The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1901-07-03
SUICIDE
Among the Jews and Early Christians
Ncb,WSLu Conservative.

beginning Of the Christian era. I1
the old testament only four cases OF
suicide are mentioned. The first is
that of Samson. In his case, the act
was that of man driven to condi-
tion approaching insanity by the
cruelty of his prosecutors. His great
desire was for revenge upon his enc
mics, although it is doubtful whether
he cared for his own life, after he had
been deprived of his sight. His pray.
cr, Strengthen ,ac, Q Cod, that
may at once be avenged of the Philis-
tines for my two eyes" seems very
strong evidence that he sacrificed
what remained to him Of life for the
qualification Of feeling that he was
avenging himself upon his pcrsecu-
tors.
The second and third suicides are
those Of Saul and his armor- r-bcarcr.
They belong, think, to the same
class as Samson 8, for they were COM
mittcd, not for any desire for death,
but from the force of external circum-
stances. Samson killed himself in
order to obtain something that was to
him .dcarer than life. viz: revenge.
Saul and his follower died in order
that they.might escape what was to
them worse than death, i. e., falling
into the hands of the enemy. Rather
than be captured by his pursucrs,
when retrcating, after having received
wound, he called upon his armor-
bearer to kill him. The request not
being Immediately complied with,
Saul fell upon his sword and died.
His armor-bcarcr then, in imitation of
his leader, killed himself in order to
avoid being taken prisoner.
The fourth suicide mentioned in
the old testament is that Of Ahitophcl,
the circumstances of which are pecu-
liar. Having, with the aid of Absa-
lom, raised rebellion, the cunning
Ahitophel hanged himself to escape
the consequences Of his trcachery, as
many persons have done since his
time. The' notorious Piggott, who
forged thesParnell letters, it may be
remembered, shot himself in order to
escape arrest and trial.
The case of Abimelech was not a
technical suicide; but it approached it
very closely. Having had his SKULL
broken:by stone flung from height
by woman, Abimelech was killed at
his own request, to enable him to es-
cape the humiliation of dying by the
hand of q woman. "a certain woman
cast piece of milestone upon Abb
melech's head and all to break his
skull. Then he hastily called upon
the young man, his armor-bearer, and
said to- him, draw thy sword and slay
me, that men may not say of me
woman slew him. And his young
man thrust him through and he
died."
In the ceso Of Eleszer end those
who took refuge with him in Messada
after the capture Of Jerusalem by
Titus, as recorded by Jesephus, we
have an example Of whole Jewish
garrison preferring death to submis-
sion. Eleazer, with several hundred
soldiers and followers were about A.
d. 20, beseiged in the stronghold
named Massada, by the Romans under
Silva. When the Jews saw that de-
feat was inevitable, they decided to
die by their own hands rather than
surrender. "The wall (of the city,
however, being consumed to the
ground, and no hope or possibility left
of safety or relief, the only brave
thing they had before them was to
consider how they might deliver their
wives and children from the .ignomin-
ious outragcs they might expect from
the Romans whenever they became
masters of the place. Eleazer con-
cluded, upon the balancing of this
H"Ooh, 1Huc q SloIlOuS ucuCu was IN
finitcly to be preferred to life Of in
fanny, and that the most generous re-
solution they could take in the world
would be motto outlivc their liberties. y
Eleazer told the r'ople that he con
sldercd it then duty to themselves
and to theirsfamilics to kill themselves
after having taken the lives of their
wives and children. At first he fail
ed to convince his followers Of the
wisdom of the course which he advo-
Gated, but eventually he brought them
to his way of thinking, and general
slaughter Of the women and children
commenced. In describing the scene,
Josephus writes: "Such was the pas.
sion these people had for the destruo- |
tion of themselves and their families