Author's Note: My hope had been to glean a blog post from the first verse of each of the 66 books of the Bible. For some of the books, this was possible; however, I quickly realized that in order to do this for every book, I would have to artificially create anything of substance out of just one verse. I will continue to move through the books of the Bible in order but will expand my source material to several verses if necessary.
The first 16 verses of 2 Samuel, bring up an issue that could be torn from today's newspapers (or internet sites).
In the passage we find David learning of Saul's death at the hands of an Amalekite. According to the gentleman's account, Saul had been mortally wounded and had ordered the man to "Stand beside me and kill me, for anguish has seized me, and yet my life still lingers." (2 Samuel 1:9 ESV) The Amalekite did as ordered.
When David learned of Saul's death, he and all the men with him "mourned and wept and fasted until evening". (2 Sam. 1:12a) But he then called for the Amalekite. This does not bode well for the sojourner. David had him executed because the Amalekite dared "to destroy the Lord's anointed.” (2 Sam. 1:14)
I believe this speaks directly to the issue of assisted suicide/euthanasia. Each Christian is anointed by God. Perhaps not to rule a kingdom as did Saul, but we still have an anointing of the Holy Spirit.
I struggle with the issue of assisted suicide. For opponents, one argument is that God will call the person home when it is time. We are not to play God. Proponents counter that by arguing that medical science has advanced to the point where many people who would have died of natural causes just a generation ago are being kept alive much longer, often sacrificing quantity of years for quality. This too can be argued as playing God.
Today's verses are the first time I have read a passage that seems to speak directly to the sinfulness of assisted suicide. Even though Saul would soon have been dead, by taking his life prematurely, the Amalekite seems to have gone against God's plan for Saul. He paid for that mistake with his own life.
Currently, there are assisted dying laws for terminally ill adults on the books in Oregon, Montana, Washington, Vermont, Hawaii, California, Colorado and Washington D.C. As tens of thousands of Baby Boomers reach and surpass their Golden Years, this is a question that will be asked more and more often and, as a result, will have to be answered just as often.
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