Deuteronomy 28:53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:
2006-08-28 16:18:11 · 28 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
The context is very clear. It's okay to eat your children in times of distress. I think some of you should read the entire chapter.
2006-08-28 16:33:40 · update #1
No it isn't prophetic.
2006-08-28 16:38:40 · update #2
Funny how so many of you see what you want to.
2006-08-28 16:42:05 · update #3
there is a lot of crazy sh!t in the bible...hence the reason it should have a parental advisory and a disclaimer and a "contents under extreme pressure" labels on it!!
why the last label? because it's so full of Bullsh!t it's d@mn near overflowing!
2006-08-28 18:54:05 · answer #1 · answered by ? 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
OK, a Hebrew scholar checking in here...
No, this verse is not promoting cannibalism, although I can see where you get that idea.
"Thou shalt eat" sounds like a command to eat one's children in time of siege. However, this is a problem in our understanding of the grammar of the English translation.
In the Hebrew, what this verse says is that this is what people WILL DO if things get bad enough, and not what they SHOULD DO.
Keep in mind that the Hebrew often puts the most important words and phrases at the beginning, which also makes it sound the way you are interpreting it. But by putting this phrase first, it sounds very abhorrent in the ears of the Hebrew hearer of this statement. For us, a more natural wording might be, "In the turmoil (Hell) of war, when you are under constant attack, you may be so desperate as to eat your own children to survive. To our modern ears, the "Thou shalt" immediately makes us think of a commandment, but that's not what's happening here.
The NIV has:
Because of the suffering that your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you.
If you read a little further in the chapter, it gets even more gruesome, talking about this time of horror where even the kindest woman will begrudge her husband a placenta as food.
The writer of Deuteronomy was not writing that it is OK to eat children or a woman's afterbirth, but is rather describing the atrocities of warfare in the ancient world (and even today) that in the culture of Israel might be prevented by the establishment of a just society obedient to God, by keeping those laws that were established as covenant between God and the people.
2006-08-28 17:52:35 · answer #2 · answered by Ponderingwisdom 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You bozo
Read the entire chapter.
Deuteronomy 28:53 is not God allowing or telling us to eat our children. It is a prophecy that is going to happen in the near future...Guess what? It is going to happen to the peoples of these United States, England, Canada, and South Arfica..The reason for the eating is hunger. The same thing that happened to the Donner Party after becoming snowbound in the Sierra Nevada in the winter of 1846–1847. Some of the emigrants resorted to cannibalism. Yes, really soon now these United States are going to enter into a depression that will make the great depression of the 20's, 30's, and 40's look like a picnic. At that time your neighbors and most likely yourself will turn to cannibalism.
2006-08-28 16:33:59 · answer #3 · answered by popeye 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I am glad there are so many people, who openly mock the only true living God, not Allah, but Jesus Christ... The people you speak of in Deut.28:53 find out the hard way, and too late that the laws he (Jesus ) put into motion, were there for a reason. And violating these rules always comes with a horrible price connected to them. Like the people who lived in the past Deut. 28:53, the people of today shall suffer a horrible fate for denying the Christ.
2006-08-28 16:52:46 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
This is a judgment for sin, not a request or a commandment.
When cities were beseiged and cut off, water was usually available from underground sources, but food would eventually run out, with the inevitable consequences.
People would eat dead human flesh in order to survive.
The Bible states this would happen. It doesn't endorse the act.
2006-08-29 02:08:20 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Come on. You KNOW these aren't instructions. READ the freakin' text. Geez. These are not instructions. These were warnings. You KNOW THIS. Stop trying to make trouble.
START reading at the beginning of chapter 28 or at 28:15. YOU should read the entire chapter. It starts with what good things happen if the Jews obey, and ends with what bad things will happen if they don't obey. You're right about one thing, the text IS VERY CLEAR. Unfortunately your head isn't, and your eyes are blinded.
Good luck.
2006-08-28 16:38:07 · answer #6 · answered by Hank 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Does context and the actual meaning mean anything to you?
This is amazing prophecy that the children of Israel shall be hated and persecuted like no other ethinic peoples on earth. You failed to quote the opening verse, "Because of the suffering that your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat...."
It is prophetic of future events, NOT ON OKAY TO EAT CHILDREN. Don't be a fool.
Did you see verse 64 regading the Jew being scattered to all nations? Every heard of the "wandering Jew"?
Thanks for bringing this amazing prophecy to the board!
2006-08-28 16:28:41 · answer #7 · answered by Mike A 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Read more carefully friend -- the context is describing what will occur during a time of severe seige. It is not condoning it as acceptable or normal.
In the NIV translation: "Because of the suffering that your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the LORD your God has given you."
2006-08-28 16:24:02 · answer #8 · answered by pilgrimchd 3 · 3⤊ 1⤋
It is not a command to eat children. It was a curse...look at how the whole passage starts:
15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
God told them if they were disobedient He would not support them in their disobedience. It is talking about disease and famine. They would become so desolate and starved they would turn to eating their own children, He warns them. It was a natural set of events which would happen if they forsook the true and ONE God.
2006-08-28 16:24:20 · answer #9 · answered by DA R 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The Bible is significantly better than a "ethical code." however the Bible mentions slaves because of the fact they have been a element of the situations (as you with a bit of luck comprehend there are nevertheless slaves in this present day-day international). maximum factors of the Bible are chatting with slaves and how they are going to be rewarded in Heaven.
2016-10-01 00:54:36 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It isn't saying it's okay to eat children. It is a prophecy of what would happen if the nation of Israel was unfaithful to God.
The prophecy says (deut. 28:52) that the enemy would besiege them.
This did happen hundreds of years later when Babylon put a siege on Jerusalem and the conditions in the city became so bad that people did eat their children.
2006-08-28 16:28:04 · answer #11 · answered by Rrf00 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋