There’s a verse in the Bible that’s so violent, so morally grotesque, it should make anyone with a conscience pause and ask: What kind of god is this?
That verse is 1 Samuel 15:3:
“Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”
Let that sink in:
Man. Woman. Child. Infant.
Even the livestock.
This isn’t poetic. It’s not metaphor. It’s a direct, divine command. The God of the Bible is telling Saul, the king of Israel, to wipe out an entire people—including their babies—and leave nothing breathing behind.
If This Were in Any Other Book…
If you read this in The Satanic Bible, or a warlord’s memoir, you’d recoil.
If a cult leader gave this command, we’d call it mass murder.
If a dictator issued this order, we’d try him in The Hague.
But because it’s in the Bible—suddenly it’s “divine justice”?
Let’s be real: if your god needs dead infants to feel vindicated, your god isn’t holy. He’s a monster.
“But They Deserved It!” — The Classic Cop-Out
Defenders of this verse often say the Amalekites were evil, that they attacked Israel, that this was punishment. But let’s be brutally honest: what could an infant possibly be guilty of?
There is no ethical universe where punishing a newborn for the sins of their ancestors is justice. That’s not righteousness—it’s barbarism. If a deity does it, it’s not suddenly sacred. It’s still immoral.
A God of Love… with Blood on His Hands
Christians love to say “God is love.” But when you actually read the Bible, that love comes with genocidal rage, divine temper tantrums, and death sentences for entire populations.
In this story, God regrets making Saul king because Saul didn’t complete the genocide to the letter. He let the king live. He spared some livestock. And that apparently offended God more than the murder of babies.
This isn’t moral guidance. It’s a horror story.
What Does This Say About Biblical Morality?
If you believe this book is the foundation of right and wrong, you’re starting from a place where mass murder is sometimes okay—as long as God says so.
That’s not morality. That’s divine authoritarianism.
That’s a blueprint for blind obedience, not ethical reasoning.
And if this is the best that divine wisdom has to offer, maybe it’s time we stop pretending the Bible is a moral authority at all.
Final Thought: If This Verse Makes You Uncomfortable—Good.
It should. It means you have empathy.
It means you understand that infants shouldn’t be slaughtered to satisfy anyone’s wrath—human or divine.
The real question is: Why doesn’t the Bible see it that way?
