Cannibalism in the Bible

If you want to know where to find cannibalism in the bible it’s here – 2 Kings 8:1.

Just joking!  In all seriousness, do you want to know where this issue raises itself in the Bible – it’s with Jesus himself.  It was over this issue that Jesus lost a lot (a lot) of his followers.  We’ll get to that in one minute. 

Cannibalism is an issue of some disgust amongst people.  My wife and I were talking at home last night about this because of some Australian history in which an escaped prisoner, Alexander Pierce from Tasmania, (back in 1822) ate fellow escapees as a means of survival in the tough Tasmanian bush.  He apparently did this twice. 

Documentaries have been made about this, and there is even a bushwalking club that tried to retrace his steps. 

My wife and I discussed why such a disgusting thing did not appear in the Bible.  It was not one of the ten commandments or even any of the  laws we could think of.  Finally this morning I figured out what the Bible had to say about it. 

Whilst the word cannibalism itself is nowhere in scripture to be seen, Jesus told his followers in John 6:35 that “I am the bread of life,” and later in verse 53 “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” 

To the untrained ear – or unthoughtful mind it sure sounds like Jesus is telling everyone to eat Him.  At least that is what a lot of people thought, and the very next section of the Bible is where many of his disciples left Jesus. 

However, Jesus was also talking in analogies.  He didn’t really mean that he was a loaf of bread – even a dummy could see that.  In the same way he also didn’t literally mean people had to eat him.  But using the same analogy that He was bread – that he could give life to people – then of course in that understanding, people should eat him. 

So even today, thousands of years later, Jesus is still the bread of life for us.  If anyone would put Jesus first and call out to Him for mercy, and place their trust in Him, this means they are His followers.  As they follow Him and think about what He says and put it into practice – they are eating Jesus.  And in this sense they are “cannibals.” 

Be a cannibal - eat Jesus – make Him a part of your life.