Recently I was confronted with a comment by an atheist regarding God commanding the Israelites to become cannibals. Two of his comments are illustrative of his charge against God:
"So he [God] has an unchanging nature and eternal covenant, but he changes it multiple times? … And I've read the Bible in multiple languages. My favorite part is where he threatens to make women eat their children while hoarding the corpses in Deut, and then going through with it in Lamentations."
Did God really command the Israelites to become cannibals? The Scriptures actually do speak of the Israelites and cannibalism, so let's take a look at what the Scriptures have to say about this:
Deuteronomy 28:53-57
Then you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you. The man who is refined and very delicate among you, his eye shall be evil toward his brother and toward the wife he cherishes and toward the rest of his children who remain, so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, since he has nothing else left, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in all your towns. The refined and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and refinement, her eye shall be evil toward the husband she cherishes and toward her son and daughter, and toward her afterbirth which issues from between her legs and toward her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in your towns. (cf.w/ Lev.26:29)
Leviticus 26:29
Further, you will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters you will eat.
2 Kings 6:26-29
As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!” He said, “If the Lord does not help you, from where shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?” And the king said to her, “What is the matter with you?” And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ So we boiled my son and ate him; and I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.”
Jeremiah 19:9
I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life will distress them.”’ (cf.w/ Ezek.5:10)
Ezekiel 5:10
Therefore, fathers will eat their sons among you, and sons will eat their fathers; for I will execute judgments on you and scatter all your remnant to every wind.
Lamentations 4:10
The hands of compassionate women boiled their own children; they became food for them because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
As with similar accusations leveled against the Lord by atheists and anti-theists, the individual who made the accusation above simply cherry picked those passages which support his presuppositional bias against the Lord, while failing to take into consideration the context within which these passage appear.
The obvious implication in the atheists accusation is that God specifically and directly commanded or forced the children of Israel to engage in cannibalism. But, does his accusation have any biblical basis? The short answer is no. He did not. Looking at the above passages, with the exception of Jeremiah 19:9 (and note that the passages include those in the atheist's accusation), it is clear the Lord is not commanding, but rather stating what the Israelites will do of their own free will. The reason they made the decision to engage in cannibalism, is that they were under siege and ran out of food and water. They were starving, and faced with death by starvation, they made the decision to murder and eat their children. While I am not going to get into the moral implications of cannibalism, I will state that their decision to murder their children was a direct violation of the sixth commandment to not commit murder.
This is important because it relates directly to the context of the passages. Murdering their children was not a new concept for them, as they had been murdering them for some time by sacrificing them to the false god Molech. They had sunk so far into depravity and sin, abandoning the Lord completely, that the Lord had finally had enough and simply withdrew His protection, allowing their enemies to successfully attack them. Part of that attack included the siege against Jerusalem, which resulted in starvation conditions, which resulted in the Israelites engaging in cannibalism. God did not command them to engage in cannibalism, they simply brought it upon themselves.
To explain further, the Deuteronomy and Leviticus passages are warning predictions to the Israelites as to what would happen if they continued to disobey God. If they simply turned from their sin, and turned back to God, back to living in obedience to Him, they would avoid what would or could be an inevitable outcome. The Jeremiah and Ezekiel passages are also warnings, though more strongly worded warnings. If the Israelites continued following after false gods, and continued in sacrificing their children, then God would lift His protection and allow Israel's enemies to attack and take them. Clearly, the Israelites chose to ignore God's warnings, and the Lamentations passage lays out the horrible result of their continued disobedience.
In each instance of cannibalism recorded in the passages above, the Israelites engaged in cannibalism as a result of their own personal choice to do so. At no time did God command them to do this, therefore, all responsibility falls to the people themselves, and not to the Lord.
Contrary to the accusation made by the atheist noted at the beginning of this article, God's nature does not and has not changed, nor has His morals, nor have the moral parameters He has set forth for mankind to follow. He did not force or require or command the Israelites to engage in cannibalism, but did warn them what the inevitable outcome of their continued disobedience would be. Accusations such as made by the atheist above are false accusations, that are based on cherry picked verses, taken out of context, and misinterpreted in such a way as to support the accusers presuppositional bias against God.
Passages from the New American Standard Bible (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Deuteronomy 28:53-57
Then you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you. The man who is refined and very delicate among you, his eye shall be evil toward his brother and toward the wife he cherishes and toward the rest of his children who remain, so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, since he has nothing else left, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in all your towns. The refined and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and refinement, her eye shall be evil toward the husband she cherishes and toward her son and daughter, and toward her afterbirth which issues from between her legs and toward her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in your towns. (cf.w/ Lev.26:29)
Leviticus 26:29
Further, you will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters you will eat.
2 Kings 6:26-29
As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!” He said, “If the Lord does not help you, from where shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?” And the king said to her, “What is the matter with you?” And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ So we boiled my son and ate him; and I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.”
Jeremiah 19:9
I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life will distress them.”’ (cf.w/ Ezek.5:10)
Ezekiel 5:10
Therefore, fathers will eat their sons among you, and sons will eat their fathers; for I will execute judgments on you and scatter all your remnant to every wind.
Lamentations 4:10
The hands of compassionate women boiled their own children; they became food for them because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
As with similar accusations leveled against the Lord by atheists and anti-theists, the individual who made the accusation above simply cherry picked those passages which support his presuppositional bias against the Lord, while failing to take into consideration the context within which these passage appear.
The obvious implication in the atheists accusation is that God specifically and directly commanded or forced the children of Israel to engage in cannibalism. But, does his accusation have any biblical basis? The short answer is no. He did not. Looking at the above passages, with the exception of Jeremiah 19:9 (and note that the passages include those in the atheist's accusation), it is clear the Lord is not commanding, but rather stating what the Israelites will do of their own free will. The reason they made the decision to engage in cannibalism, is that they were under siege and ran out of food and water. They were starving, and faced with death by starvation, they made the decision to murder and eat their children. While I am not going to get into the moral implications of cannibalism, I will state that their decision to murder their children was a direct violation of the sixth commandment to not commit murder.
This is important because it relates directly to the context of the passages. Murdering their children was not a new concept for them, as they had been murdering them for some time by sacrificing them to the false god Molech. They had sunk so far into depravity and sin, abandoning the Lord completely, that the Lord had finally had enough and simply withdrew His protection, allowing their enemies to successfully attack them. Part of that attack included the siege against Jerusalem, which resulted in starvation conditions, which resulted in the Israelites engaging in cannibalism. God did not command them to engage in cannibalism, they simply brought it upon themselves.
To explain further, the Deuteronomy and Leviticus passages are warning predictions to the Israelites as to what would happen if they continued to disobey God. If they simply turned from their sin, and turned back to God, back to living in obedience to Him, they would avoid what would or could be an inevitable outcome. The Jeremiah and Ezekiel passages are also warnings, though more strongly worded warnings. If the Israelites continued following after false gods, and continued in sacrificing their children, then God would lift His protection and allow Israel's enemies to attack and take them. Clearly, the Israelites chose to ignore God's warnings, and the Lamentations passage lays out the horrible result of their continued disobedience.
In each instance of cannibalism recorded in the passages above, the Israelites engaged in cannibalism as a result of their own personal choice to do so. At no time did God command them to do this, therefore, all responsibility falls to the people themselves, and not to the Lord.
Contrary to the accusation made by the atheist noted at the beginning of this article, God's nature does not and has not changed, nor has His morals, nor have the moral parameters He has set forth for mankind to follow. He did not force or require or command the Israelites to engage in cannibalism, but did warn them what the inevitable outcome of their continued disobedience would be. Accusations such as made by the atheist above are false accusations, that are based on cherry picked verses, taken out of context, and misinterpreted in such a way as to support the accusers presuppositional bias against God.
Passages from the New American Standard Bible (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
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