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by GLENN PEASE
03/11/18
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Based on Jonah 1:11-12

     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.

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