The biblical teachings on suicide.

• Author: Barry, Robert
• Position: Response to Margaret Pabst Battin, Ethical Issues in Suicide, p. 29

Professor Margaret Battin has claimed that the Bible contains no explicit condemnations of suicide and that the Bible not only tolerated self-killing but also positively encouraged it.(1) Similar sentiments were recently declared by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Compassion in Dying v. Washington where the Court states: "The stories of four suicides are noted in the Old Testament--Sampson, Saul, Abimlech [sic], and Achitophel--and none is treated as an act worthy of censure. In the New Testament, the suicide of Judas Iscariot is not treated as a further sin, rather as an act of repentance."(2) But this view cannot go unchallenged, as it manifests a superficial and unreflective understanding of biblical material. This view fails to see that Scripture condemns or approves of actions in many different ways. Professor Battin asserts that the prohibition of killing in the Decalogue does not prohibit suicide but only murder. But Genesis 9:6 forbade the shedding of innocent blood by anyone and did not explicitly exclude reflexively lethal acts: "He who sheds man's blood, shall have his blood shed by man, for in the image of God man was made." This injunction was purposely general, for it condemned the shedding of blood, be it one's own or another's, and the only instance in which the Bible allowed killing was either for self-defense or for the purpose of punishing an individual for a clear and certain serious breach of the law. This prohibition was carried rather far by some in ancient Judaism for they would execute by stoning to avoid shedding blood. The fundamental reason for this was that innocent human life was not to be destroyed because it was made in the image of God, but Battin discounts this principle and fails to analyze the concept of imago Dei.(3)

Exodus 23:7 condemned killing of the innocent: "The innocent and just person you shall not put to death," which Professor Battin regards as applying only to homicide. But this law has usually been understood to mean that no one should be killed who does not deserve to die, including oneself Relative to modern law and morality, the Israelite law on killing was primitive, and by itself, is not able to stand as an adequate moral norm today.(4) Early Israelite laws held that guilt should be presumed if there was known enmity between the killer and victim.(5) just as the biblical teaching that adulterers should be stoned may be considered harsh and ineffective, so also its precepts on killing may be considered not fully developed. The important point is that these laws were correct in condemning these actions as immoral, but the punishments to be meted out for them were unduly harsh because of the roughness and insensibility of the Israelites at the time. The Decalogue condemned willful killing of the innocent, but this judgment was not as refined as it should be. And even though the Decalogue clearly prohibited destroying innocent human life, it did not precisely define the object of the culpably lethal action.

In order to fully understand the biblical vision of suicide, one must also see how death was understood. In general, the Old Testament saw death as a tragic condition because it condemned the person to the darkness of Sheol where they experienced mere existence and little else. This tradition interprets the Genesis creation story to mean that humanity was not created to die, but rather that death came as a result of the primeval offense of Adam and Eve, a view reaffirmed in Sirach 25:24. Death was not seen as trivial or frivolous and there was a proper dread of death, for Psalms 49:16-17 expressed hope in Yahweh for delivery from it. Elsewhere, an extremely pessimistic view of death was expressed. Koheleth declared: "For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of the beasts is the same; as one dies so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts; for all is vanity."(6) The bleakness of our existence continues after death when "there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going,"(7) and by "a living dog is better than a dead lion," he reminds his readers that he who is living has "hope." Consciousness and our awareness of our dying is the basis of the majesty of the human person, and the nobility of the person who is dying is that they are aware they are dying. "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. . . ."(8) The only desirable death was at the end of a long and happy life lived securely in Israel which took place in the midst of one's family with the fullness of powers still intact.(9) The opposite was a long and slow death after a long illness because it embittered.(10)

In the New Testament, sin was seen as the cause of death.(11) Paul explicitly held that all die in Adam but will rise in Christ, and death was the last adversary of Christ.(12) Christ robbed death of its power which made Him Lord of life,(13) and having risen from the dead, death was powerless over Him.(14) The Christian will experience victory over death by sharing in the death of Christ in this life, and in this, the "old person" is crucified and the "new person" raised up with Him.(15) Faith in Christ does not protect from death in this life, but gave hope that one would not suffer death eternally.(16)

There are two perspectives on suicide in the Old Testament. On the one hand, there were suicides that were condemned in various ways, but on the other hand a few were tolerated because they expressed extraordinary devotion to God such as that of Samson(17) and Razis.(18) These deaths were tolerated more as martyrdoms than as suicides. But whenever anyone requested to be killed by God, this was clearly and explicitly refused and this divine verdict goes to the heart of the biblical teachings on suicide. By denying any such requests, God declared the immorality of suicide and set an example for all people: suicide was not to be done for any reason, either for selfless or selfish reasons.

In spite of what Professor Battin claims, the classical view that the biblical materials condemn suicide can be sustained, and in the following sections, I will review episodes involving suicide in the Scriptures to show that the Bible does not approve of or condone, but in fact condemns self-killing.(19)

Suicides Sought, But Refused by Yahweh

The appeals made by some in the Bible to God to be killed are important for determining the biblical view on suicide. In each case, an individual begs for death, in essence making a suicidal gesture, and his plea is always denied by God. These cases show that while the human verdict about suicide might be ambiguous in some instances, the divine verdict is quite clear. If suicide was as unobjectionable in the Bible as Professor Battin contends, then one would expect Yahweh in his compassion and mercy to allow his faithful and beloved ones to kill themselves because of frustrated devotion. Instead Yahweh turns a deaf ear to appeals for suicides, as if to say that suicide is not an option, even for his most faithful ones. Not only does He not allow his faithful ones to destroy themselves, but He also condemns sinners who do this.

Moses

Even one so great as Moses was tempted to suicide. After the Israelites fled slavery in Egypt, one day in the desert they stood weeping and whining about being taken from Egypt. Moses became so disillusioned with the Israelites that he retreated to his tent in despair and frustration and pleaded with Yahweh to simply end his life:

Moses heard the people weeping, each family at the door of his tent.

Yahweh's anger was greatly aroused; Moses too found it disgraceful, and

he said to Yahweh: `Why do you treat your servant so badly? In what

respect have I failed to win your favor, for you to lay the burden of all

these people on me? Was it I who conceived all these people, was I their

father, for you to say to me, "Carry them in your arms, like a foster father

carrying around an unweaned child, to the country which I swore to give

their fathers?" Where am I to find meat to give all these people, pestering

me with their tears and saying, "Give us meat to eat?" I cannot carry all

these people on my own; the weight is too much for me. If this is how you

mean to treat me, please kill me outright!'(20)

In response to Moses' plea, Yahweh did not kill him or allow him to commit suicide, but rather assembled the elders of the community, conferred a portion of his Spirit on them, and sent them quail. In fact he would give them so much meat to eat it would "come out of their nostrils and sicken you!"(21) The message of this story is clearly that God does not turn a deaf ear to our needs, but grants them in abundance to those who were patient and waited for him.

Elijah

The great prophet Elijah wished for suicide as he was being pursued by the soldiers of queen Jezebel.(22)

When Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done, and how he had

put all the prophets to the sword, Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to

say, `May the gods bring unnameable ills on me and worse ills too, if by

this time tomorrow I have not made your life like one of theirs!' He was

afraid and fled for his life. He came to Beersheba, a town of Judah, where

he left his servant. He himself went on into the desert, a day's journey,

and sitting under a furze bush wished he were dead. `Yahweh,' he said, `I

have had enough. Take my life; I am no longer better than my ancestors.'

Then he lay down and went to sleep. Then all of a sudden an angel touched

him and said, `Get up and eat.' He looked round, and there at his head was

a scone baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and lay

down again. But the angel of Yahweh came back a second time and touched him

and said, `Get up and eat, or the journey will be too long for you.' So he

got up and ate and drank, and strengthened by that food he walked for forty

days and forty nights until he reached...