Suicide

1 Samuel 31:5 NIV

When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him.

Have You Been Impacted By Suicide?

While I was working on my doctorate in marriage and family counseling, I decided to volunteer for a suicide prevention hotline.  After going through the practical training on working with callers, I was given my shift.  Four hours, once a week calls to the hotline were forwarded to our apartment and I waited for the phone to ring.  Sometimes I would go nearly an hour without getting a call and other times I spent the entire four hours on the phone.  Many times the callers were on the verge of killing themselves and I was all that stood in the way of them ending their lives.  Sometimes it was a teenager that called, other calls were from seniors.  Many were from alcoholics who were intoxicated and felt hopeless and broken.  Calls could last a few minutes and others hours. Often I had to first try to convince the caller to put down the gun or dump the pills in the toilet.  It was exhausting and unfortunately I did not get to find out what happened after the callers got off the phone with me.  One of the most frequent questions asked of me was, “If I kill myself, will I go to hell?”  Sometimes I would pray with the callers, other times I prayed silently as we talked.  It was the most stressful moments I ever had encountered; these shifts I took for the suicide prevention hotline and I heard many terrible and heart-breaking stories.  What struck me was how much pain and sorrow there was in people’s lives and I often wondered if someone in the supermarket or on the street as I walked downtown or even in the church where I was a member was thinking about committing suicide because life seemed too unbearable.

Perhaps you have been devastated by the suicide of a friend or relative and had a tough time trying to make sense of it.  Is suicide an acceptable option for someone suffering greatly?  Are there times when suicide is the right thing to do?  Perhaps you have heard someone comment that those with terminal illnesses or elderly ought to end their lives.  Do you know someone who is thinking about “ending it all”?  What would you say to that person?  Have you ever considered suicide?  Why is it that some people take their lives rather than face their problems and try to get past them?  What does the Bible have to say about suicide?  Does God have anything to say about suicide in the Scriptures?

There are seven suicides recorded in Scripture.  The most famous of course is that of Judas Iscariot.  But there are others also that must be considered if we are to have a Biblical view of suicide.  The first recorded suicide in the Bible is that of Abimelech who asked a servant of his to kill him when he received a deadly blow as he and his army attacked a town.  Abimelech went to the tower and stormed it. But as he approached the entrance to the tower to set it on fire, a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and cracked his skull.  Hurriedly he called to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can't say, 'A woman killed him.'" So his servant ran him through, and he died. (Judges 9:52-54 NIV)  Technically this was an assisted suicide but the result was the same.  Pride and the determination that he could not survive the injury led to his decision.  Was he right to demand that his servant kill him?  Was the armor bearer right to run Abimelech through with the sword?

A similar situation is described in 1 Samuel 31.  King Saul led his army into battle against the Philistines and was wounded.  Three of his sons were killed in the fighting and his army was decimated.  Saul called to his armor bearer and demanded the servant kill him but this time the request was rejected.  Saul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me."  But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. (1 Samuel 31:4 NIV)  This did not kill Saul apparently but along came an Amalekite who later confessed to finishing the job.  When the armor-bearer saw what happened, he took his own life.  We see it here and have found this to be true again and again.  Suicide breeds suicide!

In 2 Samuel 17: 23, the advisor to Absalom who was leading a rebellion against his father, King David decided to kill himself when Absalom did not take his advice and strike out immediately and attack David’s army.  We cannot say exactly why Ahithophel hanged himself; maybe it was the humiliation he felt in not being Absalom’s most valued counselor, maybe it was his sense that the rebellion would now fail.  Whatever the case, it can be certain that his loss was deeply felt by Absalom at least and we assume his family too.  Pride…despair…hopelessness.  These are common threads found in the fabric of nearly every suicide.  Likewise, Zimri who also led a rebellion against his king killed himself when it became clear his cause was lost.  When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the royal palace and set the palace on fire around him. So he died, (1 Kings 16:18 NIV)

A second suicide is recorded in the book of Judges and it could be argued, and perhaps rightly argued that this in fact was not a suicide but rather a valiant act of war.  Samson had been captured by the Philistines when he stupidly let out the secret of his great strength to a Philistine lover.  Betrayed by the object of his lust, Samson’s eyes were gouged and with his strength gone after the Philistines cut off his hair, Samson was chained and thrown in prison. When the Philistines celebrated a national festival in their temple, Samson was brought out to entertain the crowd.  It all unraveled for the Philistines though when the Lord restored Samson’s strength.  Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform.  Then Samson prayed to the Lord, "O Sovereign Lord, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes."  Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived. (Judges 16:27-30 NIV)

Now if this was a suicide, then you could argue that God assisted Samson in it but it seems reasonable that this was in fact an act of war that would be no different than a fighter pilot attacking an enemy ship realizing full well he wouldn’t survive.  Yet the knowledge that many lives on his side might be saved if he followed through with the attack made this not a throwing away of his own life but the “laying down of his life” for his friends.  By taking down the temple, Samson killed the leaders of the Philistines and ended for a while the war between the Israelites and the Philistines.  Judges indicates that this was in fact a great victory for the Israelites, wrecking for a while the Philistine leadership and military strength which God seems to have helped Samson achieve.

Now we must turn to the last clear example of suicide found in Scripture, that of Judas Iscariot.  Only here and with the attempted suicide of King Saul is there given any sort of indication what the spiritual state of the person killing himself was.  With Saul, we are told that many years earlier, the Spirit of God left him and was replaced by an evil spirit that tormented Saul. Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him. (1 Samuel 16:14 NIV)  Something similar is described with Judas Iscariot.  After Judas went to the Jewish leaders and offered to betray Jesus, he was with the Lord and the other disciples eating when Jesus offered Judas a piece of bread and instantly Judas was taken over by Satan.  As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. (John 13:27 NIV)

In both cases, with Judas and Saul, there is described an evil invasion of the personality that is supernatural.  Both ended up taking their lives or at least trying to do so.  This sort of occurrence is not mentioned in any other of the suicides recounted in Scripture.  Of course not much at all is said about the mental state of any of the other men who killed themselves.  We can only guess at what was occurring internally with them.  What we do know is that the two most important suicides spoken of in Scripture involved people who were dominated by evil spirits.  Jesus says of the devil that he is a murderer.  You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44 NIV)  Christ also said of Satan that he comes as a thief who destroys.  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10 NIV)

Before we take up this topic again next week and develop a Christian response to suicide, we must note carefully what the author of Hebrews insists.  The devil is the one who is in charge of death…Satan is in fact the death master planner.  He concocts plans for death, develops schemes to bring about death and pushes death on humanity. Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil— (Hebrews 2:14 NIV) The only times we know anything about the internal state of those who committed suicide or tried to do so as documented in Scripture, Satan or demonic forces had hold of them.  If the devil is the one who drives people into death, then we must conclude that Satan is the one pushing people to suicide.  There is not a single instance in Scripture where you find a person of God committing suicide.  Even Job and Jeremiah, despite being miserable and wishing God would end their lives, never attempted suicide or tried to do so.  Despite the poor theology often developed by many writers in of the Middle Ages, they were right about this.  Suicide is self-inflicted murder and it must be assumed that Satan is behind it.  To aid in a suicide is to join the devil in his plans and to commit suicide is to make oneself his instrument.  Any careful assessment of suicide must take into consideration the fate of both the devil and death.  And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever…Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.  (Revelation 20:10,14 NIV)