Examples of God personally killing people

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God is recorded in the Bible as having personally killed a large number of people. While the majority of the divine assassinations certainly took place in the Old Testament a few instances are also recorded in the New.

This lists people personally assassinated by his hand or by his non-human agents, it is not complete. It also does not include the vastly greater number of people which the bible states were killed at his instruction.

This is more or less in chronological order but there may be some slips.


Contents

[edit] Old Testament killings by God

  • Every human being, animal and plant that ever died. Crime - Original sin. Method of execution - All the various ways human beings, animals and plants die. And we're all going to go that way in the end, despite the fact that the whole "Original Sin" thing isn't really our fault...
  • Every human and animal on earth that wasn't on Noah's Ark. Crime - being evil. Method of execution - drowning. (Yes, even the Plesiosaurs.)
  • The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Crime – being evil (or possibly homosexual). Method of execution – burnt to death by burning sulfur from heaven. Cruel and unusual.
  • Lot’s wife. Crime - looking back at the firework display above. Method of execution – turned into pillar of salt. Gen.19:26
  • The firstborn of Egypt. Crime - being firstborn when God decided to show his strength. God hardened Pharaoh's heart so he refused to let the Israelites go. Method of execution – The Angel of Death. Exodus 12:29
  • The Egyptian army. Crime - refusing to disobey orders to pursue said Israelites. Method of execution – drowned when the Red Sea returned. Exodus 14:28
  • Er. Crime - "wicked in the sight of the Lord". Method of execution - not specified. Gen.38:7.
  • Onan (Er’s brother and apparent inventor of onanism). Crime - Disobeying God's orders to impregnate his dead brother's wife (or “spilling his seed”). Method of execution - not specified. Gen.38:10. (unlucky family)
  • Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (and their families). Crime – challenging Moses. Method of execution– buried alive, swallowed by the earth. Num.16:27 -32.
  • 250 men. Crime – followers of Korah. Method of execution – burnt to death by fire from heaven. Num.16:35,
  • 14,700 people. Crime - complaining about the previous two. Method of execution – plague. Num.16:49. (He was in a bad mood that day.)
  • 24,000 people. Crime – sexual immorality with Moabite women, worshiping Baal. Method of execution – plague. Num.25:9. (Why was Baal so popular anyway?)
  • Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu. Crime - offering strange fire before the Lord. Method of execution – burnt to death by holy fire. Lev.10:1-3. (Got to get the ritual right!)
  • Either 70 or 50,070 men depending on the translation. Crime – looking into the ark. Method of execution – not specified. 1 Sam.6:19. (Bit of a discrepancy between translations there)
  • Nabal. Crime – being ungrateful to David. Method of execution – not specified. 1 Sam.25:38. (This was quite convenient as David got to marry his wife who was quite hot.)
  • Uzzah. Crime – touching the ark to stop it falling. Method of execution – not specified. 2 Sam.6:6-7. (This was one unlucky chap – he only wanted to stop it falling over.)
  • David and Bathsheba's baby boy. Crime – none, it was to punish David. Method of execution – not specified. 2 Sam.12:14-18 (Outstandingly unfair)
  • 70,000 people. Crime – David held a census. Method of execution – plague. 2 Sam.24:13.
  • A prophet. Crime – believing another prophet. Method of execution – being killed by a lion. 1 Kg.13:1-24. (That’s what happens when you believe prophets.)
  • A man. Crime – refusing to strike a prophet when the prophet asked him to. Method of execution – being killed by a lion. 1 Kg.20:35-36. (Weird or what?)
  • Ahaziah. Crime - talking to the wrong God. Method of execution – did not leave his bed. 2 Kg.1:2-4, 17. (Not too sure about this one.)
  • 102 soldiers. Crime – not talking nicely to Elisha. Method of execution - burnt to death by fire from heaven. 2 Kg.1:9-12.
  • 42 youths. Crime – making fun of Elisha's bald head. Method of execution – God sent bears to kill them. 2 Kg.2:23-24. (It was obviously a mistake to mess with Elisha.) See also Christian morality.
  • Some foreigners. Crime – not worshiping God. Method of execution - God sent lions to kill them. 2 Kg.17:25-26. (“Death by lion” crops up with suspicious frequency.)
  • 185,000 soldiers. Crime – being at war with Israel. Method of execution – the angel of the lord killed them while they slept. 2 Kg.19:35.
  • Saul. Crime – unfaithful to the lord. Method of execution – not specified. 1 Chr.10:14
  • Jeroboam. Crime – rebellion against Abijah. Method of execution – not specified. 2 Chr.13:20,
  • Jehoram. Crime – doing evil in the sight of the lord. Method of execution – God made his bowels fall out. 2 Chr.21:14-19.(Nasty way to go.)

[edit] New Testament killings by God

  • Ananias and Sapphira. Crime - Deceit. (Pretending they sold their land for less than they did, so that they could pretend to give all the money to the church, when in reality they kept a nice bit of their money to themselves.) Method of execution – not specified, perhaps heart attack. Acts 5:1-10. (Better make sure you pay those tithes!)
  • Herod. Crime – not giving praise to God. Method of execution – struck down by an angel. Acts 12:23.

[edit] Prophesied future killings

  • A large percentage of the population of the Earth. At least according to Book of Revelation. Crime - Not worshipping God, or following the Beast instead of God. Method - Various. Detailed in the passages where God sends four horsemen (Rev 6:1-6:7), commands the angels to sound seven trumpets (Rev 8:7-11:15), commands the angels to unleash seven plagues (Rev 16:2-16:17).

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Footnotes

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