Cruelty, examples of

Scripture condemns cruelty, and gives examples of situations in which it was practised.

Cruelty is an expression of wickedness

Psalm 71:4; Romans 1:28–31 See also Psalm 35:16, Psalm 86:14; Proverbs 17:5; Ecclesiastes 4:1; Amos 5:12

Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and ruthless.

Furthermore, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful. They invent new forms of evil; they disobey their parents. They are senseless, faithless, heartless, merciless.

Forms of cruelty

The cruel nature of war

2 Kings 8:12 See also 2 Kings 15:16; Isaiah 13:15, Isaiah 13:18; Hosea 10:14, Hosea 13:16; Nahum 3:10

“Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the evil you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha replied. “You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little ones to pieces, and rip open their pregnant women.”

The cruel nature of rape

Genesis 34:2 See also Judges 19:25; 2 Samuel 13:14; Zechariah 14:2

When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the region, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force.

The cruel nature of words

Job 17:1–2; Psalm 42:10; Mark 15:31 See also 1 Samuel 1:6–7; Job 11:3; Psalm 22:7, Psalm 35:11, Psalm 89:50–51, Psalm 102:8; Jeremiah 20:7; Lamentations 3:14

“My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me. Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.

Like the crushing of my bones, my enemies taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

In the same way, the chief priests and scribes mocked Him among themselves, saying, “He saved others, but He cannot save Himself!

Particular examples of cruelty

Genesis 37:23–24 Joseph's brothers; Genesis 49:5–7 Simeon and Levi; Exodus 1:22 Pharaoh; Judges 1:6 Judah's cruelty to a local king; Judges 4:2–3 Sisera; Judges 10:6–8 the Philistines and Ammonites; 2 Chronicles 16:10 Asa; Proverbs 5:8–9 the adulteress; Jeremiah 21:7; Daniel 3:13–20; Jeremiah 37:15, Jeremiah 38:6–7; Ezekiel 22:29 Israel; Nahum 3:18–19 the king of Assyria; Matthew 2:16 King Herod; Matthew 27:26–31 parallels Mark 15:15–20, John 19:15; Luke 23:33–39 parallels Matthew 27:35–44, Mark 15:24–32, John 19:18