An abortion advocate’s macabre choice of jewelry inadvertently highlighted the dark history of infanticide, a form of killing that was recorded in the earliest books of the Bible.
The protester’s earrings were shared by the Daily Caller on Wednesday. The woman wearing the gruesome accessories was apparently spotted at a pro-abortion rally the same day.
Appearing to be custom work, the earrings portray a crocodile with a small baby in its jaws.
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It’s unclear what message this protester was trying to send.
The shock factor alone was enough to catch the Daily Caller’s attention, but it could have simply been an attempt to further dehumanize the unborn.
In Exodus, one of the earliest books of the Bible, the oppressive Pharaoh sends infants to a similar fate as the Hebrews multiplied to great numbers.
The infanticide account begins in Exodus 1:15-17, as Pharaoh orders Hebrew midwives to begin culling young boys belonging to the slaves. The midwives have different ideas, however.
“Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, ‘When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.’ But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.”
Furious with the rebellious slaves and fearful of a growing underclass that threatened Egypt, Pharaoh instead turned to his own people. In Exodus 1:22, the Egyptian ruler gives the fateful order.
“Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, ‘Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.'”
Of course, the mass infanticide would lead to the hiding of Moses in a basket. Being spared from the purge and raised in Pharaoh’s own household, Moses lives and goes on to liberate the Hebrew people.
But what happened to all the other Hebrew babies that Pharaoh’s hordes cast into the Nile?
In ancient Egypt, long before the damming of the Nile, the river was littered with dangerous animals. Hippos roamed the waterways, and venomous snakes hid among the reeds. Also lurking in the muddy water was the Nile crocodile — a savage reptile that ruled the river in the days of Pharaoh.
The Bible has no direct mention of these creatures, but it’s likely they feasted on the infants cast into the water.
While the abortion advocate’s jewelry may have been intended to shock conservatives, those who know the Old Testament realize this 21st century political statement is not unique.
As Ecclesiastes 1:9 promises:
“What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.”
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