Under the Rules of Catholicism, the Vast Majority of People Are Going to Hell

[Tea Earl Grey Hot]

You're not looking at the Bible critically. You're assuming all these stories and law codes came together in the same sequence of the events as it reads plainly in the Bible as it exists today. Sorry, that's not how it happened. The OT draws from a variety of different sources from different eras of Israel's history. You cannot simply appeal to the traditions of Israel to rule out that child sacrifice is happening here because the story could be from a much earlier period and the traditions from a later period.

To say "the text can't be possibly be implying that because of these traditions" is to assume the bible has no contradictions. The Bible was not written and recorded in the fairy tale way you believe it was.

Nice try, But...

We know the Pentatuch was written first. why is this important? Because in these first five books contained the law. The laws that establish the need for sacerfice/offerings and how they were to be carried out. Judges came after. Meaning Jep's efforts would fall under the law.

The story itself may have roots earlier.