http://listverse.com/bizarre/top-10-bizarre-biblical-tales/
Is there any doubt that this is the word of god?
This is yet another classic case of Biblical skeptics being all in the Kool-Aid but not knowing the flavor. I’ll start with 10 and 8 (gotta save some for Loco!!!!
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#10I think I covered the Elisha story sometime ago. Again, one must ask why a bunch of “children” are going to the outskirts of a city, just to pick on one man for having no hair.
The short answer is that this has nothing to do with Elisha’s lack of follicles. Notice that they chant “Go up, you bald head!!!” In other words, they who Elisha is; more importantly, they know who his mentor is and what happened to him. Pllus, in ancient times, people sometimes shaved their heads when in mourning, which may have been Elisha's state of mind at the time.
If I were to take a wild guess, these “children” were apprentices of the priests of Baal, who had a little showdown with Elisha’s predecessor, with less-than-stellar results. And, they want some revenge. Hey, if you were outnumbered at least 42 to 1, you'd want two she-bears on your side, too!!!
#8As for the Onan issue, this has nothing to do with masturbation or birth control. It’s about what I call the Redeemer Clause, as it relates to ancient marriage. Simply put, if a married man died and left his wife without children, a unmarried male member of his family (usually a brother) was found to marry the widow and produce a child, who would be deemed as that of the deceased. This preserved the family name. It’s kind of like an old-school life insurance policy.
With Er dead, Judah tells Onan to fulfill his duty to his brother and his widow, Tamar, WHICH ONAN AGREES TO DO. He could have opted not to do so (though such would be frowned upon in ancient society). More importantly, Onan knows that, if he signs up for this, he is EXPECTED to produce offspring. He “spills his seed on the ground” because a firstborn son won’t be seen as his, but that of Er. Also keep in mind that, back then, women often cherished their sons to soothe the pain of a lost husband.
In other words, Onan kept getting the booty from Tamar but he INTENTIONALLY didn’t give Tamar any children. One could argue that such is a form of abuse.
Then, there are the financial reprecussions: Onan was in charge of Er’s estate………UNTIL a son was born and that son turned 20 (or a daughter if no sons were born). Upon that occurrence, the son gets Er’s estate. That’s potential bad news for Onan. If his father, Judah,dies, before that son turns 20, Judah’s estate would have gone to Onan’s younger brother, leaving Onan with zip, inheritance-wise.
Back in those days, promising to give a woman children, repeating having sex with her, but intentionally denying her offspring was a vile thing to do to a woman, emotionally. Apparently, the Lord didn't think so, either. Thus, we have one dead Onan.
To top it all off, whoever wrote this list didn't get his story straight here. Tamar ends up with children after all. But, here's where it gets weird. Judah tells Tamar to return to her father's home, until his last son turns 20, at which time Judah will give him to her as her hubby. However, Judah reneges, fearing that his last boy will end up dead, as did the other two. Tamar gets desperate and dresses as a prostitute, and guess who her first customer is......JUDAH. She keeps his staff and cloak as promise of future payment. Word gets out that Tamar is pregnant via whoring around. Judah demands that she be executed. But, before she's about to be killed, she produces the goods, proving that JUDAH is the one that knocked her up. Judah dropped the charges, claming that Tamar was more righteous than he was, as she only did this, because Judah broke his word to his daughter-in-law.
