If suicide is a sin...

[HoT-MetaL]

If suicide is a sin... then were the Jews in sin at Masada?

God Bless, metal.

[mjterry87]

Thou shall not kill. Figure it out. :wave:

[HoT-MetaL]

Yeah, I agree that it is a sin!

My question came out a bit wrong!

What Im trying to get at is, were the Jews righteous in their descicion at Masada?


God Bless, metal.

[Sephania]

Would they have been allowed to live if they were captured? What horrors would have been done to them had they allowed it? I think the impact on the "conquering" soldiers after all that time and all that work in building that ramp and all the loses they had on their side would have been different had they lived and been captured. They stood by what they believed, to death.

It is not a matter of if we view them as righteous but what HaShem sees and did see in His eyes.

[Yasatora]

I have always wondered why God waits til the last moment, to show Him himself.

Matt 4:5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, "'He will command his angels concerning you,' and "'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'"7Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

Satan tried to talk Yeshua into committing suicide.

[Pray4Isrel]

Some say the sin of suicide is unforgiveable, yet I have found no evidence for this. It grieves me to know that some are so desperate to feel they have to kill themselves. But I do believe G-d's Grace is sufficient to cover a multitude of sins.

Masada, a mass-suicide, can't be compared to individual suicide... to me they are separate categories. The teenager involved in a desperate, abusive and isolated situation that kills himself seems on a different plane than hundreds of people killing themselves to preserve their dignity.

[Henaynei]

you misunderstand - the Defenders at Masada did not kill themselves to preserve any personal or corporate dignity - dignity has long since fled in that seige, read some history about that seige, things got pretty horrific upo on that plateau...... What they did they did to withhold from the enemy any glory or victory over the Name of HaShem. They did it to preserve the holiness of HaShem. As captives their women and men would have been raped and murdered. Judaism allowes, even commands in some situations, that one chose death rather than allow one's self to participate, even unwillingly, in certain acts - unwholesome sexual acts is one of those acts. Essentially they recognized that HaShem had passed a sentence of death upon them and they submitted to His judgement.