Righteous Derision in the Bible
By Richard L. Atkins
There is a malicious quality in human nature that revels in the defeat and degradation of an enemy. Mere victory seems to be neither satisfactory nor sufficient. There must also be disgrace and suffering on the part of the obnoxious offender; his humiliation makes winning twice as sweet.
In America, one unfortunate and unattractive aspect of our culture is the tendency of zealots to relish mistreatment of defeated enemies. In recent times, Americans were incensed by images of crowds in the Arab world celebrating the destruction of the World Trade Towers on 9-11. American taunting of Muslim foes spawned similar emotions after the initial success of our invasion of Iraq, nearly 10 years ago, before our long and agonizing war of occupation. Various political leaders, including our commander-in-chief and secretary of defense, strutted around and cast derision on those our military had crushed, exhibiting very unchristian behavior.
It is a brutish flaw in the human character that derives pleasure from causing the discomfiture of a defeated foe by taunting, jeering, and scoffing. The Germans have a special word for this base instinct – schadenfreude, which means malicious joy at someone’s misfortune.
In ancient times, this alpha-wolf mentality was normal behavior. Even the gods had great fun causing and watching human misery. Capricious deities were understood to sit in their exalted places and take pleasure in playing devious games and in squashing humans like insects. Nowadays such behavior would be called unsportsmanlike but, in those times, might made right.
The Romans staged triumphal parades in which chained captives were dragged through the streets past jeering mobs and then thrown to wild beasts in the arena. Also, little more than half a century ago public executions by hanging in America were characterized by a carnival atmosphere as criminals were put to open shame, and sometimes their death was slow and torturous. And some professional executioners who afflicted the unfortunate victims actually enjoyed their work – just as cats will play with terrified mice and killer whales toss about baby seals.
Now, since the Bible is an ancient book, it is only natural that some of this unfeeling cruelty is found in its pages. Sad to say, the Hebrew Scriptures promoted savage belligerence as the Jews vaunted their “chosen race” superiority over everybody else. In the Bible, to get the last laugh was the divine reward for the favored few. Consider as a prime example of this type of sentiment the words in this vengeful malediction:
O daughter of Babylon, you destroyer, happy shall he be who repays you for what you have done to us. Happy shall he be who takes your children and bashes them against a rock. (Psalm 137:8-9)
In Bible times it was felt that paradise would be more enjoyable if the righteous could look down from the battlements of heaven and observe wicked sinners roasting in the flames of hell. This is the sentiment of a well-known, beloved Psalm:
You set a table for me in full view of my enemies. You pour perfumed oil on my head. My cup is kept full and running over. (Psalm 23:5)
Here the favored and chosen one is, like Jacob’s special son Joseph, pampered by the divine Host at a banquet table, while those who have been excluded see it all from a position of misery. The torment of the rejected ones is greater when they can see what they are being denied. And the pleasure of the saved soul is greater when he can witness the well-deserved agony of the vanquished. A paraphrase of the passage above may serve to illuminate this viewpoint more clearly:
You prepare a feast for me alone. My enemies in torment see me in bliss. You honor me alone with anointing oils and perfumes. (Special favor is shown to me as the honored guest.) My cup overflows (while my enemies stare with envy and parched tongues).
Righteous derision is voiced in one of the oldest passages in the Bible, the taunt against the Egyptians who were drowned in the sea.
I will sing to Yahweh, for He has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider, He has thrown into the sea…The nations have heard. They tremble. Pangs have seized on the inhabitants of Philistia. Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed. Trembling seizes the leaders of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them. Because of the greatness of Thy arm, they are as still as a stone until Thy people, O Yahweh, pass by… (Ex. 15:1b,14-16a)
The Book of Proverbs echoes this derisive attitude toward those who are ignorant or unrighteous.
Wisdom cries aloud…Because I have called and you refused to listen…I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when panic strikes you. (1:20a,26)
When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish, there are shouts of gladness. (11:10)
Yahweh has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. (16:4)
When the Bible recounts the defeat or death of a scoundrel, the narrative is often spiced with gory, vindictive details in order to show that the extra punishment so richly deserved has been meted out. It is not enough for the vile character to be simply overthrown or executed; he must also be humiliated or tormented before his final consignment to the hottest part of hell.
Even so, the Canaanite general Sisera was not just defeated in battle by the Hebrews. He was also shamefully put to death by a Hebrew woman, having a common tent peg driven into his brain (Judges 4:21).
Likewise in the Apocrypha, the evil general from Assyria, Holofernes, was tricked into getting drunk and then dishonored by having his head cut off by a Jewish female (Judith 13:6-10).
Nebuchadnezzar, the haughty king of Babylon, who had burned down the Temple of God, was driven mad, so that he went out into the field, lived in filth, and ate grass like an ox (Daniel 4:30-33).
Manasseh, the wicked king of Judah, was taken by the Assyrians and debased with hooks in his flesh and with chains of bronze (2 Chronicles 33:9-13).
Haman, the plotter of Jewish genocide, was humiliated by having to extol his hated Jewish rival while parading him on a royal stallion through the city streets. After this, the arch-villain constructed a gallows 75 feet high, on which he intended to hang this same odious Jew. Instead, the tables were turned on Haman and, as the ultimate disgrace, he was strung up on his own tall gibbet (Esther 7:9-10).
Judas, the betrayer of Jesus, not only hanged himself, but was disgraced after death by having his body burst open and then having it buried in a potter’s field (Matthew 27:5-8, Acts 1:18-19).
King Herod Agrippa was so impious that he met an inglorious end by having his body infested with worms (Acts 12:21-23).
It was an ancient custom in social gatherings to brag on personal accomplishments and to put down others with taunting scorn. A hero was not modest in those days. He would embellish his exploits to mythical and magical extremes. Thus it is likely that strong men of old, like Gilgamesh, Samson, Hercules, Beowulf, and Lancelot, made up some of the superhuman feats attributed to them.
In his banqueting hall a king would employ a bard to sing of his exploits and tell tales that would bring him lasting fame in the annals of his people. So, since Yahweh was looked upon as a heavenly king, it was inevitable that the Bible even attributed this kind of a nature to the Deity. Thus it was said that He enjoyed bragging about His mighty deeds and bringing derision upon His enemies.
The kings of the earth assemble themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against Yahweh…He who sits in the heavens laughs. Yahweh has them in derision. (Psalm 2:2a,4)
But Thou, O Yahweh, dost laugh at them. Thou dost hold all the nations in derision. (Psalm 59:8)
And as Yahweh took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so Yahweh will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. (Deuteronomy 28:63a)
“The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken,” says Yahweh. Make him drunk, because he magnified himself against Yahweh, so that Moab will wallow in his vomit, and he too shall be held in derision…For every head is shaved and every beard cut off. Upon all the hands are gashes, and on the loins is sackcloth. On all the housetops of Moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentation…“For I have broken Moab like a vessel for which no one cares,” says Yahweh. How it is broken! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame. So Moab has become a derision and a spectacle to all that are round about them. (Jeremiah 48:25-26,37-39)
Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “You shall…be laughed at and held in derision…you will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow.” (Ezekiel 23:32-33)
They turn to Baal. They are like a warped bow. Their princes shall fall by the sword, because of their insolence. This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt. (Hosea 7:16)
Now, what is a Christian to do with all of these spiteful passages? Certainly, they must be attributed to the atmosphere of animosity that was a part of ancient society, when it seems to have been perfectly acceptable to laugh at a fallen foe and exult in self-righteous satisfaction.
This being the case, it is very fortunate that Jesus came “in the fullness of time” to correct this image of primitive savagery in the early pages of the Bible. And so, in stepping over from the Old Testament to the New, one encounters an amazing transformation of the central teaching about attitudes toward outsiders and enemies. This new perspective is, in fact, a very radical turning away from arrogant hostility to sympathetic compassion. Accordingly, one Gospel theme plainly states that Jesus was often “moved with compassion.” One example will suffice:
And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth His hand and touched him. (Mark 1:41)
In New Testament times, Jews hated Samaritans. So, Jesus dealt with this problem by telling the story of the good Samaritan – who saw the bruised and beaten Jew, his natural enemy, lying beside the roadway and had compassion on him. Thus, it follows that the essential temperament of a Christian is tender-hearted compassion. And this means that those persons who are over-bearing, cruel, violent, and abusers of weak and fallen fellow human beings are farthest from the Kingdom of God. (It is a sad fact that some Christians are still living in the Old Testament, as though Jesus had never come.)
In the primitive Church, the early martyrs of the faith doubtless prayed for release from their torments, but it is unlikely that they would have also wished these agonies upon their persecutors. This would have been foreign to the spirit of Jesus, who preached compassion – even for enemies.
And that is why it seems to me that the Book of Revelation appears out of place among the Christian Scriptures. It has an Old Testament flavor which exhibits a spirit of gory retribution against the Roman persecutors of Christianity that is not in accord with the teachings of Jesus. And still today, too many Christians pay lip service to Jesus as their Lord and yet demonstrate by their cruel attitudes and actions that something else is on the throne of their hearts. For, can anyone imagine Him laughing at a fallen foe?
Richard L. Atkins is a deacon at College Park Baptist Church in Orlando, Florida.
