Someone also made the statement that the Bible “endorsed cannibalism.” Surprisingly, an Old Testament verse was used in making that statement. Let’s examine the verse and its context. Deuteronomy 28:53, 57: Vs. 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:” Vs. 57- “And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, where with thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.” First, we must understand that this entire chapter is dealing with prophecy, which can be easily seen from the very first statement in Deuteronomy 28:1, “And it shall come to pass…” So rather than God endorsing what is found to be written here, God is simply causing Moses to speak and to write what will happen if and when Israel ever departs from the commandments and statutes of God. God never, in any way, ever endorsed or will endorse cannibalism. Second, since this is dealing prophecy, we need to try and find where this prophecy came to fruition. We see the fruition of this prophecy in 2 Kings 6:24-29: “And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass’s head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver. And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. And he said, If the LORD do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress? And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow. So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son.” We could also include the atrocities committed by the Jews under the siege of the Romans in AD 70 (See Josephus). So, once more we see that by noticing the context in which this was written that God never did nor will He ever endorse cannibalism.
-Josh Romo
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