Suicide and the Bible

[Rebbe]

SUICIDE and the BIBLE
by
Les Aron Gosling, Rebbe

Copyright © BRI/IMCF 2000, 2005, 2018 All Rights Reserved Worldwide

It is written: "He that loses his life for my sake shall find it... If any come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my student... He that takes not his cross, and follows after me, is not worthy of me..." "Present yourselves living sacrifices..." (Mt 16.25; Lk 14.26; Mt 10.38; Rom 12.1).

What was the ideological framework in the first century that brought forth such profound statements from Yeshua and Paul regarding our spiritual life in God? These expectations of voluntary euthanasia [suicide] from the Messiah and His emissary are based on the Jewish thoughtform which teaches the fundamental right of each individual to choose a quality of life and death for himself.

BRI/IMCF is not advocating that people go out and kill themselves. We are decidedly NOT a "suicide cult." We are not part of some radical right wing militia out to overthrow the government. We are not involved in clandestine operations, building and detonating bombs, encouraging people to bury guns in backyard garden plots, nor advocating people surrender their wills and minds to us. Not by any means. In fact, my life was never the same after a very close and intimate friend took her life when there was absolutely no sound reason to do so. She left two little children behind, and a distraught husband -- not to mention friends left forever in a deep personal agony. She was a manic-depressant, and needed psychiatric help to enable her to see that there was a light at the end of the tunnel. There were options at her every turn. She just couldn't "see" any of them when she needed them. Nevertheless, I am talking about the right of a person to end a life that is obviously futile, pain-ridden, with no expectation (immediate or otherwise) of reversal.  
      
We believe that man has the right to LIVE LIFE to the fullest. It was Our Lord Yeshua who said, "I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly" (Jn 10.10). His emissary, the priestly John, said the same thing: "Beloved I wish above all things that you might prosper and be in health" (3 Jn 2).

Both Yeshua and John were talking about this life now. But we ARE asking what the Bible says about euthanasia, and the right of the individual to responsibly end his own life if he so wishes. For, in recent years, here in Australia (recognised by the UN as an altogether pagan nation) Christians (a minuscule minority in a secular State) brought about the medical and political reversal of a fundamental right which had been won for humankind in this country in our own Northern Territory.

Let me explain. In one major Sunday Queensland newspaper I have been reading, with keen interest, the letters from Christians and others in the community about their ideas on euthanasia. Then, the Anglican Archbishop got involved, and wrote an article on the right of modern medicine (and politicians) to extend a person's misery beyond his own choice to terminate such mindless suffering. He uttered sentimentalities which were his own views, and he has the right to do so. We Australians do live in a (shrinking) Democracy. But then he mindlessly attempted to squeeze such views into a biblical framework of reference. Frankly, it is the criticism from the Christian quarter toward euthanasia I find difficult to reconcile with the biblical record. Especially is this the case when the book they purport to be "the inspired Word of God" gives God's viewpoint which they fail to respect.

And so I read, and immediately dismissed, the Archbishop's views as not only utterly ignorant but biblically unwarranted. With deference to his "holiness" it must be pointed out that his opinions reflect a common "Christian" view held since Augustine of Hippo (late fourth early fifth century) graced the stage of history, but these views -- however sincere they may be -- are not biblically based.

While this might surprise some people, the Bible never actually condemns the right of the individual to terminate his own life. Rather, it substantiates it.

Since Augustine's time the church has condemned suicide as a mortal sin. This is due to the fact that, with the advent of Augustine and his book The City of God the church finally removed itself from its Jewish roots. The emperor Constantine, who became head of the church, had earlier thrown out the Jewish baby (Yeshua) with the Jewish bathwater (Torah, customs of the fathers, etc). This is well recognised by all historians.

Yet these same historians also acknowledge that Augustine's case against suicide (and by extension, euthanasia) was based, not on the Bible, but on Plato's Pythagorean argument against "self-murder" in his Phaedo. He could not base his argument on Jewish Scripture (whether the Hebrew Scriptures, commonly and erroneously called by Christians the "Old Testament," or the Jewish Messianic Scriptures of the Yeshua Party -- the so-called "New Testament") because it supported euthanasia!

God never discriminated against the person who took his own life. Nor did any of the prophets of the Jewish tradition (including Yeshua). In the Bible, while sadness is etched into the accounts, there is not one iota of disgrace attached to the act itself.

There are eight cases of definite suicide recorded in the Bible (Judges 9.54; 1 Samuel 31.4,5; 1 Chronicles 10.4,5; 2 Samuel 17.23; 1 Kings 16.18) without a single word of disdain. These cases include...

[1] Abimelech, Gideon's son (Judg 9.54),

[2] the mortally wounded king Saul and also

[3] his arms bearer (1 Sam 31.4,5),

[4] Ahithophel (2 Sam 17.23),

[5] Zimri (1 Kgs 16.18) and

[6] Samson (Judg 16.30).

[7] Judas took his life in deep repentance for betraying his close friend, Yeshua, to the Roman state (Matthew 27.3-10), and again, his death is recorded without any commentary against it.

[8] Who's the eighth suicide? (This will without doubt cause a stir.) The ONE who said, "Nobody takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own free will" (Jn 10.18).

This attitude of Yeshua accords with the view accepted by Jews (and Yeshua was a Jew) of the biblical period, and up to the advent of Augustine!

This list of eight people recorded as taking their own lives are definites. But there are some other biblical notables who we can also view as terminally suicidal. They are,

[9] Adam, who poisoned himself and committed spiritual suicide.

[10] The apostle Paul (probably). I will explain this anon.

Post-biblical Jewish literature extols suicide (and so, euthanasia) of the faithful who took their lives voluntarily rather than betray their religious beliefs (Philo, The Embassy to Gaius, 236; Josephus, Wars, 7.320-388; 2 Maccabees 14.37-46).

In the case of Paul I say "probably" because it is not actually recorded to have occurred. However, allow me to say that the apostle Paul viewed suicide in a favourable light, being Jewish and a Roman citizen. Indeed, his words suggest strongly that he finally exercised his own rights (again, both as a believer and a Roman citizen) to take his own life rather than be executed by the contemptuous Nero.
 
How so? Listen! Paul was a man so spiritually minded he "lusted after death" (epithymia eis to analysai in Philippians 1.21-26) and who desired to be with the Messiah ASAP (2 Corinthians 5.1-8 where "we would rather" is from the Greek eudokoumen mallon expressing not a mere preference to be with his Lord Yeshua but a decisive choice). That Paul should follow his Lord Yeshua and choose to take his own life ought to surprise nobody schooled in the biblical text.

"But if I continue to live in the flesh this would be the fruit of my labour: YET WHAT I SHALL CHOOSE I REALLY DON'T KNOW at this time. For I am having difficulty deciding how to choose between the two options [living or dying]. I have a desire to depart [die] and to be with Messiah, which is far better. Nevertheless to stay in this flesh is more needful for you" (Philippians 1.22-24).

It was Paul's choice to die, you see. Rome guaranteed its citizens the right to kill themselves (usually by falling on a sword supplied to despatch the prisoner, or by slitting the wrists in a provided bath-tub of warm water and slowly "fading out") in cases of treason against the State. Paul served another King other than Caesar, Mashiach the Nazarene. All historical works that discuss Paul's death recognise that this was Roman law, although they believe that Paul was beheaded by Nero's orders. Paul's words (above) testify that as far as he was concerned death was the action he would readily opt to take. He saw that moment as coming from his own choice in decision making, and not as a consequence of a directive from Nero (whom he called "Satan" in Romans 16.20).

Incidentally, the only person in the Bible who considered suicide as an option and decided against it was the patriarch Job (Job 7.15; 13.15). I might add, that some modern rabbins may argue that post-biblical Judaism forbids suicide, but I would humbly refer them to certain passages in the Mishnah and Talmud (e.g., Ketub. 103b; Abod. Zar. 18a). I would also seek to refer them, and others, to a first century source (although some would argue for a much later date) -- the Gospel of John. Here we find rabbis appreciating the possibility of Yeshua's statements "I am soon going away" as alluding to the threat or contemplation of suicide (See Jn 8.22; 7.34; 13.33). Even the Carthaginian church Father Tertullian recognised the death of Yeshua as according well enough to the first century Jewish (and Roman) belief in the individual right to end one's own life. So did Origen, another church Father. Even the dreaded Augustine had to admit that Yeshua did take his own life (On the Trinity 4.16). It was later church theologians who declared the opposite and charged the death of Judas the Sicarii as being a greater sin than that of his betrayal of Yeshua. And they have been against suicide (and thus also euthanasia) ever since.

There can be little doubt that Christian support given to the overturning of the euthanasia bill in the Northern Territory of Australia, and the comments of a certain Anglican Archbishop, is a clear indication of how far a paganised Christianity has travelled away from the Bible in its thinking about suicide. Christians would do well to stay out of politics altogether.

But while we are on the subject of suicide, we must ask the question "How Did Judas Die?"

The reason I bring this up in the context of this exposition, is because of the continued atheistic challenges to the veracity of the biblical revelation -- and Christians are being seduced into an expansive discrediting of the Word of God.

It is proffered by these academics that the two accounts given in the NT differ substantially, and that they cannot be reconciled by any means. Christians run to admirably attempt a reconciliation and I will discuss the major attempt below. Hint: I am not convinced by these Christian counterarguments.

Firstly let's look at the two accounts of the death of Judas.

The first comes through the pen of Matthew who was one of Yeshua's disciples and the man who wrote his Gospel. He writes, concerning Judas:

"When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death; and they bound him and led him away and delivered him to Pilate the governor. When Judas, his betrayer, saw that he was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, "I have sinned in betraying innocent blood." They said, "What is that to us? See to it yourself." And throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed; and he went and hanged himself. But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, "It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since they are blood money." So they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in. Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, "And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, and they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed me" -- (Mt 27.1-10).

According to Matthew, Judas dies by his own hand, hanging himself. In western thought this means he got a rope, found a tree, made a noose, put it around his neck, and obviously jumped from a height -- breaking his neck or strangling to death.

Then we come to a second account written by the physician Luke in his early history of the Jewish Messianic Movement in Acts. It reads:

"In those days Peter stood up among the brethren (the company of persons was in all about a hundred and twenty), and said, "Brethren, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David, concerning Judas who was guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was numbered among us, and was allotted his share in this ministry. (Now this man bought a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong [other mss have "and swelling up"] he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) For it is written in the book of Psalms, "Let his habitation become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it"; and "His office let another take" -- (Acts 1.15-20).

As far as Luke is concerned he either falls headlong -- no mention of a hanging -- or is dead (cause not mentioned) and in a condition of putrefaction/decomposition his abdomen bursts open and his intestines spill out (as in disembowelment) in a bloody mess. Horrendous picture that only a physician could pen.

Did he hang himself? Did he fall from a cliff? Was his demise caused when tripping over some rocks like a penultimate "Boofhead" (Aussie slang for a fool)?

There is incidentally no mention by Luke of Judas returning the blood money to the priests. But Luke adds an interesting apparent further contradiction about Judas and this involved "the field": In Matthew it is the priests who purchase the field. In Luke it is insisted that Judas buys the field.

I will address the field problem in a follow-up mini-exposition (the solution is really very simple).

But as far as knitting the two accounts of Matthew and Luke into a sensible reconstruction, Christians tumble over themselves in a bid to eliminate any possible thought of contradiction. And might I say that such an attempt is admirable in hoping to silence atheistic speculations about the non-inspiration of the NT Word of God.

So how do Christian apologists get around the two versions? They cleverly tie them together by seeing the accounts as two halves of an entire whole. Judas hangs himself and the rope snaps or the tree-branch breaks. He bumbles the job. He falls headlong onto rocks and his abdomen is torn open spilling out his intestines. It is a consummately tragic end to the entire mishandling of events by Judas. A failure in life and a failure in death. He doesn't accomplish anything right.

But this is all based on the western notion of "hanging." Students please recall that the Bible is not a western book. It is a corpus of Jewish -- EASTERN -- documents and thoughtforms. This being the case, "hanging" as far as eastern sensibilities are concerned in no way implies having your neck broken at the end of a rope. It means dangling on the end of a spear, or thrust through with a sword, or even impaled on an iron fence like some hideous Hollywood movie has portrayed the abrupt end of a merciless villain that I watched many years ago and which scared the living daylights outta me.

I would make the humble suggestion that the attempts by apologists to correlate Matthew and Luke are somewhat convoluted and that Judas was so remorseful and depressed at the betrayal of his childhood friend Yeshua, that he simply took a length of timber and sharpened its end to a spear-point (or even took a spear for that matter -- after all he was a Sicarii) and positioned the deadly weapon firmly in between rocks and then "fell headlong" onto it with the resultant horrendous disembowelment that took place. He would have dangled for some time on it bleeding heavily and no doubt died of shock. In a bayonet charge, an enemy dies of shock as the weapon enters and is immediately extracted from the punctured body. Old style bayonets usually were designed with one side spiked so that the same effect suffered by Judas would be the outcome.

"Hanging in those days often described crucifixion or impalement (being speared through the body and sometimes lifted up for public display" (Fire Bible - KJV: A Study Bible for Spirit-led Living, 2012. Note on Mt 27.5 p.1453).

Whatever the case, there is a poem that I would like to share with you all concerning Judas whom Yeshua loved. It's called "The Judas Tree." Some here might already be aware of it.

THE BALLAD OF THE JUDAS TREE

In hell there grew a Judas tree where Judas hanged
and died,
Because he could not bear to see his Master
crucified.
Our Lord descended into hell, and found his Judas
there,
Forever hanging on the tree grown from his own
despair.
So Jesus cut his Judas down and took him in his
arms,
"It was for this I came," he said, "And not to do you
harm.
My Father gave me twelve good men, and all of them
I kept,
Though one betrayed and one denied, some fled and
others slept.
In three days' time I must return to make the others
glad,
But first I had to come to hell and share the death
you had.
My tree will grow in place of yours, its roots lie here
as well,
There is no final victory without this soul from
hell."
So when we all condemn him as of every traitor
worst,
Remember that of all his men, our Lord forgave him
first.

-- Dr Ruth Etchells (theologian and former Principal of
St. John's College, University of Durham