The book of Jonah gives a very favorable account of the
attitude and character of the pagans involved. In fact, they
are at points pictured on a higher level than Jonah himself.
At last, however, we see a change in Jonah, and some of his
good character breaks through. The sailors had all the
proof they needed to condemn Jonah, including his own
confusion, but they did not unmercifully attack him. They
approached him for advice. These pagans had a high
concept of the value of life. They did not take lightly the
idea of destroying a man's light, especially one who was the
servant of God.
The storm was getting worse, however, and time was at a
premium. Life was hanging in the balance, and a decision
had to be made immediately. In desperation the jury asks
the guilty convict for advice on what his punishment should
be. Such concern for justice on his behalf must have broken
down the wall of Jonah's prejudice. The scales of blindness
fall from his eyes, and sees his action as wicked and ungodly.
He was the cause for endangering their lives. He did not
want Gentiles to be saved, but they cared so much about his
safety, and the contrast made him realize there was only one
honest solution, and he would have to sacrifice his life to
save them. Most guilty men, if they had a choice of
punishment, would not select capital punishment, but Jonah
with the first sign of nobility in his character choose just
that.
You are probably wondering what all this has to do with
suicide. The answer is, practically nothing, but since this is
true of the whole Bible, the subject can as well be considered
from this text as any. Note that Jonah said to them to take
him up and cast him over. Jonah knew nothing at that time
about God's plan to save him. He was asking them to take
his life. Why not just jump over yourself Jonah? If the
solution is your death, why wait for them to throw you over?
Just jump and end it yourself. Jonah's hesitation to do this
is considered by some to be an indication that
self-destruction is such a serious sin that Jonah did not dare
to do it. He could submit to death at the hands of others, but
he could not take his own life. I think all must agree that
this is an incidental observation, and that the account is not
written to convey any teaching on the subject of suicide.
The subject of suicide is, however, not incidental, and is
worthy of consideration to determine what Scripture does
teach on the subject.
It is a subject of gigantic proportions in the world. I
never realized until recently that there are literally
thousands of people doing research, writing books and
articles, and in many ways dealing with this major problem.
It is the ninth leading cause of death in the United States.
Over half a million attempt suicide every year, but with only
a 5 per cent being successful. If we count those listed as
accidents such as overdose of drugs, and car accidents, the
figure comes to about 50 thousand a year. Anything of such
major proportions demands that Christians have some
biblical basis for an attitude towards it. I want to examine
what the Bible has to say first in the Old Testament.
I. OLD TESTAMENT TEACHING.
The first impression one gets from a study of the Bible is
the lack of information. There are laws against almost
everything, but none against suicide. The Bible has a high
view of life and the recognition of God as the author of all
life, and so the assumption is that suicide is evil. The lack of
any stated condemnation, however, has led many to
conclude that it comes under the command thou shalt not
kill. It does not say thou shalt not kill others leaving
self-destruction as legitimate. Self-murder is certainly as
evil as murder of another. But since there is no penalty for
attempted suicides which fail, it seems that the only
conclusion we can draw is that suicide was not a social
problem among the Israelites.
The few cases recorded in the Old Testament have some
very definite characteristics that make it clear it was not
then the kind of problem it is today. We do not have records
of that period as we do today. Every nation has statistics
going back over a hundred years that lists suicides according
to sex, age, religion, occupation, etc. But the Bible only gives
us a few examples that we want to examine.
1. Ahithophel in II Sam. 17:23 we see that he hung himself.
The parallel with his experience and Judus in the New
Testament is amazing. He was David's beloved counselor,
and it is said that consulting him was like consulting the
oracles of God (II Sam. 16:23). When Absalom rebelled
against David he won a Ahithophel to his side. This hurt
David, and he prayed that God would turn his advise into
foolishness. Absalom rejected the advise of Ahithophel as to
how to defeat David, and when he heard it he went and set
his house in order and hung himself. Like Judus he had
become a traitor, and he failed, and to save face he took his
life. The text simply says that he died and was buried in the
tomb of his father. This indicates that they did not desecrate
the body as they did later in Christian lands.
In Europe and England the bodies of suicides were often
drug through the streets and mangled, and then thrown in
public sewers, and all his property confiscated by the state.
Even the great John Wesley advocated the dragging of the
naked body through streets as a deterrent to suicide. It was
an ancient custom, for Seneca the Roman said centuries
earlier, "Whosoever murdereth himself, let him be cast forth
without burial." The Jews did not do this even to such a
traitor as Ahithophel. His betrayal led to a tragic end, and
the only teaching we can gather is that those who forsake the
path of God lose all hope, and suicide becomes a logical end.
The next example is-
2. SAUL ISam. 31:4-5
Again, the pattern is similar. One chosen of God, but who
through disobedience became an enemy of God, ended his
own life. Again it was a face-saving situation. The Philistines
had killed his three sons, and wounded him seriously. He
knew if they took him alive it would mean cruel torture for
their sport. He, therefore, asked his armor-bearer to thrust
him through with his sword. He was afraid to do it, and so
Saul fell on his own sword. His sin had gotten him into such
a predicament that probably no one blamed him for doing
so. He had no hope, and this usually is what leads to suicide.
3. The armor-bearer of Saul.
This is a different matter, and
little can be said. He feared to take his kings life, but when
he saw Saul dead he fell on his own sword. It was again the
face-saving motive. He could not face the future knowing he
let his king die, and what others would think of him for
letting that happen. The future looked so bad that he took
his own life. All we can learn from this example is that the
sins of one can drag others down with them.
4. Zimri in I kings 16:13-20.
He was a servant who slew his
king and took the throne of Israel. He murdered masses of
men, but his reign did not last long, for Omri came in battle,
took the city, and Zimri went into the kings house, set it on
fire, and burned with it. The context points out he was a
very wicked man, and his end was the logical outcome of his
evil life.
5. Abimelech in Judges 9:54.
Again it is a wicked power hungry man. He was the son of
Gideon who slew all his other sons to gain supreme authority.
He was attacking the city of Thebes when a woman dropped a
stone from the wall and crushed his skull. It did not kill him, and so
he asked his armor-bearer to kill him so it would not be said he died
at the hand of a woman. His armor-bearer did kill him, and
so it was not suicide technically, but it was practically.
6. Samson in Judges 16:23-31.
This final example is different than the others. Like
them it has a military setting, and it is in battle with an
enemy. The face saving factor is there as well.
Samson had to end his life because
of disobedience to God. What makes it different is that he is
the only one who took his own life who was a man of God,
and one that was saved and will be in heaven. We know this
from Heb. 11:32 where he is listed as an example of a man of
faith. So in spite of his failure he was still God's own. He
died in the act of killing his enemies after awful humiliation
at their hands. It seems different than the usual act of
destruction. It seems more like the sacrifice of self for a
cause. Japanese divers use to destroy a ship by crashing
their planes into it. This was like Samson's self-destruction.
It was not that he wanted to die, but that he was willing to
die.
This does provide at least one exception to the idea that
suicide is always evil, and that only an evil person can do it,
and that those who do are not forgiven. There are situations
in which a believer can be the cause for his own death and
not be condemned. What does this survey of the Old
Testament teach us?
1. Suicide was rare among the Jews, and not a social
problem demanding any special legislation.
2. When it did occur it was by violent methods and always
successful. This in contrast with the vast majority of
unsuccessful attempts in modern days because of less violent
methods. Modern studies show more men succeed than
women just because they do use more violent methods.
3. All examples are of men. This fits modern studies as well.
It stands to reason since face-saving is connected with each
case in the Old Testament. Women did not get involved in
such situations as did men. Today more women do get
involved and the result is more of them take their life. The
face-saving concept, though not a part of our conscious
thinking, as it is in the Orient, is still with us in the feeling of
pride, and many Americans end their life to save face.
4. It is almost always connected with a life that has forsaken
God and ended in hopelessness and despair. Modern studies
indicate that Western suicides are mostly for the basic
causes of depression and hopelessness.
5. None are connected with mental illness. There is not a
hint of the popular belief that only insane people can take
their life. Every example in the Old Testament is conscious
and deliberate with a very definite purpose. The insanity
concept is a myth perpetuated by those who refuse to believe
that people with wealth and fame can be so unhappy.
Studies indicate the more civilized the nation becomes the
more rapid the increase of suicide.
Suicide has had meaningful purpose in the Orient,
and no connection with madness. Hara-kari was strictly a
face saving device. In India it was a custom for the wife to
cast herself on the burning funeral pyre of her husband and
perish with him. Christian missionaries fought for years
and finally succeeded to eliminate this practice. Neither the
Bible nor the facts of history support the mental illness myth
connected with suicide.
Jonah was not insane, and he had no good reason to take
his own life. He was in a face-saving situation. He wisely
submitted his life as a sacrifice for a cause, and that cause
was the salvation of the innocent sailors. His case was just
opposite of Samson's who sacrificed himself to destroy his
enemies, but both of them were self-sacrifice. Life is to
sacred to destroy, but even life can be sacrificed if God's will
and plan require it. Jesus became our Savior by laying
down His life for the cause of atoning for sin, and His
sacrifice made our salvation possible.
Suicide is almost always folly in our culture, for it is
basically just a means of escape. It is usually based on
ignorance of the future. People think their present situation
is permanent, and they cannot stand to think of living with
their present burden for the rest of their lives. This is
especially true of young people who have not lived long
enough to understand how life can change radically no
matter how bad they feel in the present. Their lack of long
range vision blinds them, and they take the easy way out. In
Acts 16:25-34 we have the story of the Philippian jailer who
came close to ending his own life because it looked like he
was in a terrible unsolvable mess. It was all a delusion,
however, and a totally false picture of reality. The fact is he
was near the greatest blessing of his life, for that was the
night that he received salvation by trusting in Jesus as his
Savior. By being spared he not only gained life for himself,
he gained eternal life for himself and his whole family.
Many near to suicide need to recognize that they are just
around the corner from the best thing that could ever
happen to them if they would turn to Christ.
