Child Sacrifice in the Old Testament

[Mudhammam]

Ezekiel 20 points to the fact that God allowed other nations and their statues to rule over His people because they had lost their way. It was basically like "you really want to see if the grass is greener? By all means and don't let the door hit you on the way out."

Exodus 20 is about the dedication of priests to the Levites. It has been assumed that it was not an actual tribe per say but a caste of those suited for priestly duties. I assume that was why there was a tithe as these priests had to forsake their inheritance to take on their roles. I'm not sure if marriage was allowed or not for the priests.

The Israelites emerged from Canaanite culture, many still embracing polytheism and some heinous practices, among which was child sacrifice. Only later on through the development and refinement of their texts did the Hebrew people mainstream a monotheistic deity and abolish a few horrible traditions (while keeping many others).

---

Keep reading cherry picker:

Human, the Lord has told you what goodness is.
This is what he wants from you:
Be fair to other people.
Love kindness and loyalty,
and humbly obey your God.

Your verses repersent man asking God what he should do to meet Him.

Verse 8 is the answer.

The short version verse 6&7 "God should we do these things to meet you?"

Verse 8: "no just follow the two greatest commands."


To the second point you made I ask the following,
Did Abraham sacrifice Isaac?
Why? Answer from God: there was no need.

Funny, nothing in there even attempts to repudiate the mere fact that these men even contemplated the act; neither of them seem particularly repulsed by it either. And why should Yahweh's sanctioning of child sacrifice surprise you? Didn't he kill David and Bathsheba's child because of their sexual primiscuities? The whole point of the Abraham and Isaac myth is to express to the Hebrews that killing their children was no longer required. To quote the work of Hector Avalos, prominent biblical scholar "Jon D. Levenson states that "only at a particular stage rather late in the history of Israel was child sacrifice branded as counter to the will of YHWH and thus ipso facto idolatrous." The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993), p. 5. Susan Niditch, in War in the Hebrew Bible: A Study in the Ethics of Violence (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993) says, “While there is considerable controversy about the matter, the consensus over the last decade concludes that child sacrifice was a part of ancient Israelite religion to large segments of Israelite communities of various periods.” p. 47. S. Ackerman argues that within the ancient Israelite community, “the cult of child sacrifice was felt in some circles to be a legitimate expression of Yawistic faith.”