MURDEROUS SPIRITUAL LEADERS IN THE BIBLE

The whole people of God begins to take shape in Egypt with the multiplication of the twelve tribes. From that point on, the history of its official leaders can be written by considering the careers of men such as Moses, Joshua, Saul, David, Solomon, Ezra, Nehemiah, Peter, John, and Paul. But of the ten names I have listed, seven were involved with murder in one way or another. And I am not talking about any actions they may have taken during wartime or as the result of executions directed by God.

First there is Moses, who killed an Egyptian who was mistreating a Jewish man. This would not be considered a case of premeditated murder in today's court since it was the result of a sudden impulse, but it was murder nonetheless. And this is the mighty leader of the people who was called the humblest of men. Moses suffered from the consequences of this act by being forced to flee into exile where he had to trade his cushy position in pharaoh's court for the job of a lowly shepherd in the desert.

Moses' temper would flare up more than once after that time, and on the occasion when he struck the rock in anger in violation of God's directive, that act would cause him to forfeit any right to enter the Holy Land.

Saul is picked by God out of the obscurity of the smallest tribe of Israel to be the first king of Israel. He starts out on the right foot by winning some key battles with God's help. However, soon power goes to his head and he also starts caring more about what others think about him rather than concentrating on pleasing God. As a result, God withdraws His Spirit and Saul's actions become increasingly more erratic when he starts threatening to kill David and even his own son. And then he becomes a true mass murderer when he has 70 priests of God executed just because he thinks that they may have allowed David to escape his clutches. Saul goes nowhere but further downhill at that point and dies in disgrace.

His successor, David, is a man of violence who usually directs that tendency in the proper direction to fight against the Jews' enemies. But he also can turn that anger against those who stand in the way of his personal plans. We see this first when Nabal insults him and refuses to feed David and his men. It is only Abigail's intervention that keeps him from murdering her husband on the spot.

But that near murder was a spontaneous reaction, unlike the premeditated conspiracy to kill one of his most trusted generals, Uriah the Hittite, as part of a cover-up for David's adulterous relationship with Bathsheba. As the prophet Nathan tells David afterward, from that point onward David will have no peace in his own family. This prophecy is fulfilled by the resulting incestuous rape, revenge killing, and attempted patricide that characterize the actions of David's family members.

Reading some of David's psalms, one would think that David had thoroughly repented of his sin by this time. But even on his deathbed, David carefully instructed Solomon that on David's death he should kill Shimei, a man who had earlier insulted David as he fled from Jerusalem. In addition, David told Solomon to kill Joab for the way he had treacherously treated two army commanders.

Both of these requests appear to be justifiable on the surface. However, they indicate, at least to me, that this dark side of David's personality was still there until the day of his death. Thus, David is making sure that gets revenge for a personal slight from Shimei just as he would have liked to have done to Nabal much earlier. And keep in mind that Joab was David's personal henchman whom he had delegated to dispatch Uriah and others with whom David was displeased. If one were of a cynical mindset, and I am afraid that I am on occasion, one would even suspect that David was well aware that Joab “knew where all the bodies were buried,” and wanted to make sure that he didn't talk.

By complying with David's wishes, Solomon makes himself an accomplice in these two unjustified homicides. And these acts are carried out by two men who are, respectively, said to be “a man after God's own heart” and “the wisest of men.”

Then we come to perhaps the most hot-headed and impulsive leaders chosen by God, Peter. Despite being exposed constantly to the teachings and example of Jesus, Peter still has a tendency to act now and repent later. This comes to a head in the Garden of Gethsemane when the guards come to arrest Jesus. Peter draws a sword and cuts off the ear of Malchus. If it were not for the prompt intervention by Jesus, more bloodshed would certainly have followed. So we can say that Peter is certainly guilty of attempted murder just as David almost killed Nabal in anger. As a natural consequence of his act, it is no surprise that he is himself is arrested later and facing certain execution, stopped only by godly intervention again.

From his writings in the New Testament, it would seem that John would be characterized as one of the most level-headed and intellectual of the apostles. But remember that he is one of the Sons of Thunder who requested to Jesus that he be allowed to call down fire from heaven to wipe out a Samaritan village that has snubbed him. That request would not be enough cause to arrest him today, but remember Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount where he said that anyone who is angry with his brother has committed murder.

Lastly, we come to the great apostle to the Gentiles, Paul. But the first that we are made acquainted with him is in Acts where we learn that Paul (better known as Saul at the time) consented to the illegal mob action of Stephen's stoning and took charge of the coats of those who were doing the stoning. That would make him an accessory to murder today. Then, Saul compounded that act by actively pursuing other Christians so that they could be jailed. We have no way of knowing if those arrests led to their deaths.

Whatever the case, Saul's actions came back to haunt him after his conversion when he tried to join up with other Christians and found that they had trouble trusting him. Similarly, the Jews in Jerusalem no longer trusted him due to his association with the Gentiles. I see a parallel with the life of Moses in that both men had to end up in the wilderness for years due to their actions and also found themselves caught between two competing cultures. Paul, of course, fully realized the enormity of his sin against Jesus and his followers, as we can see in the way he characterizes himself as “the chief of sinners.”

At this point, one might justifiably ask why in the world God would have chosen such men to lead His people. I am afraid that I do not have anything but a guess as to the reason. But perhaps the lesson we are to derive from it is the fact that God can chose not only those not wise in the world's eye to shame the wise, but He can also chose those who would almost be ranked as criminals to be redeemed and to accomplish great things for God's glory and mankind's salvation. In any case, it goes to prove that the great “heroes” of the faith in the Bible should never be put up on pedestals since they were sinners the same as we are.