Excursus: Divine Testing
The root bḥn (Mal 3:10, 15) means to “test, try,
prove” (used specifically of people) and is similar in meaning to the Hebrew ḥqr “to search,” nsh “to test, try,” and ṣrp
“to smelt, refine, test” and almost always has religious connotations (cf. TDOT 2:69–72). The OT/HB indicates that
God may “test” (nsh, Gen 22:1; Deut
8:2; bḥn, 1 Chr 29:17; Ps 17:3; Job
23:10) human beings, but in turn human beings are prohibited from “testing” God
(nsh, Deut 6:16; cf. Weinfeld [1991:
346–47, 388]).
However,
Malachi calls the postexilic Yehud to “test” (bḥn) God (3:10). By means of the divine invitation to test God, the
prophet extends to the restoration community the opportunity to “prove” the
faithfulness of God in keeping his covenant relationship (and covenant
promises) with Israel by demonstrating their own faithfulness in obedience to
the covenant stipulations regarding the tithe. Essentially, the Hebrews are
summoned to affirm and approve their own faith in God and obedience to his
covenant laws by reciprocating Yahweh’s constant behavior (not simply proper
“cultic conduct” as Glazier-McDonald [1987a: 194] contends, but in genuine
humility and reverent worship with a “clean heart,” Pss 51:10; 139:23–24).
Malachi’s
audience in their cynicism turns the table on the prophet by suggesting that
the only ones who might “pass” such a test are the arrogant and the wicked, who
appear to have flaunted their evil deeds before God and escaped divine judgment
(bḥn, 3:15). Laetsch (p. 541) decried
this as “a blasphemous perversion of God’s challenge.” Those who would sanction
this testing of God from the posture of arrogance and covenant disobedience are
sternly warned that God fully intends to distinguish the righteous from the
wicked (Mal 3:18).
Frequently,
the MT equates the Israelite testing and provocation of God (issuing from a posture
of rebellion and unbelief) with the root nsh
(e.g., Exod 17:2, 7; Pss 78:18, 41; 95:9), while the divine testing for
purposes of judgment, purification, and character formation are usually
connected with the root bḥn (cf. Jer
6:27; 9:7; 11:20; 12:3). Interestingly, God perceived the testing at Meribah as
a bḥn experience, Ps 81:7, but the
testing at Massah is described by the verb nsh
(Deut 6:16; 33:8a), while the cognate verb ryb
is applied to the episode at Meribah (Deut 33:8b). Clearly there is a complex
of factors at work in the selection of the cognate verbs for “testing” (cf. TDOT 2:69–71).
According to
Isa 48:10–11 God “refined” (ṣrp) and
“tested” (bḥn) Israel for his own
sake so that his holy name might not be profaned. However, this divine testing
was also therapeutic, in that such testing prompted (or renewed) faith in God,
diagnosing motive and attitude and exposing unbelief and rebellion (cf. Pss
17:3; 26:2; 66:10; 139:23). The NT claims it is not the healthy who need a
doctor, rather the sick (Matt 9:12–13). Through testing God isolates our illness as a first step in the process
of our healing.
The LXX
consistently renders the Hebrew nsh
with a form of the Greek word peirázein
(“tempt, test, try”), while bḥn is
nearly always translated with some form of dokimázien
(“examine, prove, test”; but note ʾetázein
for bḥn in 1 Chr 29:17). This
suggests that later Judaism discerned some theological distinction between the
two terms in studying the question of God’s testing of human beings. In fact,
this assumption has its precursor in Ahaz’s refusal to “test” (peirázein) God when the prophet Isaiah
exhorted the Judean king to “prove” the word of God (Isa 7:12). The NT
documents represent one completed stage (i.e., an early Jewish Christian
perspective) of this developmental theology of divine testing.
According to
the NT, God does not “test” (peirázein)
anyone (Jas 1:13); nor should the faithful “test” (peirázein) God (1 Cor 10:9). Essentially, human beings bring this
trial or test upon themselves by yielding to personal desires exploited by the
Tempter (Jas 1:14–16; cf. Matt 4:3; 1 Cor 5:7). However, God does “test” the
faith and deeds of God’s faithful for the purpose of approving and purifying
the faithful (dokimázein, 1 Cor
3:13).
God in his
gracious providence is able to transform a given “trial” (peirázein) and its destructive potential for biblical faith into an
experience that affirms and approves biblical faith and builds godly character
(dókimos/dokímion, Jas 1:3, 12; 1 Pet 1:7; cf. Gen 50:20, “you intended evil
against me, but God planned it for good”). This NT distinction between testing
and provocation intended to disapprove or ruin biblical faith (peirázein) and testing designed to
affirm and approve biblical faith both preserves human freedom and
responsibility and at the same time confirms the goodness and sovereignty of
God. (Andrew E. Hill, Malachi:
A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary [AYB 25D; New Haven:
Yale University Press, 2008], 311-13)
