I have a question about human sacrifice in Scripture, please. I believe in the Bible and I am a Christian, of course. But the following verses do bother me, because they really do sound like human sacrifice:<\/p>\n
Isaiah 34:5-6 (about Edom): “The LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.”<\/p>\n
Scholars note that herem<\/em> language is close to dedicating something wholly to God, which is similar to the language of offering or sacrifice. (Deuteronomy 20 and I Samuel 15, etc)<\/p>\n“For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. “The righteous is delivered from trouble, and the wicked walks into it in his stead<\/strong>” (Proverbs 11:8).<\/p>\n “The wicked is a ransom <\/b>for the righteous, and the treacherous for the upright” (Proverbs 21:18).<\/p>\n\t A sacrifice is an offering\u00a0to<\/strong> God, the giving of something belonging to a person. It can be the giving of a possession, such as money or grain, or it can be the giving of the life of an animal.<\/p>\n “Draw near, O nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples! Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it. For the LORD’S indignation is against all the nations, And His wrath against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to slaughter. So their slain will be thrown out, and their corpses will give off their stench, and the mountains will be drenched with their blood.\u00a0And all the host of heaven will wear away, And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll; All their hosts will also wither away As a leaf withers from the vine, Or as one withers from the fig tree. For My sword is satiated in heaven, Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom And upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction. The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is sated with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.\u00a0Wild oxen will also fall with them, and young bulls with strong ones; Thus, their land will be soaked with blood, and their dust will become greasy with fat.\u00a0For the LORD has a day of vengeance, A year of recompense for the cause of Zion<\/em>” (Isaiah 34:1-8).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Lord was angry with all the nations, but Edom’s sins were particularly bad. The book of Obadiah details the sins of Edom. Thus, God declared that the nation would be “devoted for destruction.” “Anything devoted to destruction is most holy to the LORD. No one who may have been set apart among men shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death<\/em>” (Leviticus 27:8-9). Jericho, as the first city taken in the conquest of Canaan, was placed in this category (Joshua 6:17-19). The Amalekites were also placed in that category for their sins (I Samuel 15:2-3). This is why Saul and his men’s violation of the destruction was so heinous a crime (I Samuel 15:21). Benhadad, king of Syria, was devoted to destruction. Because the king of Israel let him go, he and his people were marked for death (I Kings 20:42). When God marks something for destruction, He is serious about it. This is not a sacrifice to God. God is removing evil from the world, and those who do His bidding are not allowed to profit from it in any way.<\/p>\n In describing the destruction of Edom, God used the imagery of sacrifices being made.<\/p>\n “But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel, ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. Since you are precious in My sight, since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life. Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar, and My daughters from the ends of the earth’<\/em>” (Isaiah 43:1-6).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n God promised to return Israel to their land. He accomplished it through the Persian kings. However, choices have consequences. To get Israel back, God had to set in motion events that would eventually lead to the Persians attacking Egypt and its neighbors. God assures Israel that He prefers them to these greater nations. These mighty nations would be sacrificed so that Israel could have its homeland back. Again, this is not God receiving sacrifices from men. God is the one directing this to be done. Now, the reason God was willing to do this is because Egypt and its neighbors were deep in sin, so to God it was a minor loss. This is an example of Proverbs 21:18 being put into practice by God. God will sacrifice the wicked to benefit the righteous.<\/p>\n Regarding Proverbs 11:8, many times, wicked people set traps to bring down the righteous. The righteous avoid trouble by carefully considering the results of their choices and consistently applying God’s wisdom in their decisions. In this way, the righteous avoid the traps set by the wicked. However, the wicked don’t care about the morality of their choices. Thus, the problems avoided by the righteous are the same problems into which the wicked run headlong, and their own traps often snare the wicked. “He who leads the upright astray in an evil way will himself fall into his own pit, but the blameless will inherit good<\/em>” (Proverbs 28:10).<\/p>\n None of these passages deals with humans offering other humans up as a sacrifice to God. God does execute justice that will result in the death of the wicked, but this is not human sacrifice. “Beware that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’ You shall not behave thus toward the LORD your God, for every abominable act which the LORD hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods<\/em>” (Deuteronomy 12:30-31).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I have a question about human sacrifice in Scripture, please. I believe in the Bible and I am a Christian, of course. But the following verses do bother me, because they really do sound like human sacrifice: Isaiah 34:5-6 (about Edom): “The LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[272,76],"class_list":["post-90197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-sacrifices","tag-terminology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10286,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-there-sacrifices-during-the-millennium\/","url_meta":{"origin":90197,"position":0},"title":"Are there sacrifices during the millennium?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 7, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Isaiah 6:1 refers to a heavenly temple. My question is: Is that in the future or during the millennium? Also, there are some scholars, such as Tim Lahaye, who teach that there will be sacrifices during the millennium. What are your thoughts on these matters? Answer: To answer your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":82440,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-isaiah-433-4-mean\/","url_meta":{"origin":90197,"position":1},"title":"What does Isaiah 43:3-4 mean?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can I please ask you to explain Isaiah 43:3-4 (NIV): \"For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12137,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-only-priests-allowed-to-offer-sacrifices\/","url_meta":{"origin":90197,"position":2},"title":"Were only priests allowed to offer sacrifices?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 3, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Were priests from the tribe of Levi the only ones who could lawfully offer sacrifices?\u00a0 If so, why did the Judges do them?\u00a0 Noticed that none of the Judges were from the tribe of Levi (using the information I have anyway).\u00a0 I am wondering about this in conjunction with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63413,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sacrifice-of-isaac\/","url_meta":{"origin":90197,"position":3},"title":"The Sacrifice of Isaac","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Genesis 22:1-14 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are stories that cause some concern because they involve the concept of sacrificing a human being to God. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They cause concern because the Bible is very clear about God\u2019s opinion on human sacrifices. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The slaying of humans invokes a death sentence\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8751,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/has-anyone-compiled-a-list-of-how-much-the-israelites-were-to-give\/","url_meta":{"origin":90197,"position":4},"title":"Has anyone compiled a list of how much the Israelites were to give?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Has anyone compiled a list of how much the Israelites were to give: tithes, offerings, firstlings, sacrifices, etc.? Answer: I assume from the way this question is worded that the desire is for a compilation of all the sacrifices and offerings that an Israelite would give under the law\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41837,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-the-skins-for-the-first-clothing-come-from-a-sacrifice\/","url_meta":{"origin":90197,"position":5},"title":"Did the skins for the first clothing come from a sacrifice?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Where did the\u00a0\"skins\" come from that God used to cloth Adam and Eve? Genesis 3:20-21. Did this skin come from an animal? Wouldn't this action by God be considered the\u00a0\"first\" sacrifice? Please clarify. Thank you. Answer: After God issued the punishments to Adam and Eve for their sin, he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90197\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI give Egypt as your ransom<\/strong>, Cush and Seba in exchange for you<\/strong>.
\nBecause you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you,
\nI give men in return for you<\/strong>, peoples in exchange<\/strong>\u00a0for your life” (Isaiah 43:3-4).\nAnswer:<\/h2>\n