Ingledsva said:
Actually most of the religions in that area practiced sacrifice, generally of crops and animals, but also the ultimate sacrifice to God, - a human. Which I might add - is what Christianity came up with in the Sacrificed Jesus story.
The first born that opened the womb, - were Sacrificed to Ba'al. The Hebrew originally followed these Gods and Goddesses, and they too Sacrificed the First Born Son.
We know they followed Goddess, as there is a verse saying they were better off when they follow her.
This is like a hodge-podge of sketchy deduction. And the 'goddess' reference is saying how they should not be worshipping other deities, you're getting it backward.
It is not hodge-podge or sketchy.
Exodus 22: 29 –Thou shalt not delay TO OFFER the FIRST of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors:
THE FIRSTBORN OF THY SONS SHALT THOU GIVE UNTO ME.
Leviticus 27: 28, 29 Notwithstanding
NO devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto the Lord of all that he hath,
BOTH OF MAN and beast, and of the field of his possession,
shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most holy unto the Lord.
29 –
None devoted, which shall be devoted of men shall be redeemed; BUT SHALL SURELY BE PUT TO DEATH.
From Catholic Encyclopedia -
"The custom of causing one's children to pass through the fire seems to have been general in the Northern Kingdom [IV (II) Kings, xvii, 17; Ezech. xxiii, 37], and it gradually grew in the Southern, encouraged by the royal example of Achaz (IV Kings, xvi, 3) and Manasses [IV (II) Kings, xvi, 6] till it became prevalent in the time of the prophet Jeremias (Jerem. xxxii, 35), when King Josias suppressed the worship of Moloch and defiled Tophet [IV (II) Kings, xxiii, 13 (10)]. It is not improbable that this worship was
revived under Joakim and continued until the Babylonian Captivity …"
“In the week's Torah portion, G-d says about the Mishkan( Tabernacle) "V'neekdash Bichvodi", I will be made holy in my honor (loosely translated). The Talmud says to read it that
"I will be made holy through my honored ones" referring to Aaron's 2 son's who were killed. Their death was part of the dedication of the Mishkan…”
Hypermail Torah-Forum Archive: Re: Human Sacrifice
Eze 20:26 And - I - polluted them in their own gifts, in that
they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.
Jewish Ritual Murder, a Historical Investigation, by Hellmut Schramm, Ph.D
THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF THE BELOVED SON
The Transformation of Child Sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity Jon D. Levenson
"Tracing from Canaanite to Christian thought the humiliations, deaths, and exaltations of sons and heirs, Levenson intrigues, astounds, and undermines many dearly held theological beliefs. This tour de force offers fascinating discussions of such matters as child sacrifice and the deity's right to the first-born; the paschal sacrifice and other Israelite rituals as symbolic substitutes for the son and heir."--A. J. Levine, Choice
Eze 23:37 That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery,
and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them.
2Ki 16:3
But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea,
and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel.
Nor does it matter what some thought of it. The facts are that the people kept right on worshiping the Goddess. Which is what I said.
Jer 7:17 Seest thou not
what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
Jer 7:18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes
to the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
**
Jer 44:17 But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth,
to burn incense unto the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her,
as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem:
for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.
Jer 44:18
But since we left off to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her,we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
**
And of course 1 & 2 Kings and 1 &2 Chronicles tell us the same thing.
They were trying to force them into ONE God worship, - on pain of DEATH.
And the KINGS and the PEOPLE turned back to their Goddess and God anyway.
Over and Over they slaughtered their own people to force a new religion on them.
*
