Child Sacrifice in Ancient Israel

It [religion] is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind;
and, for my part, I sincerely detest it as I detest everything that is cruel.
-Thomas Paine

This page reports on the biblical history of child sacrifice and cannibalism from Joshua to the Exile. There were prohibitions against sacrifice, but only in the name of other gods. Child sacrifice was practiced throughout the world during ancient times. The ritualized murder of innocents carries right into Christianity.

Joshua

Joshua practiced what is called "foundation sacrifice." In order to protect a structure from evil powers, a person was killed and buried at the foundation of a city or building. Sometimes the victim was walled in alive. In this case, Joshua's victim would be someone's first born.

²⁶Joshua laid an oath upon them at that time, saying, "Cursed before the LORD be the man that rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho. At the cost of his first-born shall he lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates."²⁷So the LORD was with Joshua; and his fame was in all the land. (Josh. 6:26-27)

King David

King David participated in the sacrifice of seven men at the beginning of a barley harvest with an eye towards ending famine in the land.

There was famine in the kingdom of David for three years. When David asked God what he could do about it. God explained that it was because of bloodguilt on Saul because he put the Gibeonites to death.

¹Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said,"There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death." (2 Sam. 21:1)

So David called for the Gibeonites and wanted to know what he could do to expiate for what Saul did.

²So the king called the Gibeonites. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to slay them in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.
³And David said to the Gibeonites, "What shall I do for you? And how shall I make expiation, that you may bless the heritage of the LORD?" (2 Sam. 21:2-3)

The Gibeonites replied that it was not a matter of money. What they wanted was seven of Saul's sons so they may hang them. David agreed.

⁴The Gibeonites said to him, "It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel." And he said, "What do you say that I shall do for you?"
⁵They said to the king, "The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel,
⁶let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them up before the LORD at Gibeon on the mountain of the LORD." And the king said, "I will give them." (2 Sam. 21:4-6)

David picked two of Saul's sons and five of his grandsons. They were hanged on the mountain before God, at the beginning of the barley harvest.

⁷But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul's son Jonathan, because of the oath of the LORD which was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.
⁸The king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adri-el the son of Barzillai the Meholathite;
⁹and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the LORD, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest. (2 Sam. 21:7-9)

King Solomon

Solomon earned his reputation as a wise king by settling a maternity dispute between two women. His solution was to cut the child in half. The real mother prevented the execution by giving up her claim. We are left to wonder if Solomon would have done it.

²⁴And the king said, "Bring me a sword." So a sword was brought before the king.
²⁵And the king said, "Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other." (1 Kings 3:16)

He built a place for Molech.The cult of Molech was associated with child sacrifice.

⁷Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem.
⁸And so he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. (1 Kgs. 11:7-8)

Israel and Judah

After the time of Solomon, the kingdom of Israel split up into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah.

When the kings of Israel and Judah were wining their invasion against the Moabites, the Moabite king made a burnt offering of his oldest son. A great wrath came upon Israel and they had to withdraw. In effect, the Moabite god, Chemosh, defeated Yahweh.

²⁶When the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through, opposite the king of Edom; but they could not.
²⁷Then he took his eldest son who was to reign in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there came great wrath upon Israel; and they withdrew from him and returned to their own land. (2 Kings. 3:26-27)

Israel

The divided kingdom of Israel came to an end with its capture by the Assyrians. God is said to have made it happen because they worshipped alien gods, made burnt offerings of sons and daughters and practiced occultism.

¹⁶And they forsook all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made for themselves molten images of two calves; and they made an Asherah, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
¹⁷And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings, and used divination and sorcery, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.
¹⁸Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight; none was left but the tribe of Judah only. (2 Kgs. 17:16-18)

Give this a second thought. In order to punish his chosen people, he showed favor towards the heathen Assyrians. By this logic, it is better not to believe in God. This way he won't harm you. He might even reward you.

King Ahab

Ahab and his Phoenician wife Jezebel were among God's most infamous royalty. He practiced "foundation sacrifice" in which a child in entombed in the foundation. We are told that Jericho could not be rebuilt without satisfying Joshua's curse (above). I leave it to readers to decide whether Hiel's sons were intentionally sacrificed according to Joshua's prescription or died accidently or by divine will.

³³And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.
³⁴In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho; he laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram his first-born, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun. (1 Kgs. 16:33-34)

King Ahaz

King Ahaz burned his son in an offering in accordance with the practices of other nations.

²Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God, as his father David had done,
³but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. (2 Kgs. 16:2-3)

King Hoshea

Hoshea was the last king of Israel before it split from Judah. Under his reign the people burned their sons and daughters.

¹⁷And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings, and used divination and sorcery and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. (2 Kings 17:7)

King Manasseh

King Ahaz's grandson, Manasseh, reigned for 55 years, the longest in Judah's history. He is said to have burned his son as an offering. We can safely assume that the practice was widespread among the people of Judah during his reign.

¹Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah.
⁶And he burned his son as an offering, and practiced soothsaying and augury, and dealt with mediums and with wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger. (2 Kgs. 21:6, 2 Chron. 33:6)

King Josiah

King Josiah's reign began approximately 50 years before the exile and lasted 31 years. Yet at this late stage, he still had to devote effort to stopping the people of Judah from sacrificing their children to Molech.

¹⁰He defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of Benhinnom, so that no one would make a son or a daughter pass through fire as an offering to Molech. (2 Kgs. 23:10)

Jeremiah

Jeremiah was a prophet during the time of King Josiah. He complained about the people of Judah burning their sons and daughters to Molech.

³⁰"For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, says the LORD; they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.
³¹And they have built the high place of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind. (Jer. 7:30-31)

³⁵They built the high places of Baal in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. (Jer. 32:35)

Many kings of Judah were condemned for burning their sons in offerings to Baal.

³You shall say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon this place that the ears of every one who hears of it will tingle.
⁴Because the people have forsaken me, and have profaned this place by burning incense in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents,
⁵and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind; (Jer. 19:3-5)

Ezekiel

Ezekiel was a prophet during and after the Babylonian Exile, 586 BCE.

As God's spokesman, Ezekiel complained about the people of Judah burning their children to death.

²⁰And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter
²¹that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? (Ezek. 16:20-21)

God purposively gave bad laws which discouraged life and made them offer gifts of their first born by fire. All this was to horrify them and show them he is the Lord. We can presume that God gave these bad laws to Moses too.

²⁵Moreover I gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not have life;
²⁶and I defiled them through their very gifts in making them offer by fire all their first-born, that I might horrify them; I did it that they might know that I am the LORD. (Ezek. 20:25-26)

He tells us that from the time when the people of Israel were in the wilderness, to his day they sacrificed their sons by fire.

³⁰Wherefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Will you defile yourselves after the manner of your fathers and go astray after their detestable things?
³¹When you offer your gifts and sacrifice your sons by fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, says the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you.(Ezek. 20:30-31)

Take notice. In one case Ezekiel says God made the Israelites offer their children by fire to horrify them. In the other, he complains when they do the same for other gods.

Cannibalism

While sacrifice was practiced as a matter of appeasement, cannibalism was imposed as a matter of punishment, and maybe at times it was a matter of hunger.

A woman complained to the king about being tricked by another woman to share in eating their sons. After they boiled the first son and ate him, the second woman refused to give up hers.

²⁶Now as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, "Help, my lord, O king!"
²⁷And he said, "If the LORD will not help you, whence shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?"
²⁸And the king asked her, "What is your trouble?" She answered, "This woman said to me, 'Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.'
²⁹So we boiled my son, and ate him. And on the next day I said to her, 'Give your son, that we may eat him'; but she has hidden her son." (2 Kings 6:26-29)

Speaking through Jeremiah, Yahweh threatened to make the Israelites eat the flesh of their sons and daughters. They were to eat their warring neighbors too

⁹And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and every one shall eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them. (Jer. 19:9)

As judgment, Yahweh will make fathers eat their sons and sons shall eat their fathers.

⁹And because of all your abominations I will do with you what I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again.
¹⁰Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in the midst of you, and sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments on you, and any of you who survive I will scatter to all the winds. (Ezek. 5:9-10)

Speaking through Isaiah, Yahweh will make Israel's oppressors eat their own flesh and drink their own blood.

²⁶I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine. (Isaiah. 49:26)

Micah complained about the Israelites being eaten by their enemies. Their skins were torn off and their bones were broken to make them fit in a kettle.

²you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin from off my people, and their flesh from off their bones;³who eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones in pieces, and chop them up like meat in a kettle, like flesh in a caldron. (Micah 3:2-3)

Let the survivors devour the flesh of one another.

⁹So I said, "I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die; what is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed; and let those that are left devour the flesh of one another." (Zech. 11:9)

Prohibitions

Child sacrifice was considered evil when it was done in the name of foreign gods. It wasn't a morality issue. The priests saw it as a violation of the First Commandment: You shall have no other gods before me.

Ahaz burned his son as an offering according to the abominable practices of hostile nations.

The sons of Judah burnt their sons and daughters, without approval from Yahweh.

They offered their sons and daughters to Molech without approval from Yahweh.

You slaughtered my (Yahweh's) children and offered them to fire.

The psalmist complained about the people sacrificing their sons and daughters to demons.

³⁷They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons;
³⁸they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood.³⁹Thus they became unclean by their acts, and played the harlot in their doings. (Ps. 106:37-39)

Heathen Sacrifice

Human sacrifice was not confined to Middle East countries, it was practiced worldwide. There is evidence of ritual murders in ancient Greece. The Romans practiced it during various periods. The Phoenicians at Carthage in North Africa routinely conducted child sacrifices. When Julius Caesar conquered Gaul and Britain, he found copious evidence of Celtic human sacrifice. In Scandinavia, the Norsemen sacrificed both animals and humans to their deities. The ancient Gnostic sect opposed childbirth in an "'evil" world.

When European explorers discovered new parts of the globe, they found almost every land pursuing diverse forms of human sacrifice. The South American Mayans, Aztecs and Incas were probably the record holders. Whole societies existed for the purpose of conducting human sacrifice en masse, relying on a steady stream of slaves and prisoners of war to keep their crimson altars occupied. One lapse, they feared, would blight their harvests, cause catastrophes, and even prevent the sun from rising.

Final thought

Theistic religions in one way or another were founded upon ritualized murder. What made children susceptible to sacrifice, was their virginity and their innocence. This concept is embedded in Judaism and Christianity to this day.

Paradoxically, child sacrifice ended when Judah was captured by the hated Babylonians in 586 BCE. Jews don't practice their canonical obligation to sacrifice anymore, but there is still one remaining legacy where they celebrate child sacrifice every year. And that is the Passover when Yahweh killed firstborn Egyptians and their firstborn livestock. To ease their conscience they label it as their release from Egyptian bondage.

²⁴You shall observe this rite as an ordinance for you and for your sons for ever.
²⁵And when you come to the land which the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service.
²⁶And when your children say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?'
²⁷you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of the LORD'S passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he slew the Egyptians but spared our houses.'" And the people bowed their heads and worshiped. (Ex. 12:24-27)

Christians may feel that their religion is above such barbarous practices. That is only because they have been dulled into ignoring the immorality of the torturous sacrifice of one innocent man.

End