indeed be able to generate a sufficient sound level at these higher frequencies to be near the resonant frequency of the crystal. But thick and heavy walls are not fine crystal; thick stone walls have resonant frequencies that are much lower.

He goes on to answer whether the shouting of all those men along with the shofars blowing would be enough to knock the walls down:

In the human vocal tract we can get sounds with lower resonant frequencies than 500 Hz (for the first formant or F1). These are the high vowels ([i] and [u]). These are “Helmholtz” resonances and the calculations would indicate resonances of 125 Hz – still far above the needed 1 Hz or 0.1 Hz needed to cause sufficient stone wall vibration.

He then comments on the shofars:

In order for a ram’s horn to generate a 1 Hz resonant signal, the quarter wavelength resonator formula (F=v/4L) tells us that a ram’s horn would have to be 8250 cm long which is 82.5 meters or 271 feet!

So we know that most likely Mr. Chasin would not have bet on the Joshua's successful destruction of the walls of Jericho. Yes, this is a clear case of man's logic and God's logic.  God's logic demands one simple ingredient - obedience.  With that ingredient, all the odds of something not happening that he had foretold would happen are reduced to zero.

Gideon's Victory

Gideon had too many men.  By normal military standards, the more men the better off he would have been.  He could have a portion of them as a reserve in case things went wrong.  He could have had enough men to split his forces and attack his enemy from both sides.  This is what human military logic would normally dictate.  But this logic does not apply when it is God who is the general and when the battle is HIS.

Gideon had too many men.  The Lord knowing the hearts of men, told Gideon, "You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, 'My own strength has saved me.' (Judges 7:2)  The Lord picks an obvious way to get rid of some men.  'Anyone who trembles with fear may turn

back and leave Mount Gilead.'" So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained. (vs.3) . But the number of men were still too great for God.  "There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, 'This one shall go with you,' he shall go; but if I say, 'This one shall not go with you,' he shall not go." (vs. 4)  What happened?

So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the LORD told him, "Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink. Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. The LORD said to Gideon, "With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home." (vs 5-7)

So human logic would dictate that there would be hard fighting on the part of Gideon's three-hundred.  But this is not what

God had in mind.  This would have to be an obvious victory only attributable to the Lord. How many men was Gideon facing.  According to the passage, they were thick as locusts and their camels could not be counted they were so many (vs 12). 

Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. "I had a dream," he was saying. "A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed." His friend responded, "This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands." When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, "Get up! The LORD has given the Midianite camp into your hands." Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside. "Watch me," he told them. "Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. When I and all who are with me blow our

trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, 'For the LORD and for Gideon.'" Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!"

This battle was not Gideon's, it was the Lord's battle.  The result demonstrates this:

While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled. When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the LORD caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath. Israelites from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh were called out, and they pursued the Midianites. (vs 21-23)

God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. (I Corinthians 1:27)

Samson's Victory

Samson was a spent man.  He had become arrogant and had allowed his hair, the symbol of his oath to God, a so-called Nazarite Vow to be cut.  This would take from him all the superhuman strength God had given him, rendering like anyone else in power.  He was enslaved by the Philistines, his and Israel's mortal enemy.  He was humiliated and spit upon and mocked.

Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison.  (Judges 16:21)

But the Philistines overlooked one thing, "...the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved." (Vs.22) They thought they could mock God by mocking his servant.  They praised their God Dagon in handing Samson over to them.  They felt sure that he was done with.  Human logic felt confident that he was finished.  But they not having the mind of God, could not have his logic either.  What happened?

While they were in high spirits, they shouted, “Bring out Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.  When they stood him among the pillars, 26 Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.”27 Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. 28 Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other,30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived. (Judges 16:25-30)

Truly God uses the weak things of the world to confound the strong.  As Paul says when we are weak, then we are strong.

David & Goliath

Goliath was the greatest warrior in his nation.  He would not have been chosen to fight as a champion if he had not been one.  David was not even a soldier.  He was a shepherd.  Although, it i true the slingshot was a powerful weapon, there was no guarantee of victory.  David could have missed, or it could have been a glancing blow against Goliath's helmet.  Who would send a boy, who was not a professional soldier against the feared champion of the opposing army?  This would not be man's logic.  Bit it was God's.

Jehoshaphat's Victory over The Midianites (II Chronicles 20)

Click to enlarge

A "vast army" (a coalition of the Moabites, Ammonites and Meunites) was approaching the kingdom of Judah under the kingship of Jehoshaphat.  The King, very concerned called for a fast for all of Judah.  People from all part of the kingdom came to Jerusalem to hear the king's prayer to the Lord.

Jehoshaphat standing before the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in front of Solomon's temple by the new courtyard said:

“Lord, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. 7 Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? 8 They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, 9 ‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’
10 “But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them. 11 See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. 12

Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
13 All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the Lord.
14 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly.

15 He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah

and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16 Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel.17 You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.’”

18 Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the Lord. 19 Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

To prove that this would be the Lord's battle and not Judah's, the Lord told him exactly what to do.

Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.” 21 After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:

“Give thanks to the Lord,
for his love endures forever.” 

22 As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. 23 The Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy one another.

What the Israelites saw after the Lord was done with their enemies astounded them.

When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and looked toward the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground; no one had escaped. 25 So Jehoshaphat and his men went to carry off their plunder, and they found among them a great amount of equipment and clothing and also articles of value—more than they could take away. There was so much plunder that it took three days to collect it. 26 On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Berakah, where they praised the Lord. This is why it is called the Valley of Berakah to this day.
27 Then, led by Jehoshaphat, all the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned joyfully to Jerusalem, for the Lord had given them cause to rejoice over their enemies. 28 They entered Jerusalem and went to the temple of the Lord with harps and lyres and trumpets.
29 The fear of God came on all the surrounding kingdoms when

Valley of Berakah Today

they heard how the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. 30 And the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God had given him rest on every side.

All military strategies fail before the power of God.  All logical systems fall apart when pitted against God's logic.


The Widow's Oil (II Kings 4)

One knows that when you are running out of food, the last thing you do is share it with strangers.  You need to ration it for as long as possible.  You need to be stingy with it.  This is human logic, but again it is not God's logic, especially when a man of God shows up to your home and asks to be fed.


Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem (II Kings 18; II Chronicles 32)

What chance would the city of Jerusalem have against the mightiest empire of its day - Assyria?  The city surrounded by 185,000 man army would have had no chance?  Not many would have bet on the kingdom of Judah.  But that did not matter.  What mattered was where God would come in.  What mattered is what God does and how God thinks.  HIS logic is the one that is worth anything. Furthermore, if someone were to tell you that you will not have to do ANY fighting against his mighty horde, you would think them crazy.  This army had marched to victory after victory.  Their standards had stepped on many gods of other nations.  But what happened?  The morning following King Hezekiah's plea to the Lord God of Israel, all of Jerusalem awoke to the startling sight of 185,000 slain Assyrians in their camp.  The remainder of the army withdrew.  All this destruction caused by one - the Angel of the Lord.


Sidrac, Misach, and Abdenago in the Fiery Furnace

Intense fire kills people.  Everyone knows that.  If you throw someone in a furnace they will not survive.  Human logic dictates that.  We learn that from childhood.  When Nebuchadnezzar had Sidrac, Misach and Abdenago into the furnace he knew they would die.  But just to make sure, he had the oven heated even more, so much so that several of the men who heated it even further died from exposure to the flames.  No man could survive this.  But this rule only existed in man's logic.

Of course, this situation all started because these three jews

refused to bow down to a golden statue that Nebuchadnezzar had built.  All were required to bow down to it.
The passage goes on to state:

He then summoned the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials to come to the dedication of the image he had set up. 3 So the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials assembled for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and they stood before it.
4 Then the herald loudly proclaimed, “Nations and peoples of every language, this is what you are commanded to do: 5 As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. 6 Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.”
7 Therefore, as soon as they heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp and all kinds of music, all the nations and peoples of every language fell down and worshiped the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. (Daniel 3:2-7)

This was done by all apparently, EXCEPT the three jews we speak of in this account.  An astrologer reported their disobedience to Nebuchadnezzar who went into a rage and asked to see them.  The passage continues:

 Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? 15 Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?” (vs 14-15)

Certainly by this point the pragmatic individual would have bowed down to the statue.  A believer, could justify this on account that without his heart be in it, the bowing meant nothing.  He would further reason that they could serve God better alive than dead.  This would have seemed reasonable to men, but it was not God's kind of logic which demands obedience and trust in the Lord for whatever consequence might come along.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up. (vs 16-18)

They were thrown in the furnace.  But they were not alone in the fire.  They did not have to endure this trial alone.  The Lord was with them as he is with all believers who undergo a trial.  When Nebuchadnezzar looked into the fire he said,  “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”  

This term "son of the gods" in Aramaic requires some explanation.  Doug Kutilek does a marvelous job discussing the difference between the Hebrew word Elohim and the Aramaic equivalent Elohin.  Although to the English reader this variation might seem trivial, it isn't.  If one looks at Aramaic it looks identical to Hebrew (they use the same script).  They were closely interrelated also.  Yet Aramaic was language used by most of the ancient near eastern nations to communicate with each other, the lingua franca as it is called, the language of politics and diplomacy.  

So it is not surprising that the word for God might have different variations of meaning.  Since except for Israel the rest of the nation were polytheistic, this would have been a very prevalent and common use of Elohin. Kutilek goes on to explain:

This particular verse in Daniel, along with the whole section 2:4b-7:28 is in the Aramaic language, rather than in Hebrew like most of the rest of the Old Testament. Aramaic (also sometimes called Chaldee and Syriac) and Hebrew are sister Semitic languages (the family also includes Arabic, Akkadian, Ugaritic, Ethiopic, Phoenecian and a few even more obscure tongues). As a result, Aramaic and Hebrew have a number of related words and also have similar, but not identical, grammar. One of their differences is crucial at this point.
In the Aramaic original of Daniel 3:25, the phrase represented in English by “the Son of God/a son of the gods” is bar-elahin. Bar is a singular noun, meaning “son” and is commonly found in the New Testament, for example, in proper names: Barnabas, Barabbas, Bar-Jonah, etc., literally meaning “the son of X.” Its equivalent in Hebrew is ben, as in Benjamin, Ben-Hur, and Ben Gurion. Bar is here in the construct state, meaning it is grammatically joined to the word that follows it, and therefore means “son of.” So far, no problem.
Elahin is a masculine plural noun, denoting “gods”; the singular form is elah, or, with the definite article attached, elaha. The Arabic equivalent in allah. The Hebrew equivalent of elahin is elohim. But just here, usage in Hebrew and in Aramaic diverge. In Hebrew, though plural in form, the word elohim is the usual word for God (as in Genesis 1:1 and thousands of other places). Less commonly, it (that is the plural form) is also used of false gods (plural), and of human civil authorities. There is in Hebrew a singular counterpart to elohim, namely eloah, but it is comparatively rare in the OT, occurring just 57 times, with all but 15 of these being in Job, which displays numerous dialectic and linguistic peculiarities. Nearly all the rest are in poetic parts of the OT, or in passages influenced by Aramaic. 

When we examine the Aramaic portion of the OT (besides Daniel 2:4b-7:28, Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26 and Jeremiah 10:11 are also in Aramaic), we discover that there is a clear distinction between the use of the plural form elahin and the singular elaha. When the true God is spoken of, the singular elaha is invariably used (the singular is also used of false gods when referred to individually, as in Daniel 3:14; 4:5; etc.). The plural form elahin is used only of false gods, especially in the phrase, “the spirit of the holy gods” (4:5; 4:6; 5:11; etc.), words spoken by pagan polytheists from their perspective. The use of the plural form with reference to the one true God does not occur in the Aramaic portion of the OT. It must also be noted that the phrase bar-elahin in Daniel 3:25 does not have the definite article in the original Aramaic; that would be bar-elahayya.

Taken together, these facts--namely, that elahin is plural, and has no definite article here--combine to show that to translate bar-elahin as “the Son of God” is to overtranslate the words, indeed to mistranslate them. The precise, literal English equivalent of bar-elahin is “a son of the gods,” as the ASV, NASB and NIV have it. It should not surprise us to find a pagan king who acknowledged and worshipped many gods speaking of the appearance of a supernatural person as “a son of the gods.” Nebuchadnezzar was yet a pagan (he had just erected an idol of gold and compelled his subjects to worship it). In Daniel 3:28, the king refers once again to the fourth man in the furnace, this time by the designation “angel,” which suggests that the two terms, “angel” and “a son of the gods,” were synonymous designations.

When they came out, their hair were not even singed, their robes were not scorched and there wasn't even a smell of fire on them.  Whatever one may think of Nebuchadnezzar's declaration in Daniel 3:28-29, shall not be discussed now.  The essential point is that God is able to produce a very different logic as the outcomes of events than man's mind may imagine.

In part 2 of this series we shall conclude analysis of the Lord's thinking as revealed in His word.