Patriarchs of the Bible; unsavory characters

Comment: – The Patriarchs, especially King

David, are the heroes of the Bible —  for Christians, Muslims, and Jews alike. If you look at some of the following examples of the acts done by these men, you will see that people would hesitate to use these heroes as role models for their children. You would not use people living now, that have these qualities, to be role models for your children or anyone else — you would use them as examples of evil people. Some of our serial killers are good people compared to say, King David. (Jesus was supposed to be of this lineage??).

I’ve only used a sampling of Patriarchs. namely, Elisha, Gideon, Moses, King Solomon, and King David to show my point. How embarrassing to have these as heroes.  Not exactly family value types.

ELISHA

2 Kings 2:23 – 24

23 And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him,
and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.
24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the
name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
(Because little children called Elisha names, Elisha calls God and 2 bears  tear 42 children to death)

2 Kings 8:10
10 And Elisha said unto him, Go, say unto him, Thou mayest certainly recover: howbeit the LORD hath shewed me that he shall surely die.

(Elisha lies)

GIDEON

Judges 8:16 – 17
16 And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth.

17 And he beat down the tower of Penuel, and slew the men of the city. (Gideon killed people)

Judges 8:21
21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us: for as the man [is, so is] his strength. And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna,
and took away the ornaments that [were] on their camels’ necks.
(Gideon murders prisoners)

Judges 8:30
 
30 And Gideon had threescore and ten sons of his body begotten: for he had many wives. (Gideon commits polygamy)

MOSES

Exodus 2:12
12 And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that
[there was] no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.
(Moses murders an Egyptian)

Numbers 31:17
17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and
kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
18 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying
with him, keep alive for yourselves.
(Moses orders prisoners murdered and has his men steal women children)

Deuteronomy 2:34
34 And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly
destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain:
(Moses murders women and children)

Deuteronomy 13:15
15 Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that [is] therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.

(Moses orders mass killings)

Deuteronomy 34:10
10 And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like
unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,
(Moses was greater than Jesus — where does that put Jesus)

Exodus 2:21 – 22
21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave
Moses Zipporah his daughter.
22 And she bare [him] a son, and he called his name Gershom:
for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.
(Moses has son out of wedlock — adultery)

SOLOMON

1 Kings 2:25
25 And king Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell upon him that he died.

(Solomon ordered a murder)

1 Kings 11:40
40 Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam. And
Jeroboam arose, and fled into Egypt, unto Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.
(Solomon tried to murder (kill) Jeroboam)

1 Kings 9:21
21 Their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy, upon those did Solomon
levy a tribute of bondservice unto this day.
(Solomon enslaved people)

1 Kings 11:6 
6 And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and
went not fully after the LORD, as [did] David his father.
(Solomon did evil)

1 Kings 2:20 – 25
20 Then she said, I desire one small petition of thee; [I pray thee], say me not nay. And the king said unto her, Ask on, my mother: for I will not say thee nay.

21 And she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah thy brother to wife.

22 And king Solomon answered and said unto his mother, And why dost thou ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? ask for him the kingdom also; for he [is] mine elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.

23 Then king Solomon sware by the LORD, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah have not spoken this word against his own life.

24 Now therefore, [as] the LORD liveth, which hath established me, and set me on the
throne of David my father, and who hath made me an house, as he promised, Adonijah shall
be put to death this day.

25 And king Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell upon him that he died.

(Solomon lied to his mother)

DAVID

1 Samuel 18:7
7 And the women answered [one another] as they played, and said, Saul
hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.
(David murdered tens of thousands of people — a serial killer)

2 Samuel 1:15
15 And David called one of the young men, and said, Go near, [and] fall upon
him. And he smote him that he died.
(David orders a murder)

2 Samuel 12:29 – 31
29 And David gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it.
30 And he took their king’s crown from off his head, the weight whereof [was] a talent of gold with the precious stones: and it was [set] on David’s head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance.
31 And he brought forth the people that [were] therein, and put
[them] under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brickkiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. So David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem.
(David murders prisoners with the use of torture)

1 Samuel 27:8 – 11 
8. And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites: for those [nations were] of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt.
9 And David smote the land, and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the asses, and the camels, and the
apparel, and returned, and came to Achish.
10 And Achish said, Whither have ye made a road to day? And David said, Against the south
of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and against the south of the Kenites.
11 And David saved neither man nor woman alive, to
bring [tidings] to Gath, saying, Lest they should tell on us, saying, So did David, and so [will be] his manner all the while he dwelleth in
the country of the Philistines.
(David commits mass murder)

2 Samuel 21:6 – 9
6 Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us,
and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, [whom] the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give [them].
7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD’S oath that [was] between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.
8 But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:
9 And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell [all] seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first [days], in the beginning of barley harvest.
(David murdered Saul’s 7)

1 Kings 2:5
5 Moreover thou knowest also what Joab the son of
Zeruiah did to me, [and] what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, unto Abner the son of Ner, and unto Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that [was] about his loins, and in his shoes that [were] on his feet
.(Requested Joab to be killed)

2 Samuel 11:14 – 17
14. And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent [it] by the hand of Uriah.
15 And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten and die.
16 And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men [were].
17 And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell [some] of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also.

2 Samuel 11:26 – 27

26 And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.
27 And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.
(David killed to get another man’s wife — adultery)

2 Samuel 11:2 – 5
2 And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose
from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from
the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman [was] very beautiful to look upon.
3 And David sent and enquired after the woman. And [one] said, [Is] not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?
4 And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto
him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.
5 And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I [am] with child.
 (David impregnates another man’s wife — commits adultery)

1 Samuel 21:1 – 2
1. Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why [art] thou alone, and no man with thee?
2 And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know any thing of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee: and I have appointed [my] servants to such and such a place.
(David lies)

1 Samuel 20:5 -6
5 And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, to morrow [is] the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third [day] at even.
6 If thy father at all miss me, then say, David earnestly asked [leave] of me that he might run to Bethlehem his city: for [there is] a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.
(David tells Jonathan to lie)

1 Samuel 25:2 – 8
2. And [there was] a man in Maon, whose possessions [were] in Carmel; and the man [was] very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
3 Now the name of the man [was] Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and [she was] a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man [was] churlish and evil in his doings; and he [was] of the house of Caleb.
4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep.
5 And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young
men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name: 6 And thus shall ye say to him that liveth [in prosperity],
Peace [be] both to thee, and peace [be] to thine house, and peace [be] unto all that thou hast.7 And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel.8 Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee,
whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David. (David commits extortion)

2 Samuel 8:4
4 And David took from him a thousand [chariots], and
seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: and David
houghed all the chariot [horses], but reserved of them [for] an hundred
chariots.
(David hamstrung many innocent horses)

2 Samuel 20:3
3 And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took
the ten women [his] concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, and fed them, but went not in unto them. So they were shut up unto the day of their death, living in widowhood.
(David locked up 10 concubine women for no reason. Locked themup until their death)

2 Samuel 3:2 – 5
2 And unto David were sons born in Hebron: and his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess;
3 And his second, Chileab, of Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter
of Talmai king of Geshur;
4 And the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital;
5 And the sixth, Ithream, by Eglah David’s wife. These
were born to David in Hebron.
(David commits bigamy)

2 Samuel 5:13
 
13 And David took [him] more concubines and wives out of
Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron: and there were yet sons and daughters born to David.
(David commits polygamy)

2 Samuel 6:20
20. Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel to
day, who uncovered himself to day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself!
(David acts like a pervert)

1 Samuel 25:28
28 I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee [all] thy days.
(David is perfect — none of what David did was evil — what an example to our young people!)

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