HUMAN SACRIFICE
Bible Study Resource
People in the Bible accuse their enemies of child sacrifice but the Bible only records one example, Jephtah, and another near miss, Abraham and Isaac. The evidence for human sacrifice in the ancient Mediterranean world is unconvincing, to say the least. It is only ever mentioned as an accusation made against an enemy.
No-one admits doing it themselves.
IN THE BIBLE
The Bible tells us that Josiah defiled a religious sanctuary in the valley of Hinnom because he believed that girls and boys had been sacrificed there (2 Kings 23:10). Hinnom was enemy territory, and the Bible accuses the Hinnomites of immolating their children in fire.
IN HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY
The Carthaginians are said to have practiced human sacrifice, but the accusation was made by the Romans (enemies of Carthage) and by modern archaeologists who claim that burial urns containing the burnt remains of children show that these children were human sacrifices – despite cremation being the normal form of burial for Carthaginians.
The lower portion of the obelisk from Carthage (see right, click to enlarge) shows a man holding a child. It is said to show a priest taking a child to be sacrificed, but why? If you click on the line drawing at left above, you will see the image merely shows a man protectively holding a child – not unlike images of St Joseph and the child Jesus. How can this be evidence of child sacrifice?
The only really convincing argument to support the practice of human sacrifice is the fact that the Bible repeatedly forbids it. The Bible rarely forbids something unless it is evil, and is already happening.
It never forbids us to float in the air or eat rainbows.
DID IT REALLY HAPPEN?
It is possible that human (child) sacrifice happened in biblical times. After all, it would have been the supreme expression of devotion to a cause, if a parent gave a child more precious to them than their own life.
The Bible describes only one human sacrifice, in the story of Jephtah and his daughter (see JEPHTAH’S DAUGHTER).
The Lament of Jephtah's Daughter
Jephtah’s act is heavily condemned. He sacrifices the young woman, not a child, because in a foolish moment he has promised God that he would do so. Jephtah is one of the great tragic figures of the Bible.
The other famous Bible story involving child sacrifice is about Abraham and his son Isaac.
Abraham is commanded by God to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice, and nearly does so. The Bible tells nothing of Abraham’s internal struggle or horrified misgivings about the act. See ABRAHAM’S STORY.
This story is held up by modern God-attackers as proof that God is not good but evil, and that Abraham was a fool for worshipping Him.
Not so. The story is not about human sacrifice, but about our faith in God’s ultimate wisdom, even when we do not understand it at all and cannot see any sense in events around us.
We accept what we believe is God’s plan for us, and keep on living our lives as best we can.
Offering sacrifice
Bible References to Human Sacrifice
- Deuteronomy 12:31, 18:10
- Leviticus 18:21, 20:2-5
- 2 Kings 3:27, 16:3, 21:6, 23:10
- Jeremiah 19:5, 32:35
See BIBLE PERVERSIONS – child sacrifice tops the list.
BIBLE ARCHAEOLOGY: ABRAHAM has information about the image below - a golden ram caught in the branches of a small tree.
BIBLE TEXT
Gold ram from the Death Pit at Ur
1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.
4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,
7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
15 The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time
16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,
18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.
Altar excavated at the ancient city of Megiddo
SUMMARY
People in the Bible accuse their enemies of child sacrifice, but the Bible only records one example where a Jewish man did it: the incident where Jephtah sacrificed his much loved only daughter to God.
Another near-sacrifice occurs in the story of Abraham and his son Isaac.
Did it really happen in the ancient Mediterranean world? To modern readers it seems like the ultimate blasphemy. Certainly the Bible condemns the practice.
