Who could offer his life? No-one has to die to repent.
Capital crimes in Israel meant the death sentence. With death hanging over their heads as the punishment was carried out swiftly, there was little time for repentance. If you took a life, you paid for it with your own. Adam gave his children a dreadful genetic inheritance which sentenced every last one of them to suffer the same penalty as he did. His death paid for his own sin....Jesus' death pays for the sin of all his offspring.
The meaning of 'eye for an eye' &c. is that the punishment should fit the crime. For instance, a fine.
That is true, but a life taken in recompense is not just a fine, is it? A life for a life meant equivalency. No one was perfect or sinless after Adam's disobedience and expulsion from Eden. So God provided his own trusted son to fulfill the role of redeemer. Jesus was fully human but Adam was not his father....nor was Joseph, who knew where Jesus' life originated.
If a man sold his son into service to pay a debt, and he came into money, he could then provide the means to release his son from service. But if a benevolent friend provided the the price of the debt, the son would be released all the same. As long as the payment met the debt, it mattered not to the debtor who paid it.
There is no 'manner' of Melchizedek. Here it is from Chabad:
The Lord swore and will not repent; you are a priest forever because of the speech of Malchizedek.
And it's not about the Messiah.
Well, Christians believe it is.
Melchizedek was King of ancient Salem and “priest of the Most High God”. (
Genesis 14:18, 22) He is the first priest mentioned in the Scriptures; he occupied that position sometime prior to 1933 B.C.E. Being the king of Salem, which means “Peace,”
Melchizedek is identified by the apostle Paul as “King of Peace” and, on the basis of his name, as “King of Righteousness.” (
Heb 7:1, 2) Ancient Salem is understood to have been the nucleus of the later city of Jerusalem, and its name was incorporated in that of Jerusalem, which is sometimes referred to as “Salem.” (
Psalm 76:2)
In a Messianic prophecy the sworn oath of God to David’s “Lord” is:
“You are a priest to time indefinite according to the manner of Melchizedek!” (
Psalm 110:1, 4) Who is David's "Lord"? This inspired psalm gave the Hebrews reason to regard the promised Messiah as the one in whom the office of priest and king would be combined.
The apostle Paul, in the letter to the Hebrews, removed any doubt about the identity of the one foretold, speaking of
“Jesus, who has become a high priest according to the manner of Melchizedek forever.” (
Hebrews 6:20; 5:10)
This is the Christian view.
G-d never required a human sacrifice for anything; not for Adam, not for anyone. Offerings were brought and animals and grain sacrifices made. People could also repent with prayer.
How many of Israel's sacrifices involved blood offerings? (Leviticus 9) Why do the religious Jews no longer offer blood sacrifice? Has the law changed? If it is God's law to offer these things to atone for sin, and there is no longer a temple at which to offer them, why do you think God never commanded another temple to be built? Why is Jerusalem a place of conflict and not peace as its name suggests? Could it be that God no longer resides there?
Jesus was blemished by being circumcised, by being beaten, bloody and bruised. Also, again, according to Torah, humans cannot ever be sacrificed. G-d condemns this multiple times in the Law and the Prophets.
Jesus was beaten by the Romans because the Jews falsely accused him of breaking their law, which he never did.....even Pilate found him innocent of any charge requiring the death penalty, washing his hands of Jesus blood. His blood was on the hands of his accusers.
Jewish law required that all males be circumcised. Jesus was a Jew under Jewish law. Do you view circumcision as a blemish? Does God?
This in no way justifies a human sacrifice though.
It was not a human sacrifice in the same way as pagan nations appeased their gods. Like Israel did when they fell to sacrificing their children to Molech. (Jeremiah 7:31-32)
A sacrifice in Israel was giving something to God that was of value to you. The more valuable the gift, the more it demonstrated a person's love and appreciation for all that God had given them. If a sacrifice doesn't cost you something, it isn't a sacrifice at all. That is what makes an offering a sacrifice.....instead of just a ritual.
