This article will be the final one in the God Kills Children series. We have talked about God commanding his armies to kill children, the killing of children in the flood, the firstborn of Egypt, etc. This final article will go over the other times children were put to death and laws in the Old Testament that seem to support the killing of children.
There are various things that the Bible commands the death penalty for in the Old Testament. I’m not a fan of the death penalty, but I can see how and why ancient Israel used it. When God gave Moses the law, they wandered around the desert with no place to hold prisoners. At least, I have never read a passage about them having prisons at the time. Genesis mentions that Egypt had a prison system, as Joseph was put in one of the prisons after being falsely accused of sexual actions. Even if you support the death penalty for the worst of crimes, the Bible goes too far in some circumstances.
Striking and Cursing a Parent
God commands the death penalty for rebellious kids. Let’s look at a couple of Scriptures:
Exodus 21:15 – And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.
Exodus 21:17 – And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.
So a child that smites or curses either parent is to be put to death. Unfortunately, the Bible doesn’t give a specific age group for this. Other translations use the word “strike” instead of “smiteth.” That means if a child is to strike one of their parents, they were to be put to death. I can see where it is morally wrong to strike a parent, and the child, in most circumstances, shouldn’t go unpunished. Today, we would ground the child or put them in “time-out.” Some parents may spank their children for such behavior. However, to put a child to death for this is excessive punishment.
Imagine if we had this law in the United States today. Granted, there would be a lot fewer incidences of striking a parent if the law threatened them with the death penalty, but we would also see children on death row. Can you imagine a kid on death row just for striking one of their parents?
There is a possibility that to strike one’s parents means to strike them to the point where they would die. However, I can’t verify that that is what the passage means.
Cursing a Parent
The second passage has to do with cursing a parent. What the heck does this even mean? Is it talking about the child casting a spell against their parents, or just simply bad-mouthing them? Unfortunately, the Bible doesn’t say. However, anyone in their right mind would see that cursing a parent is not deserving of death. Maybe the child is just having a bad day and does or says a few things they shouldn’t. Should they receive the death penalty over such a thing?
I should mention that there are some terrible parents out there who deserve to have their children rebel against them, especially abusive parents. The Bible says to honor your mother and father, but there are certain circumstances where the parent doesn’t deserve to be honored. What if the child has an abusive parent and strikes back or curses their parent for the abuse the parent is causing?
Elijah and bears
2 Kings 2:23:24 – “And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.”
In this passage, some children made fun of Elijah’s bald head. If you don’t know who Elijah was, he was one of God’s favorite prophets, and he never died, but he was one of two people carried away before their death (The Other being Enoch from Seth’s Lineage in Genesis 5). He even met with Jesus and Moses on the mountain during Jesus’ ministry.
Little Children?
The verse says explicitly that they were little children. In other words, they probably weren’t even teenagers yet. However, as punishment, God sends out a couple of bears to maul all the children to death. Don’t get me wrong, kids shouldn’t be bullying people or saying nasty things to insult someone. The kids were wrong in their actions. However, for God to send out bears to kill the kids is going way overboard.
The bears killed forty-two youths in this story. Why couldn’t God close their mouths until Elijah passed by? I remember my peers bullying me in school, and I know that putting those to death for bullying me would be an extreme form of punishment. Usually, punishment in school was a trip to the principal’s office and then detention or suspension.
Rebellion Sons
Deuteronomy 21:18-21 – “If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.”
This is another verse that goes way too far. Here, we see that the Israelites were to put a stubborn and rebellious son to death. It describes this son as a glutton and drunkard. In other words, if your son overeats and drinks too much alcohol, they will be considered stubborn and rebellious and be put to death.
Sodom and Gomorrah
Then there was the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. It appears to be true that many bad things were going on in these cities. The men of the city wanted to rape the angels who showed up to warn Lot and his family to leave. However, the town couldn’t have been all adults. That is unrealistic. All towns, cities, and other habitable places have children. Therefore, the destruction of the two territories would have included children.
Of course, there is the fact that America has annihilated two cities with the use of an atomic bomb, which would have included the slaughter of many children. I should note that America isn’t all-powerful. As I stated repeatedly, if God were all-powerful, he would be able to destroy the evil in the two cities without taking out the children. He could have then provided a place for the children to go since God was going to destroy their homes.
Jephthah’s Daughter
Judges 11 is where we find the story of Jephthah. The chapter starts with Jephthah being judged within his family because he was the only one born of a harlot. They told him he couldn’t inherit his father’s house, so Jephthah fled. After this, the children of Ammon made war with the Israelites. The elders of Gilead asked Jephthah for help and even told him he could be their captain. Jephthah remembered being cast out and challenged those now asking him to be their leader. He makes a deal that if he leads them, he will be accepted back. So Jephthah agreed with God that if he prevailed against the children of Ammon, he would sacrifice the first thing that came out of his home when he returned.
Judges 11:30-31 – “And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”
So, as the story goes, Jephthah was able to be the victor, so he had to keep his promise to God. Guess what came out of his door when he first arrived home? Here is the verse:
Judges 11:34 – “And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.”
His Daughter was Only a Child
Yep, his daughter came out, and she was still only a child. Now, most people have heard the story of Abraham, where he went to sacrifice his son. However, an angel appeared before Abraham, stopping him from sacrificing his child. Yet, in the story of Jephthah, God doesn’t send any angels or anything to prevent Jephthah from sacrificing his daughter. This was a child sacrifice that God allowed. It’s interesting because God rightfully condemns other nations who practice child sacrifice to Molech but yet allows Jephthah to sacrifice his daughter.
If God is against human sacrifice, then why did he allow this to happen? God could have done one of two things instead. He could have allowed something else to come out of Jephthah that wasn’t a human, or he could have put a stop to the child sacrifice. However, God did neither; therefore, it seems that he accepted this sacrifice.
Some may argue that God never endorsed or commanded this sacrifice, so we can’t blame God. While this seems true, there is still the fact that God didn’t stop it. Or, God could have stopped it and made a moral argument to be careful of what you vow to do. If God had that close of a connection to Jephthah in helping him win the war, he could have stopped Jephthah from sacrificing his daughter.
David, Bathsheba, and Uriah
Then, there is the story of David and Bathsheba, found in 2 Samuel 11-12. Bathsheba was married to another man, but after watching her from a distance, David saw her wash herself and found her very beautiful. David sent messengers so he could have her for himself. David ends up getting with her, and they conceive a child together.
At first, David tries to get Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, to sleep with his wife by giving him time away from the war. This way, it would appear that Uriah would be the one to get her pregnant. However, Uriah didn’t do as David asked because he felt it was unfair that he would get to spend time with his wife while his comrades in battle didn’t get the same treatment. Since this tactic didn’t work, David demanded that Uriah go into where the war was the most dangerous so he would likely die. Once their enemies killed Uriah in battle, David married Bathsheba.
Death of A Child
God was displeased with David’s behavior and had good reason to feel this way. According to the law, those who commit adultery are to be put to death. Also, one could argue that David intended to murder Uriah by sending him to where the battle was the worst. That’s two crimes that the Bible declares deserve the death penalty. God cursed David by saying there would be constant warfare during his time as king. Guess who’s life gets taken because of David’s sins? You probably guessed right, for it was the child of David and Bathsheba who died. An innocent child died because of the sins of his father.
2 Samuel 12:14 – “Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.”
It’s strange that a guy like David would have the favor of the Lord. When I read the Bible, he seems like quite a nasty guy. He deserved God’s punishment, but the child they conceived didn’t deserve any punishment.
Allowing Evil
A Philosopher named David Hume once said, “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then, he is not omnipotent. Is he able but not willing? Then, he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then from whence comes evil?”
These questions have been argued and debated for years. However, there has never been a satisfying answer to why God would allow such evil in the world. There are children now who are starving while other countries are prospering. Ironically, the countries that are suffering are generally religious, whereas the more Atheistic countries seem to be doing much better. In America, the Christian Right is a strong movement that seeks Christian Nationalism. Some politicians even admitted to supporting the US to become a Christian nation. Not only all over the world but the states with a higher rate of religious people struggle with poverty more than the less religious states. Think about it for a moment. If Christians had their way, poverty would probably get worse across the nation, which would harm both adults and children.
Conclusion
I have written six blogs about the Bible and how it condones the killing of children. Some people take a more symbolic approach; however, that is not the mainstream belief among right-winged Christians. I feel we should reject the Bible as a Holy Book. A literal approach brings about many difficulties, while a symbolic approach is better; how does one know that it is allegorical? Jesus told parables, and the Bible shows that the parables were not to be taken literally. If we are to take the Old Testament as a book of allegories, why doesn’t it indicate that?
God Kills Children Part 1 – The Flood
God Kills Children Part 2 – First Sons
God Kills Children Part 3 – Numbers 31
God Kills Children Part 4 – Abortion
God Kills Children Part 5 – Conquests