A fake bible quote has been posted on social media purporting to be 1 Kings 9:13. According to this quote, God says He sends epidemics like covid-19 and holds back the rain.
This is fake. First of all, God does not send epidemics. Let us see step by step.
The quote is wrong. 1 Kings 9:13 actually says:
NET Bible
Hiram asked, “Why did you give me these cities, my friend?” He called that area the region of Cabul, a name which it has retained to this day.
1 Kings 8:37 actually says:
NET Bible
“The time will come when the land suffers from a famine, a plague, blight and disease, or a locust invasion, or when their enemy lays siege to the cities of the land, or when some other type of plague or epidemic occurs.
Douay-Rheims Bible
If a famine arise in the land, or a pestilence, or corrupt air, or blasting, or locust, or mildew, if their enemy afflict them besieging the gates, whatsoever plague, whatsoever infirmity,
Why do we want to picture God as an evil deity like some Zeus who sends pestilence on the land? In the Antonine Plague of the 2nd century, Christians took care of the sick and their world vision was that plagues were not sent by a capricious deity (“Zeus”), but the side-effect of a damaged Creation affected by Original Sin.
If God gave a person sickness, then it is doubtful how God is willing to heal. Jesus healed people wherever he went, and still does today, so it is clear that God heals and does not send sickness.
Also, sickness does not come as a result of sin.
John 9:1-3: As he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. [2] And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” [3] Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.
It’s interesting to read Psalm 91 (my bolds):
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes
and see the recompense of the wicked.9 Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—
the Most High, who is my refuge—
10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
no plague come near your tent.11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
15 When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
This psalm was used by Satan when he tempted Jesus (Matthew 4:5-7) and he tried to get him to throw himself off the cliff saying God would hold him. This reminds me of how some claim that nobody can get sick by God’s Holy Communion, but this is precisely the same as that temptation. Jesus answers that it would be putting God to the test, violating Deuteronomy 6:16. Thus, let us obey the authorities, both civil and church leaders on these Coronavirus related matters.