The following article was obtained through the website, Stars Insider.
King Herod attended to the sadistic desires of his stepdaughter, Salome, who during a party asked him for the head of John the Baptist. The gruesome story is detailed in Matthew 14:8-11: "And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, 'Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger.' And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her. And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison. And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother."
The judgment of Solomon
King Solomon did not split a child in two, but he did find that to be the best course of action to find out who the real mother of a child was. Luckily there was no bloodshed, but it's still quite a scary story. 1 Kings 3:16-28 reads: "And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, 'Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.'"
Zombies
The vision of Ezekiel, as described in Ezekiel 37:7-8, is really creepy, akin to a zombie horror movie. He basically sees a valley filled with dry bones, and then they all come together and begin to form skeletons. The especially disturbing part is that they are like zombies: they remain dead. "So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them."
Cannibal mothers
2 Kings 6:28-29 tells the story of two starving women who agree to eat their own children. Though after eating the first child, the mother of the second child hides her son in an attempt to save him. This is the passage: "And the king said unto her, 'What aileth thee?' And she answered, 'This woman said unto me, 'Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow.' So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, 'Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son.'"
Job's boils
God strikes a weird deal with Satan to test Job's faith. Job not only loses everything, but he's afflicted with boils all over his body. The details can be found in Job 2:7-8: "So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes."
Child murder
Psalms has lots of uplifting verses, but Psalm 137:9 couldn't be darker. This is a response to the Babylonians, who enslaved the people of Jerusalem, but it's still disturbing. It reads: "Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones."
Stoning
Casting stones is mentioned in several parts of the Bible. Things such as being a rebellious son (Deuteronomy 21:18-21) or not being a virgin upon getting married (Deuteronomy 22:13-21) would be valid reasons for the punishment.
Bears attacking children
2 Kings 2:23-24 tells the story of how God sent in bears to attack a group of children who mocked prophet Elisha. Though there are interpretations that say that the "children" could have been a group of young men. The passage goes like this: "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.' 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."
Abraham sacrifices his son Isaac
The story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son as a test of faith is one of the most popular in the Bible, and quite a disturbing one. Though in the end, an angel stops him. Genesis 22:9-10 reads: "When they came to the place where God told them to go, Abraham built an altar. He carefully laid the wood on the altar. Then he tied up his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached for his knife to kill his son."
Jephthah sacrifices his daughter
Jephthah swears to God that if he wins a battle, he'll sacrifice whatever comes out of the door when he gets home. It was his daughter. "After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin. From this comes the Israelite tradition," (Judges 11:39).
Noah
Noah's story not only mentions genocide, but it also implies i n c e s t. After all, God tells Noah in Genesis 9:7: "As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.” Except, only Noah's family was alive...
Judas Iscariot death
Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus, but he too suffered a not-so-peaceful death, as described in Acts 1:18: "With the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out."
King Herod's death
King Herod also had quite a gruesome death, as described in Acts 12:23: "And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost."
Sodom and Gomorrah
Genesis 19:4-26 details what happened to the original sin cities: "Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven." Lot and his family managed to escape the devastation, except for Lot's wife, who disobeyed God's instruction to never look back. She did so, and as a result turned into a pillar of salt.
Lot
After Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt, God found a way to keep Lot's lineage alive. Lot's daughters got their father drunk and in the end both became pregnant, as described in Genesis 19:30–38. "Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father,” reads Genesis 19:32.
The fall of Samaria
Gomer is unfaithful to her husband, Hosea, and the adultery is used as an allegory for the people of Samaria not worshiping the one and only God. They do reconcile in the end, but the threat of God is a scary one. Hosea 13:16 reads: "Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up."
Circumcision
Moses' wife, Zipporah, circumcises her son while Moses travels to Egypt to warn them of the coming plagues. The graphic account is found in Exodus 4: 24-25: "And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, 'Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.'"
Slavery
Exodus 20-21 not only details the Ten Commandments, but it also talks about "masters" and "servants" and even goes as far as giving instruction on punishment of slaves. For instance: "And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished. Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money."
Women
There are numerous passages about women that can be found disturbing. From being "unclean" from having a period or a baby (Leviticus 12) to Deuteronomy 22:28–29, which reads: "If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay her father fifty shekels[a] of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives."
Levite and the concubine
A woman Levite called his "concubine" was murdered one night, but the most gruesome part comes next. Judges 19:29 details it: "When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel."
God threatened priests
God threatened priests who had become lazy in praising him. Malachi 2:3 details it: "Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it."
Division
People would speak the same language in the Tower of Babel, but God decided to punish humankind for their pride by dividing people through language. Genesis 11:7-9 reads: "Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth."
See also: Science confirms these parts of the Bible are true
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