God condones human sacrifice in the Bible? No!

Created Date: 26-Feb-2018
Abraham, Jepththa and Jesus Christ

Last updated: 11-Jun-2020
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Sections

1 Preface 2 Three Scriptural References
3 1st, Abraham and Isaac the Akedah 4 2nd, Jephtha's Daugther in Judges 11
5 3rd, Jesus Christ    

Preface

God does not condone, ask for, require or bless anything to do with hurting, torturing or sacrificing a human being.  Murder is prohibited throughout the scriptures, with severe consequences.  Murder is one of the well-known ten commandments and was prohibited even before the Mosaic Law as read about with Cain as an example. 

Murder is one of the four greatest sins, and it has never been done away with.  Taking a person's life is justified in:

  1. Execution for a crime of homicide or manslaughter.
  2. Protection of a family.
  3. In times of war.
  4. Possibly for betraying one's country that causes harm, that includes death, to one's country.

Many Biblical Scholars have given the title of the New all-encompassing Law, as the Law of the Holy Spirit.  The Law of the Holy Spirit has goals that are higher than the Mosaic Law because everything is based on Love, with God's Grace, and the Love is written on our hearts and minds because we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit when accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior.

Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace.
Hebrews 10:16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,”
John 13:34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

Three References

There are three primary scriptural references in the Bible which reference or appear to involve sacrificing a human being.  It important to understand what they mean and what they are teaching us as Believers. 

  1. Abraham and Isaac
  2. Jephthah's Daughter
  3. Jesus Christ

The following are scriptures against the sacrificing of a human being that should also be read and understood:

Lev 18:21 'You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the LORD.
Lev 20:1-5 1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “You shall also say to the sons of Israel: ‘Any man from the sons of Israel or from the aliens sojourning in Israel who gives any of his offspring to Molech, shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with stones. 3 ‘I will also set My face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given some of his offspring to Molech, so as to defile My sanctuary and to profane My holy name. 4 ‘If the people of the land, however, should ever disregard that man when he gives any of his offspring to Molech, so as not to put him to death, 5 then I Myself will set My face against that man and against his family, and I will cut off from among their people both him and all those who play the harlot after him, by playing the harlot after Molech.  (Moloch is the biblical name of a Canaanite god associated with child sacrifice.)
Deut 12:31 "You shall not behave thus toward the LORD your God, for every abominable act which the LORD hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.
Deut 18:10 "There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,

1st, Abraham and Isaac

The first is in the Book of Genesis where Abraham is instructed to take his son, Isaac, and offer him up as a burnt offering which is known as the Akedah ~ Binding.  In Genesis 22:2, God is instructing Abraham to take his only son, Isaac, to a location with the instruction to sacrifice him there.  The location that God has Abraham go to is the same location of the future death on the Cross by our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Notice God did not recognize Ishmael as a son of the promise to build "many nations".  Ishmael was born from Abraham's and Sarah's handmaiden Hagar.

Abraham was promised that his offspring would be as many as the sands of the sea, which many Biblical Scholars point to Abraham's mindset that he knew that God would either stop him as a sign of a test or have to raise Isaac from the dead.

Genesis 17:4 Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.
Genesis 22:2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.

Notice in Genesis 22, the chronological events that transpire. 

Genesis 22:6-8 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."

Points to consider:

  1. According to many Biblical Scholars, Isaac at the point was not a small boy but was most likely past the threshold of the Age of Accountability or maybe in his mid-twenties.  This is done by analysis of the time period in the surrounding passages and also because Isaac is the one carrying the wood, which a small boy could not have carried the required amount for a sacrifice to God.
  2. Notice that both Abraham and Isaac went in agreement just as it is written in Luke 22:42 "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."
  3. The key part of verse 8 is "God Himself" will provide the lamb.  The indication is very evident that Abraham fully expected that if had to carry through with this act then God would have to resurrect Isaac because of the promises that Abraham would have a son that would yield many nations.  Furthermore, Abraham was saying that he knew somehow God was going to provide a substitute for Isaac which points to prophecy of God doing that very thing through our Savior Jesus Christ (Himself).  This could not be an accident of scripture or speaking by Abraham.   Abraham did not withhold his son just as our Father does not withhold His Son Jesus Christ!  Romans 8:32 "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"

For more information on Abraham with Isaac, see this topic on the Location of the Crucifixion was the same location that Abraham was with Isaac.

Another point, that is often missed by many because how subtle, is there was three days from request of God to when Abraham is stopped from taking his son's life.  For those three days, Abraham had to consider his son to be possibly dead, but at the end of the three days, Abraham had his son restored.  This is a typology, a model, of what Jesus Christ did from being dead to the world for three days. 

2nd, Jephthah's Daughter in Judges 11

In Judges 10:6, we learn that Israel returns to doing evil in the eyes of the Lord, forsaking the Lord and no longer serving Him.  Therefore, the Lord gave Israel into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites, Judges 10:7.  Over the next few versus, Israel repents and pleads for God to save them where next they say amongst themselves that whomever leads in attacking the Ammonites will be the head over all who live in Gilead.  In Judges 11, Israel contacts Jephthah to be their leader and he accepts.  Jephthah does some initial communications with the King of Ammon to retreat to no avail.  The Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah to advance against the Ammonites.  The problem verse then happens in Judges 11:30.

Judges 11:30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 31 whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”

After the war is fought and Jephthah returns in Judges 11:34, Jephthah is greeted by his young daughter.  His daughter is the first to come out of the door of his house.  Jephtah makes her a promise to give the daughter 2 months before fulfilling his vow on her.  Next, we learn that whatever Jephthah does is done after two months.  In Judges 11:39 we read of the fate: "After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin."

  1. We know from other Scriptures that the Ammonites did sacrifice their offspring but Israel, when they followed God, did not.
  2. 18 Years before this event, God had severely chastened Israel for practicing the heathen paganistic rituals such as child sacrifice.  Note that we know that when King Saul tried to sacrifice his son Jonathan, his soldiers did not let him as we read in 1 Samuel 14:24-46.
  3. If Jephthah was going to actually try to sacrifice his daughter, then the question is where would he do it to be acceptable to the Lord.  It is absolutely reasonable to know that the Levitical Priests would not have let Jephthah to conduct it at the Tabernacle Alter, which is the only acceptable place of the Lord's.  Furthermore, Jephthah could not have travelled to the location of the Tabernacle Alger because it was in the territory controlled by the Eppraimites.   If Jephthah had gone there then a battle would have occurred and it would have been mentioned in the Biblical Text.
  4. Assuming that somehow Jephthah made it to the Tabernacle then God would not have accepted the offering because in Lev 13:10 we know that a burnt offering had to be male.
  5. If Jephthah additionally made it to Shiloh, then Jephthah would have learned that he could pay money to redeem his daughter as found in Lev 27:1-8, where Jephthah had the monetary wherewithal after the looting of the enemy's towns.
  6. The final answer to show that Jephthah's daughter was not sacrificed is threefold: 
    (a) If a man is Holy Spirited empowered, like Jephthah was, then God the Holy Spirit would not have made such a vow involving human sacrifice. 
    (b) Hebrew scholars point out that the words in the scripture indicated a conjunctive "and" or disjunction "or" which means that whatever met him when he returned home would be dedicated to the Lord (if a person) or sacrificed to the Lord (if an animal).  Note that if the animal was unclean then it could have been sacrificed
    (c) Notice also that the Scripture does not give any details about her death because it didn't happen.
  7. It appears what finally happens is the daughter is forced into a life of celibacy and not to be a mother which is dream of every Jewish woman at that time.
יא:ל וַיִּדַּ֨ר יִפְתָּ֥ח נֶ֛דֶר לַי-הֹוָ֖ה וַיֹּאמַ֑ר אִם 11:30 And Jephthah made the following vow to Yhwh: “If 
נָת֥וֹן תִּתֵּ֛ן אֶת בְּנֵ֥י עַמּ֖וֹן בְּיָדִֽי: יא:לא You deliver the Ammonites into my hands, 11:31 then 
וְהָיָ֣ה הַיּוֹצֵ֗א אֲשֶׁ֨ר יֵצֵ֜א מִדַּלְתֵ֤י בֵיתִי֙ whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me
לִקְרָאתִ֔י בְּשׁוּבִ֥י בְשָׁל֖וֹם מִבְּנֵ֣י עַמּ֑וֹן on my safe return from the Ammonites shall be Yhwh’s 
וְהָיָה֙ לַֽי-הֹוָ֔ה וְהַעֲלִיתִ֖הוּ עוֹלָֽה: and/or shall be offered by me as a burnt offering.”

3rd, Jesus Christ

At a very high level, the entire Bible is about:

  1. A plan to remedy the consequences of sin in mankind which separated us from God,
  2. Make a way to remove mankind's separation from God through the Messiah Jesus Christ, and
  3. Reveal the Purpose of all History. 

The remedy for the separation was an acceptable payment for the sins of the world which required nothing less than a blameless and perfect life ending in death by a sinless man.   No man could do this and it required our God to do it for us.  The plan of Jesus Christ on the Cross was in the mind of God from the beginning because God knew man would fail.  Read Isaiah Chapter 53 which reveals the prophecies of our Savior. 

John 11:50 nor do ye take account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.
John 3:16-21 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him. 18 He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, [h]that they have been wrought in God.

It is beyond our human understanding to:

  1. Fully comprehend our destiny without God.
  2. Understand the Gift of eternity with the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit made possible by the Cross. 

The priceless Gift given freely for those whose simply recognize the Event and ask Jesus Christ to be their Savior and accept the payment made by Him.  If you have not asked Jesus Christ to be your Savior then do so now. 

Isaiah 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

What to read next?

What is Salvation?  Is it possible to lose Salvation?  We have eternal life.  Evolution is not real.  When a Christian suffers is there benefits from it.  Rewards in heaven.  Do we Tithe?  What does the 3rd Commandment tell us?  What is Grace and Mercy?  Is there an Age of Accountability?  Is there a place of unending punishment and exile form God?