What Are We to Make of Human Sacrifices in the Bible?

When examining the Bible, there can be certain texts and concepts that are challenging and difficult, because they run counter to the values of Christ. Sometimes there are stories or accounts of actions done by people the Bible seems to be lauding as heroes, or an order from YAWEH to wipe out a people group, and without proper context these moments can cause someone to misunderstand what God is trying to communicate in His word.

An example of this in the Bible is when there are accounts of human sacrifice. There are cases of people who seem to be on God’s side sacrificing their children, or God seeming to order it. Other times there are moments where history has shown a culture God ordered eliminated was practicing human sacrifice.

Understanding the true context of accounts of human sacrifice in the Bible can illuminate the deep evil of the human heart, the extensive love of God, and the greatness of the Gospel.

Abraham and Isaac

Abraham and Sarah had waited decades for a son. They finally had Isaac when Abraham was one-hundred-years-old, and Sarah was ninety. Years later, God called Abraham to offer Isaac up as a burnt sacrifice. Abraham obeyed, and took his son to the top of Mount Moriah, bound him, and was prepared to kill Isaac. But God stopped him. Instead, he provided a ram as a substitute. Abraham named the place “The Lord Will Provide.”

“After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’  He said, ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you….But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.’ And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son” (Genesis 22:1-2, 11-13).

This passage holds deep significance for Christians. Many of the cultures around Abraham sacrificed their children, including in the land of Ur where Abraham was from. When God put a stop to the sacrifice of Isaac, He effectively communicated to Abraham and his descendants that He would not accept it. Centuries later, He also instituted the sacrificial system where an animal’s blood was an acceptable – if insufficient – substitute to cover the price of sin.

Jephthah’s Daughter

During the period of the Judges, Israel was under constant attack. Jephthah was an illegitimate son, and his siblings drove him out to live among the pagans. Eventually, he was called upon to protect Gilead and Israel from Moab and the Ammonites, to which he responded. God was going to help him again, but in foolishness Jephthah promised to sacrifice whatever came out of the door first after the victory. When God helped him defeat the Ammonites, his only daughter came out. So he sacrificed her.

“Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, ‘If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering’...Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter.  And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, ‘Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow’” (Judges 11:29-31, 34-35).

Many people interpret the Book of Judges as a series of heroes defeating villains in the name of the Lord; looked at it in total, the Book of Judges is how the nation of Israel moved further and further away from God, and fell under the leadership of flawed and sinful people. Some men were blessed by God, like Jephthah, but they succumbed to temptation. Jephthah’s sacrifice of his daughter was not pleasing to the Lord. It came from pride, arrogance, and foolishness. He also spent a great deal of time with people who were not Israelites, absorbing their culture, and paid a heavy price.

Cultures in Canaan

The land of Canaan was filled with people who rejected the ways of God. Even after they saw what the God of the Hebrews did in Egypt with the 12 plagues, they refused to obey Him. After they were pushed out of the land, or inter-married, they refused to give up their gods or their practices. The worship of other gods often included human sacrifice, including the sacrifice of children. God hated these practices, and when the people who did them refused to give up their idol worship and evil deeds, God issued justice through the nation of Israel. These false gods included Baal, Molech, and Ashtoreth.

“You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord”  (Leviticus 18:21).

“And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech” (2 Kings 23:10).

These passages are very clear rebukes of the practice of human sacrifice, as God told His people in no uncertain terms that His people were not to participate in the sacrifice. Sometimes the Israelites would succumb to sin and begin to worship foreign gods, and the nation would suffer for it. Many of the cultures God would help the Israelites defeat would sacrifice people.

Jesus on the Cross

Because humanity sinned against God, they were condemned under righteous justice, unable to stand before His holiness. The sacrificial system was imperfect, and over time people would corrupt it, exploiting the system or relying on their own goodness. To perfectly forgive the sins of people, a perfect price needed to be paid. Only the blood of someone sinless could truly absolve all people of their sins, if they would accept it. The Word of God, the Son in the Godhead, came to earth and lived that perfect life, and allowed himself to be the perfect sacrifice.

“And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’” (Matthew 27:50-54).

“After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, ‘I thirst!’ Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth.  So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit” (John 19:28-30).

While Jesus’ death on the cross may be seen in a lens as a form of human sacrifice, it is not. The Hebrews and Romans did not offer Jesus up as a sacrifice to God or their gods, rather they executed Him. Since Jesus was both fully God and fully man, He was not helplessly sacrificed, but willingly laid Himself down. Rather than a vain effort to appease a deity by taking away someone else’s life for personal gain, the Bible is clear that Jesus gave up His spirit so that His Father could wipe away the ledger of sin in the life of each person who put their faith in Him.

Throughout human existence, people have killed others in a vain attempt to appease non-existent gods, or because they misunderstood the will of the true God. When picking a people who would carry out His will, obey His law, and be a shining city on a hill for the world, He instituted a policy against human sacrifice. The only death that ever truly mattered was the one God made willingly. Jesus’ death was self-sacrifice, closer to a soldier dying on a battlefield than a child laid on an altar to Molech.

Despite all the evil of the world, the death and resurrection of Jesus defeated death forever, unlike human sacrifice, which did nothing. Sacrifice to idols is meaningless, but faith in Jesus Christ is the one way to eternal life.

“As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12).

Sources

Day, John. Molech A God of Sacrifice in the Old Testament. Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Walvoord, John F. and Roy B. Zuck. The Bible Knowledge Commentary An Exposition of the Scriptures by Dallas Seminary Old Testament and New Testament. United States of America: Victor Books, 1987.

Wilmington, H.L. Wilmington’s Guide to the Bible. Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, 1981.

Dietmar Neufeld, J.R.C. Cousland, Paul C. Burns, Richard Menkis, Vita Daphna. Not Sparing the Child Human Sacrifice in the Ancient World and Beyond. London: Bloomsbury, 2015.

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Deagreez

Bethany Verrett is a freelance writer who uses her passion for God, reading, and writing to glorify God. She and her husband have lived all over the country serving their Lord and Savior in ministry. She has a blog on graceandgrowing.com.