The Bible does not really address the subject of suicide directly, although it does record a small number of cases.
The real question is – which Bible?
There is a fundamental difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament on the subject of suicide. According to The King James’ version, the sixth commandment (Exodus 20: 13 and Deuteronomy 5: 17) is translated as ” thou shalt not kill.” But the Hebrew interpretation is “thou shalt not murder.”
Self evidently, there is a world of difference between these two versions, since murder is a deliberate act requiring intent. Killing or manslaughter can occur for a variety of reasons, including accidental or defensive.
Rabbi Louis Jacobs, in his book “The Jewish Religion” writes:
In Jewish teaching, the prohibition of suicide is not contained in the sixth commandment: “Thou shalt not kill”. Obviously it does not follow from the fact that a man may not take the life of another that he may not take his own life.
There is, in fact, no direct prohibition of suicide in the Bible. It is possible that there is no direct prohibition because very few people of sound mind would be inclined to commit suicide in any event.
It follows from this that suicide and murder are two separate offenses in the Jewish tradition, as they are in most cultures. Suicide is not homicide.
On the other hand, Christians view suicide from a different perspective.
In Christianity, suicide is considered to be a grave sin, both because it is a denial that human life is a divine gift, and because it constitutes a total defiance of God’s will for the individual to live the life-span allotted to him. The suicide, more than any other offender, literally takes his life into his own hands.
As it is put in Ethics of the Fathers (4. 21):
Despite yourself you were fashioned, and despite yourself you were born, and despite yourself you live, and despite yourself you die, and despite yourself you will hereafter have account and reckoning before the King of Kings.
Many Christians regard suicide as the act of intentionally taking one’s own life, or as some have called it, “self-murder.” For a Christian suicide is an even greater tragedy because it is a waste of a life that God intended to use in a glorious way.
There are only seven recorded cases of suicide in the Bible:
Abimelech – Judges 9:54:
After having his skull crushed under a millstone that was dropped by a woman from the Tower of Shechem, Abimelech called for his armor bearer to kill him with a sword. He did not want it said that a woman had killed him.
Samson – Judges 16:29-31:
By collapsing a building, Samson sacrificed his own life, but in the process destroyed thousands of enemy Philistines.
Saul and His Armor Bearer – 1 Samuel 31:3-6:
After losing his sons and all of his troops in battle, and his sanity long before, King Saul, assisted by his armor bearer, ended his life. Then Saul’s servant killed himself.
Ahithophel – 2 Samuel 17:23:
Disgraced and rejected by Absolom, Ahithophel went home, put his affairs in order, and then hanged himself.
Zimri – 1 Kings 16:18:
Rather than being taken prisoner, Zimri set the king’s palace on fire and died in the flames.
Judas – Matthew 27:5:
After he betrayed Jesus, Judas Iscariot was overcome with remorse and hanged himself.
There’s no doubt that suicide is a terrible tragedy.
Christians argue that suicide is a sin, for it is the taking of a human life, or to put it bluntly, murder. This then raises the issue of the concept of Hell and an afterlife, which are not a part of Judaism.
Those who take their own lives are technically not entitled to Jewish burial and mourning rites–but suicide as a freely chosen act (with the above consequences) has been nearly defined out of existence by mental health considerations in the development of Jewish law, and in most cases deaths by suicide are treated like all other deaths.
