The mention of the Bible evokes in our memory a large number of associations associated, first of all, with the commandments, God, sin and judgment. This book contains many vivid pictures not only of the promises of the Almighty, but also of various punishments for sins, including painful deaths, murders and suicides, which not everyone knows about. The books of Scripture make a person think about life and death and the structure of the world, not least by shaping his worldview with impressive pictures of both blessings and severe punishments.
Samson's death
In those ancient times, which the Old Testament narrates, the Israelites often experienced various attacks from neighboring tribes for apostasy from God. Once they were conquered by the Philistines, having enslaved them for as much as forty years. But God did not leave his people and gave them the hero Samson. Once he killed a thousand people with one donkey's jaw, and no one could figure out the secret of his power.
Samson was powerful, handsome and very smart, but like all heroes, he had one weak point. They were women. He loved one of them, Delilah, so much that he told her what his heroic strength was. Samson was dedicated to God from birth, and he was not allowed to cut his hair. When the beloved was asleep, Delilah cut off his braids, thereby depriving him of inhuman power. The soldiers chained Samson and gouged out his eyes.
After some time, the Philistines held a feast and brought Samson to it as an object of amusement and ridicule. True, they did not know that the hero's hair began to grow again, and his strength returned. Samson stepped between the pillars that supported the house and moved them from their place. The building collapsed on everyone who was in it, crushed by the roof over three thousand people. Samson died along with the Philistines.
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Death of Joram
Throughout the Old Testament, Israel's worship of foreign gods is punished very severely.
One of the rulers of the Promised Land, Joram, for numerous atrocities with the people, debauchery and worship of Beelzebub was struck by an unusual disease: his insides began to decompose and the decay of a living body began. Joram died two years later.
Ahab and Jezebel
Joram was the heir of Ahab and his wife Jezebel, who were distinguished by incredible cruelty and depravity. During their reign, the Israelites stopped worshiping Yahweh and brought human sacrifices to the Phoenician god Baal, and incredible orgies were arranged around the temple of Baal in the grove.
The prophets of Israel, including Elijah, predicted a terrible death for Ahab and his wife for their many sins before God. In response, the seventh king ordered the massacre of all local prophets. Only Elijah managed to escape. Meanwhile, the prediction came true. Ahab was killed by an accidental arrow in a battle with the Syrians, and the dogs licked the blood from the king's body. Soon after, Jezebel was thrown from the window of her palace, crushed by the hooves of horses and torn to pieces by dogs.
Death of Absalom
The third son of King David, Absalom, openly rebelled against his father and won the favor of the people so much that the ruler had to flee.
The throne and all Jerusalem were in the hands of Absalom, but even that was not enough for him. Going to pursue his father, he was defeated by the people loyal to David and tried to escape, but at the moment of the chase he caught his long beautiful hair on branches of trees and hung on them. Here the rebel was overtaken by the arrows of the commander Joab, and after that the squires struck him with their swords, took him from the tree and threw him into the ditch. So the handsome Absalom died ingloriously, who dared to raise his hand against his father, and King David himself mourned his son for a long time.
The murder of Sisera
King Jabin of Hazor was especially cruel to the Jews, and his most zealous assistant in this was the military leader Sisera. Then the prophetess Deborah summoned a certain Barak to her and ordered him to fight Sisera.
Near Mount Tabor, Barak suddenly attacked the royal army and defeated it. Sisera himself fled from his pursuers and tried to hide in the hut of a woman named Jael. She accepted the cruel commander and even gave him a drink, but when he fell asleep, she pierced his temple with a stake from the tent and a hammer. After that, the Jews managed to put an end to the tyranny of Jabin and expel him from their land.
Death of King Eglon
King Eglon was another conqueror of Israel and persecuted local residents for 18 years. One of the local judges, Aod, decided to stop him.
Under the pretext of an extremely important message from God, he came to the king and struck him with a short sword, which the royal guards could not find, because Eod was left-handed and his scabbard was on his right, not on his left thigh. When Ehud said that he had brought the message of God to the governor, Eglon stood up and the judge thrust his sword into his stomach. The king was very obese, and when, after a few days, the guards discovered a fetid corpse, no one could understand what had happened: the sword was completely hidden in his body. Ehud, however, freely left the palace, gathered an army and liberated Israel from the conquerors.
Defeat by fire from the sky
Among all the Old Testament prophets, perhaps the most uncompromising and strict was Elijah. More than once he openly spoke out against fornication and depravity of kings, against disobedience to God and oppression of Israel.
Once, when King Ahaziah sent messengers to ask Beelzebub's advice, Elijah met them and brought them back with the prophecy of the imminent death of the ruler. Ahaziah became angry and sent the soldiers to arrest Elijah. Three times the Pentecostals came to the prophet with troops, and two of them were struck by the fire that had come down from heaven. For the third time, Elijah nevertheless appeared before the emperor, but God punished Ahaziah for the fact that he turned not to Him, but to Beelzebub, and the king soon died.
Eaten alive by worms Herod Agrippa
Herod Agrippa, one of the rulers of Caesarea, is known to us already in the New Testament as the king who executed John the Baptist and committed many other atrocities.
He proclaimed himself Agrippa the Great and demanded the same worship as for God. Herod led severe persecution and destruction of the first Christians, killed the Apostle James and arrested Peter. However, God punished him for all his deeds: at the age of 54, Herod was struck by an unknown disease and died, eaten alive by worms.