Tragic deaths in the Bible

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#1
List the most tragic/worst ones in your opinion...Jesus crucifixtion excepted.
Some come to mind

Abel...slain by his own brother
Samson...crushed by pillar he pushed over along with Philistines
Jezebel....fell out of palace and blood licked up by dogs
Absolom...hair stuck in a tree
John the Baptist....beheaded on a platter
 
Sep 15, 2019
9,991
5,546
113
#3
List the most tragic/worst ones in your opinion...Jesus crucifixtion excepted.
Some come to mind

Abel...slain by his own brother
Samson...crushed by pillar he pushed over along with Philistines
Jezebel....fell out of palace and blood licked up by dogs
Absolom...hair stuck in a tree
John the Baptist....beheaded on a platter
Tragic, or ignoble? Abel's death was righteous, to my thinking. Samson's glorious. Jezebel's ignoble. Absalom's well-deserved. John's - wicked/corrupt/cowardly (murder by Herod and his brood).

If by tragic, you mean lives could have been spared if things had only been a little different...

The men of Shechem, who might have been spared if they punished Shechem to begin with, or properly repented to Jacob for his crime.
Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu, who were consumed by God for offering unauthorised fire.
Achan and his family, who were stoned for stealing from God.
200 philistines, who were harvested for skins by King David as a brideprice for princess Michal (if only they'd converted to Israel, their lives would have been spared)
The two groups of 50 men who came to arrest Elijah (and were burned up by fire from heaven due to their captain's lack of reverence)
 

tourist

Senior Member
Mar 13, 2014
42,598
17,062
113
69
Tennessee
#4
Tragic, or ignoble? Abel's death was righteous, to my thinking. Samson's glorious. Jezebel's ignoble. Absalom's well-deserved. John's - wicked/corrupt/cowardly (murder by Herod and his brood).

If by tragic, you mean lives could have been spared if things had only been a little different...

The men of Shechem, who might have been spared if they punished Shechem to begin with, or properly repented to Jacob for his crime.
Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu, who were consumed by God for offering unauthorised fire.
Achan and his family, who were stoned for stealing from God.
200 philistines, who were harvested for skins by King David as a brideprice for princess Michal (if only they'd converted to Israel, their lives would have been spared)
The two groups of 50 men who came to arrest Elijah (and were burned up by fire from heaven due to their captain's lack of reverence)
I agree with you that the death of Samson was glorious. The guy was a warrior and caused the deaths of the enemy. It was not an altogether a bad way to go out.
 

Going_Nowhere

Well-known member
Nov 10, 2019
1,727
939
113
#6
What about Onan? His death was pretty tragic, right? Giving the business to Tamar and then....yeah. ☹️
 

Pilgrimshope

Well-known member
Sep 2, 2020
14,180
5,727
113
#7
List the most tragic/worst ones in your opinion...Jesus crucifixtion excepted.
Some come to mind

Abel...slain by his own brother
Samson...crushed by pillar he pushed over along with Philistines
Jezebel....fell out of palace and blood licked up by dogs
Absolom...hair stuck in a tree
John the Baptist....beheaded on a platter
I’ve always been troubled by “Uriah the hittites “death. A just and decent Israelite murdered by his king who he was so loyal to. And the way it happened wow so harsh and really devious

he was so dedicated to God he wouldn’t even go into his wife bekng tricked by David he stayed with the ark instead and that eventually got him killed when David’s plots to cover his own sins didn’t work

poor guy all he did was be loyal to the lord and David
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#8
Rachel...died in childbirth
Shechem...killed by fiance Dinah's brothers
Lots wife....looked back at Sodom and Gomorrah
all the male children under two in Bethlehem ....slaughtered by King Herod
 

Red_Tory

Senior Member
Jan 26, 2010
611
17
18
#10
He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#11
Fake death...Joseph...brothers said he was eaten by wild goats to his dad but he was really taken into slavery in Egypt
Jobs entire family, except for his wife who then said to curse God and Job was so upset and grieved that he wanted to die himself
Uzzah...killed for (accidentally?) touching the ark of the covenant. Must have been a huge shock
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#13
The bible does not say either way. Judas is the only apostle that Jesus specifically called his friend, and this was at the moment of betrayal.
I thought he called his other disciples friends too when he said I know longer call you servants but friends. I mean plural...friendS as you are allowed to have more than one....
 

tourist

Senior Member
Mar 13, 2014
42,598
17,062
113
69
Tennessee
#14
I thought he called his other disciples friends too when he said I know longer call you servants but friends. I mean plural...friendS as you are allowed to have more than one....
Yes, Jesus addressed them as a group, but Judas was the only one that Jesus addressed as an individual.
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#15
Yes, Jesus addressed them as a group, but Judas was the only one that Jesus addressed as an individual.
Well not every single thing Jesus ever said was recorded in the gospels.

I recall he called Peter satan at one point.
 

cdan2

Active member
Dec 2, 2021
141
39
28
#16
Adam and Eve. Had they only obeyed God, they would have led the most idillic lives. Instead, they eventually died.
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#17
Anais and Sapphira both dropping dead at church was rather tragic, they would have lived had they not blatantly lied.
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#18
Naomis husband and Ruth first husband...both died in the famine
Haaman ....hanged on his own gallows
Egyptian chariot riders....drowned in the Red Sea
Goliath...stoned by David though he kinda deserved it for mocking God
the two kids who mocked Elisha...eaten by bears
pigs...demons went into them and they ran off a cliff
 

SomeDisciple

Well-known member
Jul 4, 2021
2,271
1,050
113
#19
Uriah the Hittite. His murder is probably the most scumbag-move in the bible.
I hadn't read the whole bible before I saw "Man in the Iron Mask" as a kid, but that part of the movie where DiCaprio's character pulls that same move as King David- it really stood out to me.
It was very difficult to not think of David as a scumbag for a long time... but when I think about the circumstances and the aftermath he had to live with, I suppose he paid the price.

I have no doubt Uriah has a good reward in heaven. I find it very interesting that his name is mentioned in the geneology of Jesus. It seems odd to bring up that detail in the middle of a Geneology.
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#20
Uriah the Hittite. His murder is probably the most scumbag-move in the bible.
I hadn't read the whole bible before I saw "Man in the Iron Mask" as a kid, but that part of the movie where DiCaprio's character pulls that same move as King David- it really stood out to me.
It was very difficult to not think of David as a scumbag for a long time... but when I think about the circumstances and the aftermath he had to live with, I suppose he paid the price.

I have no doubt Uriah has a good reward in heaven. I find it very interesting that his name is mentioned in the geneology of Jesus. It seems odd to bring up that detail in the middle of a Geneology.
did David actually get some hit men or he was he just hoping Uriah would die in battle.
Might have to read that passage again
Uriah didnt have any children with Bathsheba?

David and Bathshebas first child did die anyway. That was a kind of punishment...or karma if you look at it that way.