What does the Bible say about cannibalism?

Answer 1

Googling "cannibalism in The Bible" comes up with a lot of sources of repsonses to this question. Http://rationalchristianity.net/cannibal.html is the first and seems to me the most thorough. The bottom line is that the Bible does not condone it, of course, but does cite examples of occurences, particularly in reference to the siege of Jerusalem. Although I am not authority on ancient history, I feel certain that when a walled city was under siege (i.e. an enemy was attempting to starve it into submission while attempting to take it militarily), cannibalism was probably a common occurence once food supplies ran out. Don't forget that in ancient times there were no police to enforce laws; there were only soldiers who enforced the king's will, which was the law in ancient times. There were judges and primitive courts, but organized protection of the public from themselves as a branch of city government simply did not exist. If a person was starving and he could kill a stranger quietly to feed himself and his family, why not do it? And as the quotations in Rational Christianity as noted above show, mothers would even eat their own children to survive. All of this was probably commonplace during ancient wars. But the question as to whether the Bible condones it must be answered with a resounding NO! Or as my professor of New Testament Greek once said when giving an example of the meaning of an emphatic form of a Greek negative response: "not no, but Hell No!" Cannibalism goes against all the most basic principles of Christianity, the most obvious of which is the principle of sacrificing all one has for others. Christ set this example by giving up everything including his family in order to spread His message to the world. He repeatedly encouraged his followers to do the same, telling them to not even bring an extra coat if they wanted to follow him. He set the ultimate example of self sacrifice when he was crucified. He gave up His life in this world so that others could be saved. Cannibalism is the exact opposite. Christianity is sacrificing one's self for others; cannibalism is sacrificing others for one's self. Of course, the next logical question is: if the Bible does not condone killing people for one's survival, does it condone eating those already dead for survival? I have done no research in this area and will have to leave it to greater minds than mine for a response.