9 biblical characters who did unacceptable things from the point of view of Christian morality

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The Bible is the world's best-selling book. It is also a "guiding star" for Christians, a collection of interesting legends and a guide to ethics, morality and morality. And yet this book contains more intimacy and violence than the notorious Game of Thrones. It may seem strange and incredible, but many of the biblical characters, who are considered to be virtuous righteous, sometimes committed openly immoral and disgusting acts.

1. Elisha

Elisha was a prophet believed to have lived in the 9th century BC. When Elijah, who was Elisha's teacher, was called to heaven, God commanded him to appoint Elisha as the new prophet. He performed many miracles: for example, he returned water to the city of Jericho and resurrected the son of a woman, but Elisha's track record contains one “miracle” that really stands out from the rest.

When the prophet was walking to the city of Bethel, a group of children ran out to meet him and started laughing at his bald head (interestingly, this is the only mention in the Bible that Elisha was bald). As a result, the prophet cursed the children with a mortal curse. Immediately two bears came running and tore the children to pieces. Once again, a righteous prophet who worships God brutally killed forty-two children because they laughed at him. And today he is a revered saint.

2. Jael

Perhaps many have never even heard of Jael. The Bible describes a battle between two generals: Barak, a general in the Israeli army, and Sisera, the leader of the Canaanite army. When, during the battle, the scales tipped to the side of the Israelites, Sisera decided to flee into the desert (at this time the Israelites killed all the Canaanites). He managed to stumble upon a tent belonging to his ally, a man named Heber Kenerith.

Heber's wife, Jael, ran outside to greet Sisera and ushered him into the tent, assuring him that he had nothing to fear. Then she hid him under the blankets (Barak was still chasing Sisera, trying to find him in the desert), waited until he fell asleep, and then hammered a stake into him, nailing the general's head to the ground.

3. David

King David is perhaps the most righteous man in the Bible (although he single-handedly killed and emasculated 200 men at the request of his wife). But, as some examples show, cruelty and mass genocide go hand in hand with righteousness, and, as a rule, a righteous person starts the carnage. For example, David, at the head of his army, invaded several neighboring lands.

The Bible does not say about the slightest reason for this, other than indirectly mentioning that the people he killed were "old inhabitants of the earth," so it seems that the king was simply destroying the indigenous peoples. David's army killed all the men and women in the cities he conquered, and then took all their livestock to his land, leaving the cities in ruins. Even the story of David and Goliath, which is usually told to children, ends with David chopping off the head of the defeated Goliath and taking it with him.

4. Samson

Samson was a man whom God gave superhuman strength to help him destroy the "evil" Philistines. However, "something went wrong" and Samson started killing more and more people. For example, he argued with thirty people that no one would be able to guess his riddle. He argued for thirty silk shirts. These people tricked out the answer from Samson's wife, but in order not to repay the debt, he did something incomprehensible and rather similar to the act of a maniac. Samson killed thirty people, stripped them and gave their clothes to his opponents.

5. Elijah

It has already been mentioned that Elijah was the prophet who made Elisha his successor before God sent the chariot of fire to take Elijah up to heaven. Needless to say, he was considered a saint. During the time when Elijah was a prophet in Israel, there came a period when many people began to worship the pagan god Baal. Elijah was dismayed by this turn of events and called the 450 prophets of Baal to prove to them the fallacy of their faith. He told them to kill the bull and put it on the altar to Baal, and then pray to their deity to light the altar.

The prophets prayed for several hours, but nothing happened. After that, Elijah killed another bull and put it on the altar, after which he began to pray to God. Fire immediately flared up, after which the prophets of Baal believed in "the true faith." But this was not enough for Elijah - he took turns taking each prophet of Baal to the river, where he killed them all in cold blood.

6. Jephthah

Jephthah was born in Gilead and was a wealthy man, but his mother was a harlot, which meant that Jephthah was doomed to be ostracized. He was literally thrown out of the house, deprived of his inheritance. A few years later, the Israelites began a war against the Ammonites. They found Jephthah and asked him to return to Gilead to lead the troops. At that moment, the king of Ammon asked Israel to simply allow them to live in peace, and the answer of the Israelites was to a large extent typical of any "holy" war: "Whom the Lord our God drives away from us, so we will take possession."

So, Jephthah led the troops, but before the battle he made a deal with God: if he wins, he will sacrifice the first thing that will meet him at home on his return. When Jephthah returned home victorious, a joyful daughter ran out to meet him. Eventually, Jephthah performed the ritual sacrifice of his only daughter in order to maintain God's favor.

7. Jehu

Jehu became king of Israel after a violent coup in which the previous king, Jehoram, was overthrown. After the battle, Jehu pursued and killed the entire family of Joram (70 people), and heaped their severed heads in a heap outside the city gates. Then he rode over the still living mother of Joram in his chariot. But that's not all. When the new king was anointed to reign by the prophet Elisha, Jehu decided to continue the "cleansing".

To get rid of rumors that he was worshiping Baal, the new king asked all of Baal's servants to make a huge sacrifice in his honor. When people from all over the kingdom gathered, they literally beat up the sanctuary of Baal. Jehu ordered his army to slaughter them all. What is not genocide.

8. Joshua

The story of how Jesus destroyed the walls of Jericho with a trumpet is known to almost everyone. But they usually forget to say about the real genocide. After the walls fell, Nun's army entered the city and slaughtered everyone indiscriminately: men, women and children. Moreover, this was not an isolated incident - Jesus walked with fire and sword throughout Israel. The cities of Libna, Lachis, Eglon, Hebron and Debir were razed to the ground by the army of Joshua, completely destroyed all living things in them.

9. Moses

Moses is best known for leading the Israelites out of Egypt. The Book of Exodus tells of the ten executions, how the waters of the Red Sea parted, and receiving the Ten Commandments from God. But the Israelites didn't just wander aimlessly for forty years in the desert: they spent most of that time invading other cities.

After the victorious battle against the Midianites, Moses gave the following order: “Kill every man, every male baby, and every woman who knows a man by lying with him. And all the girls who did not know the man, having reclined with him, leave to yourself. Basically, it was permission to rape all the little girls in the cities of Midianita.

It would seem that the names of the characters in the Book of Books are known to everyone, as are their stories. But there is 10 famous biblical characters whose names remain unknown.