Right Words

1 Sam. 6:9, “And see, if it go up by the way of his own coast to Beth-shemesh, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us; it was a chance that happened to us.”

This passage caught my attention because it throws light on how the heathen, at least in that time, sorted out the unusual plague that followed the captured ark of the covenant through the cities of the Philistines (1 Sam. 5). While the Philistines do acknowledge the possibility of divine intervention (“his hand”), they also believe in “chance” or something that occurs of itself without divine involvement.

The word “chance” and its forms only occur seven times in scripture, though variants like “hap” (29 times), “peradventure” (32), and “venture” (2) are also used. What all these terms have in common is a sense of randomness rather than direction or divine intervention. But when you study them closely, you see that “chance” is not independent of or separate from divine power; otherwise, it would vie with God as the authority in the universe. So it’s a serious matter to consider.

A few examples of how God rules “chance.”

1. Ruth and Boaz (Ruth 2). Ruth’s “hap” or chance is to glean in the field belonging to her kinsman, Boaz, who is also unmarried (Ruth 3) and an ancestor of David (Ruth 4). How could one say that this was totally random?
2. Ahab’s death (1 Kings 22, 2 Chron. 18). Ahab is slain by an arrow from a bowman who “at a venture” (by chance) aimed at him or merely in his direction, and the arrow hits him in the weakest spot of his armor, “between the joints of the harness” (1 Kings 22:34; 2 Chr. 18:33). Totally random? Moreover, the prophet Micaiah, under divine inspiration, foretold Ahab’s death before the battle began (1 Kings 22:17, 2 Chron. 18:16).

So “chance” is not a thing of itself; it’s a horizontal, heathen way of describing divine activity. Solomon, in his survey of all things “under the sun” uses the term in Eccl. 9:11 as applying to everyone (“time and chance happeneth to them all”), and he’s correct, but only looking at things horizontally without reference to God. But when one understands God’s complete rule of heaven and earth, he sees that “one [sparrow] shall not fall to the ground without your Father” (Mt. 10:29), i.e., nothing can happen to anyone or anything without God’s involvement.

One last thought: games of “chance”? Not really, since “The lot is cast into the lap: but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD” (Prov. 16:33).