Karl Radl
As I recently wrote in my article on the cannibalism in the Written Torah: (1) the subject is one to which the Tanakh (better known as the ‘Jewish Bible’) as well as the Written Torah deals with frequently and in words and phrases, which are difficult to interpret any other way than as a lack of condemnation of cannibalism and the use of it by Yahweh as a punishment for both jews and non-jews alike.
Further I pointed out that in the Torah passages that deal with this subject – specifically those of the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy – there is a positive admonition to engage in cannibalism when it is required (as opposed to starvation) as well as that the oft-interpreted anti-cannibalism ruling in Genesis is actually nothing of the kind as it does not stipulate that cannibalism should not be engaged in, but rather that a jew should not kill a fellow jew and not eat the blood of any man or animal. If these two stipulations could be met – and as I pointed out this is not difficult – then I demonstrated that it was actually permissible according to the Torah to engage in cannibalism particularly when dealing with those who had died from non-violent causes such as starvation.
When we move onto the Tanakh we discover that cannibalism is endorsed – vis-à-vis a lack of condemnation – in the second book of Kings, where we are told that:
‘And there was a great famine in Samar’ia, as they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver. Now as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!” And he said, “If the Lord will not help you, how shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?” And the king asked her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give me your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ So we boiled my son, and ate him. And on the next day I said to her, ‘Give me your son, that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.” When the king heard the words of the woman he tore his clothes – now he was passing by upon the wall – and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth beneath upon his body – and he said, “May God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Eli’sha the son of Sha’phat remains on his shoulders today.”’ (2)
Now in the above passage we can once again see that Yahweh has put the Israelites in such a position that they are forced into cannibalism as well as betraying their trust in each other. The king of Israel is then accosted by a jewish woman while walking the walls and the woman tells him that she yesterday struck a deal with another jewish woman named Sha’phat: whereby they will kill and eat her son on that day and then Sha’phat’s son the next day so that they might have food. Sha’phat then has then killed, cooked and consumed the woman’s son with her yesterday, but now she has hidden her son from suffering a similar fate.
The response of the king is telling in that he doesn’t condemn the women in the slightest for murder (or possibly infanticide) in the first instance and cannibalism in the second. Rather his disapprobation is reserved for the fact that Sha’phat has not adhered to her side of the bargain and offered up her own son for killing, cooking and eating. So much so that he sends out his soldiers to find Sha’phat’s son Elisha and then kill him so that equity is restored.
In the resulting story Elish and his mother Sha’phat get off scot-free by asserting that the besieging Syrians will flee in the morning – which they promptly do – but never is the cannibalism of the jewish woman and Sha’phat condemned. Indeed when we look at the text it is clear that cannibalism is being condoned further that the requirement of Genesis – that one shall not kill a fellow jew – has been violated and yet we can clearly see that neither Yahweh or king of Israel condemn either the jewish woman or Sha’phat for committing and then admitting to both murder and cannibalism.
This can be seen as a form of vengeance and display of anger by Yahweh since in the book of Isaiah we are told that:
‘For wickedness burns like a fire, it consumes briers and thorns; it kindles the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke. Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land is burned, and the people are like fuel for the fire; no man spares his brother. They snatch on the right, but are still hungry, and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied; each devours his neighbour’s flesh.’ (3)
As well as:
‘I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine. Then all flesh shall know that I am the Lord your Saviour, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.’ (4)
In the above two passages from Isaiah it is clear that Yahweh is using the act of cannibalism as a weapon to display his anger and vengeance against both the Israelites and the rest of mankind. He is using cannibalism as both a weapon to harm those who displease him and a tool to make those who follow him contrite. Since to engage in the act of cannibalism the followers of Yahweh have to be desperate to consider the act of eating corpses as well as killing live people in order to consume their flesh. This then serves to humble the Israelites as it has forced them into the lowest possible station from which Yahweh can build them up again with his homicidal forgiveness and support.
Confirmation of this is found in the book of Jeremiah when are told:
‘And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and every one shall eat the flesh of his neighbour in the siege and in the the distress, with which their enemies ad those who seek their life afflict them.’ (5)
The above passage is in reference to those who had worshipped other gods but Yahweh or worshipped Yahweh in ritual forms that displeased him in a place called Topheth. It is clear from the context that Yahweh means this cannibalism to be a symbol of the rebirth of pure worship among the Israelites and thus is intended as a purification ritual via the medium of physical distress and suffering.
This is seen once again in the book of Lamentations when the author exclaims:
‘Look, O Lord, and see!
With whom have you dealt thus?
Should women eat their offspring, and the children of their tender care?
Should priest and prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord’ (6)
As well as in relation to mass starvation among the Israelites:
‘The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they have become their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.’ (7)
In the above text from the book of Lamentations we can once again see that cannibalism was both carried out by the jews in times of distress – as shown by the second passage – and further that starvation is the principle mechanism through which Yahweh brings about the chastisement of his chosen people – the Israelites – due to their causing him some displeasure.
Such a connection is explicitly stated in the book of Ezekiel as follows:
‘Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in the midst of you, and sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments on you, and any of you who survive I will scatter to all the winds. Wherefore; as I love, says the Lord God, surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will cut you down; my eye will not spare, and I will have no pity.’ (8)
In the above passage Yahweh is angry with the Israelites for having once again begun worshipping gods other than him – i.e., violating the covenant embodied by the decalogue – and revenges himself by viciously seeking to starve all the Israelites to death unless they repent and turn from their polytheistic ways. Part of that punishment is the act of cannibalism, which we can once again see that Yahweh clearly tells us is part of the way for an impious jew to chastise themselves and thus show their contriteness in a kind of desperation prostration before Yahweh.
A similar such situation is found in the book of Zechariah when we are told that:
‘So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die; what is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed, and let those that are left devour the flesh of each other.”’ (9)
In other words this passage from the book of Zechariah is an ancient equivalent of a ‘repent now all ye sinners’ demand with the punishment being changed from death and burning for eternity in hell to a slow, horrible death or being forced by sheer want of food to eat other people. Once again we should note that the act of cannibalism is suggested by Yahweh as a form of purification for those jews who have been impious and sinned against him (see Micah 2:3 for further confirmation) as by doing so they indicate they have descended into the depths of pure moral baseness and desperation so accordingly are able to be rebuilt into a people purified of inequity once more.
Thus we can see that in the Tanakh Yahweh actually counsels the use of cannibalism as a form of purification for those jews who believe themselves; or are believed by Yahweh, to have been impious. This acts as both the actuality and a symbol of Yahweh’s anger and vengeance against his chosen people – the jews – as well as the beginning of a new epoch of purity for the jews as having been reduced to the desperate act of cannibalism they have been shown the error of their ways in their worship. So thus have indicated to Yahweh they are ready to begin again and this time to attempt to be more stringent and observation of his saying and rule than before.
References
(1) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/jews-and-the-practice-of-cannibalism
(2) 2 Kings 6:23-31
(3) Is. 9:18-20
(4) Ibid. 49:26
(5) Jer. 19:9
(6) Lam. 2:20
(7) Ibid. 4:10
(8) Ezek. 5:10-11
(9) Zech. 11:9
