The God mystery versus each: empire, killing people, and bad
choices
Preface
Dear reader, the footnotes, especially early ones that
explain my words, are critical to understanding my conjecture about ancient
opinion. We have the conundrum that I don’t know enough to appeal to your
opinion, and you don’t know if you are interested in mine. I write opinion
because I do not know the ineluctable[1]
truth. I seek your aid toward understanding what humankind has discovered so
far.
This article is long, because when
I site the Bible, I quote, so that the reader does not have to look it up. Blue
letters indicate quotation of the cited Bible passage. Grey highlights killing humans
to sacrifice them. Yellow highlights my direct comments on quoted scripture. White-letters-on-mauve
highlights event dates as number of years before 2024. I use names from the
Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) for reliability to one source, published in 1998.
During the time I worked on this article I have accepted that for the past
seven decades my life has been guided by Yeshua’s civic influence. Consequently,
many “Jesus” entries changed to “Yeshua”
Merely accepting that I wanted to
write this essay was a challenge, yet I knew I must undertake it. Little did I
expect today’s discovery. I previously searched the Internet for statistics on
Jesus’ impact to the good[2].
I had guessed that, while only 1/3 of inhabitants claim Christianity, 80
percent of the world’s population appreciates Jesus’ influence to the good, considering
religious categories. However, the number of translations allow a growing 91%
of inhabitants to pursue the Bible.[3]
Interest in Yeshua is relatively new and previously to Messianic Jews[4].
Introduction
Does the theme “the God[5]
versus empire” parallel the good versus killing humans[6]
and the good versus bad behavior? Is the God a construct humankind experiences
and observes, in order to imagine and pursue the good? Among these themes, it
seems the complete Bible[7]
abstractly rebukes humankind’s bemusement to kill humans – to conduct people on
people war. Generations[8]
heretofore have left to “ourselves and our Posterity”[9]
the opportunity to establish responsible appreciation to human life; for
example, to end global accommodation of killing. It is my privilege to accept
the challenge, and I hope fellow citizens will join the cause.
When I was a child, my parents and
their community expressed that the Bible was the word of God. They wanted me to
master it, so as to save my soul. I soon accepted that I can choose the good in
living but cannot impact the mystery of soul. In the year 2024, Bible readers
seem to be asking what salvation means. I hope to show that Yeshua said, “Do
not wrong -- perfectly.”
In my early
80s, just 2 years’ into return to University Baptist Church, Baton Rouge, LA --
given 27 years’ hiatus for self-directed study and experience, I accept that
the UBC body of believers, past and present, empower astonishing discoveries/suggestions.
The most recent epiphany to me is that among other functions the Bible
abstractly reflects humankind’s struggle
to stop accommodating the killing of innocent human beings. This essay presents
“human sacrifice” as killing the innocent and suggests that it’s alright for
humankind to pursue Yeshua’s civic influence more than his body and blood. Even
if he is the Messiah, Yeshua’s civic influence is to the good.
Before Yeshua’ I am,
Avram’s Semitic ancestors worshipped diverse idols in Sumerian Ur
Sumer[10],
the polytheistic civilization understood as the first to write grammatically,
had all-powerful kings. Accepting the Gods’ neglect of the world, they invented
and developed primitive human responsibility to the good through codes of law, perhaps
beginning with the code of Ur-Nammu.[11]
But sometimes, a king arrogantly killed servants for, or in (buried alive), a
royal tomb. Research and collaboration, accelerated by the Internet, continues,
regarding how and when each “sacrificed” servant was killed. “Our best-sourced occurrences are the archaeological
remains from the royal death pits at Early Dynastic Ur (c. 2600–2450 BCE).”[12]
I express the time, 5500 years ago (YA). Perhaps
that era predates Avram.
The Sumerian law codes, perhaps unintentionally, imply that
the gods, busy in their world, leave humankind responsible for order to the
earth. The codes primitively authorize the civic faction to constrain dissidents,
rebels, and villains, where “civic”
means reliable responsibility to the good in human connections and
transactions. Successive Sumerian kings improved the codes and civic citizens
collaborated until the Babylonians (Amorites) conquered them[13], 3774 YA.
Semites, drawn to competitive monotheism expressed the Sumerian political philosophy in Genesis 1:26-28: humankind may and can rule to thegood on
earth.
Then God said, “Let
us make humankind in our image, in the likeness of ourselves; and let them rule
over the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the animals, and over all the
earth, and over every crawling creature that crawls on the earth.” So
God created humankind in his own image; in the image of God he created him:
male and female he created them. God blessed them: God
said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over
the fish in the sea, the birds in the air and every living creature that crawls
on the earth.
I think it is instructive to delete phrases
and produce one sentence from three: Let us make humankind in our image
. . . and let them rule . . . male and female . . . fill the earth and subdue
it. Rule over [life on earth]”. If this is the God’s message, how
may and can each a person, a society, and humankind respond? What does the complete
Bible suggest?
We understand, 3984 YA, Avram, a Semite, was born to Terach, who subsequently had 2 more sons,
Nahor and Haran. “Haran died before his father
Terach in the land where he was born, in Ur of the Kasdim.” Hebrew
debate suggests Haran had been burnt (sacrificed?) in “the fire of the Chaldeans”[14] and
that Avram, in Ur, started the fire, in order to destroy Terah’s idol shop.[15] Perhaps their departure was during
the reign of King Ur-Nammu or Ibbi-Sin[16] and a declining Ur -- before
Hammurabi ruled Sumer. “The mighty
king, king of Babylon, king of the Four Regions of the World, king of Sumer and
Akkad, into whose power the god Bel has given over land and people, in whose
hand [Bel] has placed the reins of government.”[17]
Afterwards, “Terach took his son Avram, his son
Haran’s son Lot, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Avram’s wife; and they
left Ur of the Kasdim to go to the land of Kena‘an. But when they came to
Haran, they stayed there. Terach . . . died in
Haran.” Hebrew debate cited above questions
Avram leaving an aging, idol-worshipping (some say morally dead) father in
Haran.
If Terach with Avram left Ur because kings sacrificed
people to royal burials, it suggests creative movement away from empire toward
personal choice. But independent Terach, after leaving polytheistic
Mesopotamia, continued idol worship despite Avram’s curiosity about the laws of
physics, so called nature’s god.[18] “In antiquity
your ancestors lived on the other side of the [Euphrates] River — Terach the
father of Avraham and Nachor — and they served other gods.”
The pointlessness of idolatry is to imagine personal advantage by appealing to
egocentric mystery; it’s an internal, circular self-defeat. Avram pursued self-reliance
and later changed his name to Avraham, to celebrate “progress”, not recognizing
that monotheism is competitive.
Transitioning to competitive
monotheism
As
we saw above, Avram was reared an idolater. But his adult transitioned to
competitive monotheism. Ambitious but barren and destined to leave his fortune
to civil rules -- “Eli‘ezer from Dammesek inherits my
possessions”,
Avram, 3909 YA, imagined achieving the wealth and power his ancestors
enjoyed, so he left Haran to move on to Kena‘an. He would forego
belief in polytheism. He worshipped his
god without killing humans in the fire. “He
believed in Adonai,
[who] credited it to him as righteousness.”
However, hereditary belief in bargaining with the gods was so strong Avram employed
alternative fire-sacrifices. He would kill and burn “a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old female goat, a
three-year-old ram, a dove and a young pigeon”
to provide “sweet smells” to Adonai. Killing so many domestic animals is
expensive, even if the family consumes the meat. Avarm may have deemed the
animal slaughter equivalent to killing a human. [About 3034 YA, King David continued the tradition of animal sacrifice. “So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for
one-and-a-quarter pounds of silver shekels. David built an altar to Adonai there and offered
burnt offerings and peace offerings. After this, Adonai took pity on the
land and lifted the plague from Isra’el.”
Yet David “sacrificed” a man to take his wife; see below.
Returning
to Avram, soon, there was famine, so he took his family to Egypt but created shame
and had to flee. They ended up south of the Dead Sea. There, Avram, 3898 YA, chose to impregnate his wife’s maid. “Avram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she conceived.”
The infidelity so conflicted spousal unity that when Sarai later became
pregnant, she cast out the maid and her son, blaming Avram. His infidelity so
burdened Avram that when Sarai’s son was 15 years old, Avram plotted secretly
to kill their son, Yitz’chak. On the
way, “Yitz’chak . . . said, “I see the
fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
When they reached the high place, “Avraham built the altar . . . set
the wood in order, bound Yitz’chak his son and laid him on the altar, on the
wood. Then Avraham put out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.” Yitz’chak
was screaming! “Dad, this will be murder!” Avraham stopped and murmured, “The
horror! The horror!”
Avram’s choice, animal, bird, and
grain sacrifice to end human ceremonial-killing, is a first event in the
Bible’s suggestion that bargaining with the God is futile. In circumstances
that weakened his resolve, Avram reconsidered human killing for sacrifice. His
son helped him realize it would be murder: Avram responded. Yet the shared horror
lived on between the two men.
Unexpected consequences from Avraham’s failure
Avraham’s ancestors were Semites
whose descendants became Israelites, and an actual human sacrifice occurred to
an Israelite son in Avraham’s fourth generation.
“Avraham
fathered Yitz’chak. The sons of Yitz’chak: ‘Esav and Isra’el.” “These are the sons of Isra’el:
Re’uven, Shim‘on, Levi, Y’hudah, Yissakhar, Z’vulun, Dan, Yosef, Binyamin,
Naftali, Gad and Asher.” “Two sons were born to Yosef [who] called the
firstborn M’nasheh [causing to forget], ‘Because God has caused me to forget
all the troubles I suffered at the hands of my family.’ The second he
called Efrayim [fruit], ‘For God has made me fruitful in the land of my
misfortune.’” “M’nasheh was twelve years old when he began his
reign, and he ruled for fifty-five years in Yerushalayim.. . . . He
made his son pass through the fire [as a sacrifice].”
Note: 3687 YA Isra’el died then 3623 YA Josef died.
I’ve
never heard this story preached but am not everywhere all the time. Perhaps
seminaries pass over it because it does not have the details like in Avraham’s
temptation to murder his son. However, it is
tragic that only 4 generations later, an ancestor of Yeshua effected obsolete
killing to bargain with “a strange god”. M’nasheh
reformed:
He removed the foreign gods and the idol from
the house of Adonai and all the altars he had
built on the hill of the house of Adonai and in Yerushalayim, and
threw them out of the city. He repaired the altar of Adonai and offered on it sacrifices
as peace offerings and for thanksgiving; and he ordered Y’hudah to serve Adonai the God of
Isra’el. However, the people continued sacrificing on the high places,
although only to Adonai their God.
I think “high
places” refers to idolatry altars. If so, it implies that elites learn from
mistakes but don’t share the lessons. Empires are like that. Churches are like
that. Yeshua resisted church and competitive theism resists his influence to
the good.
Burning women and infants: a hard-to-break, ancient-Mesopotamian habit
Mr. Kenneth Way, in “The Horror and Splendor of Human Sacrifice”,
2012[19], perhaps reliably lists Old Testament incidents of human killing
for sacrifices in competitive theism. I use Way’s references and categories to
further develop the shocking human killing cited therein. If we missed an
incident (I added one), please let me know.
1. Major lessons against bargaining/negotiating with thegod:
a. Judges 11:30-40 CJB; Yiftach [Jephthah] made a vow to Adonai: If you will hand the people of ‘Amon over to me, then whatever comes out the
doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the people of
‘Amon will belong to Adonai; I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.” So Yiftach
crossed over to fight the people of ‘Amon, and Adonai handed them over to him. He killed them from
‘Aro‘er until you reach Minnit, twenty cities, all the way to Avel-K’ramim; it
was a massacre. So the people of ‘Amon were defeated before the people of
Isra’el. [Note: this story expresses a
man bargaining to kill his daughter for favor from a mystery he believes. The
silent mystery plays no role in the negotiation – it’s all in the killer’s mind.
Would Yiftach’s advice in Judges 11: 24 hold? “You
should just keep the territory your god K’mosh has given you; while we . .
.hold onto whatever Adonai our God has given us.”This is competitive monotheism in action. Polytheism may
have fared better, because nature’s gods, such as the sun, yield to discovery
of the laws of physics. Mythical gods were shared by most civilizations and
fell into history’s trashing.]
As Yiftach was
returning to his house in Mitzpah, his daughter came dancing out to meet him with tambourines. She was his only child; he had no
other son or daughter. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Oh, no,
my daughter! You’re breaking my heart! Why must you be the cause of such pain
to me? I made a vow to Adonai, and I can’t go back on my word.” She said to him,
“Father, you made a vow to Adonai; so do whatever you said you would do to me;
because Adonai did take vengeance on your enemies the people of ‘Amon. [Typically,
the man blames the woman for his folly.]
Then she said to her father, “Just do this one thing for me —
let me be alone for two months. I’ll go away into the mountains with my friends
and mourn, because I will die without getting married.” “You may go,” he
answered, and he sent her away for two months. She left, she and her friends,
and mourned in the mountains that she would die unmarried. After two months she
returned to her father, and he did with her what he had vowed; she had remained
a virgin. [That marriage to woman is more important than life is
male folly.]
So it became a law in Isra’el that the women of Isra’el would go
every year for four days to lament the daughter of Yiftach from Gil‘ad. [Unintentionally
celebrating her father’s folly. Tolerating injustice bemuses a society. Unjust
law taints the Torah and that’s why Hebrews continually improve it.]
b. Deuteronomy 20:16-20 (suggested by PRB); “As for the towns of these peoples,
which Adonai your God is giving you as your
inheritance, you are not to allow anything that breathes to live. Rather
you must destroy them completely — the Hitti, the Emori, the Kena‘ani, the
P’rizi, the Hivi and the Y’vusi — as Adonai your God has ordered
you; so that they won’t teach you to follow their abominable practices,
which they do for their gods, thus causing you to sin against Adonai your God.” [This abject tyranny is offered by its author as an
excuse for his villany and in no way represents Genesis 1:26-28’s call to
pursue order to the earth. Human being (noun modifying verb)[20] rejects a writer’s tyranny and rebukes the unrepentant villain.]
2. Forbidden to Semites -- before Jacob
(was re-named) Israel
a.
Leviticus 18:21; You
are not to let any of your children be sacrificed to Molekh, thereby profaning the name
of your God; I am Adonai. [It does not
follow that sacrificing children to Adonai is
good.]
b. Leviticus 20:1-5; Adonai said to Moshe, “Say to
the people of Isra’el, ‘If someone from the people of Isra’el or one of the
foreigners living in Isra’el sacrifices one of his children to Molekh, he must be put to
death; the people of the land are to stone him to death. I too will set myself
against him and cut him off from his people, because he has sacrificed his child to
Molekh, defiling my sanctuary and profaning my holy name. If the people
of the land look the other way when that man sacrifices his child to Molekh and
fail to put him to death, then I will set myself against him, his family and
everyone who follows him to go fornicating after Molekh, and cut them off from
their people. [The writer
portrays Adonai
more concerned with god competition than with child sacrifice.]
c.
Deuteronomy 12:29-31; When Adonai your God has cut off ahead of
you the nations you are entering in order to dispossess, and when you have
dispossessed them and are living in their land; be careful, after they have
been destroyed ahead of you, not to be trapped into following them; so that you
inquire after their gods and ask, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I
want to do the same.’ You must not do this to Adonai your God! For they have done
to their gods all the abominations that Adonai hates! They even burn up their sons
and daughters in the fire for their gods!
d. Deuteronomy 18:9-11; When you enter the land Adonai your God is giving you, you
are not to learn how to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There
must not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through fire, a
diviner, a soothsayer, an enchanter, a sorcerer, a spell-caster, a consulter of
ghosts or spirits, or a necromancer.
i.
(PRB added a seeming double contradiction) Genesis
22:1-2 After these things, God tested
Avraham. He said to him, “Avraham!” and he answered, “Here I am.” He said,
“Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Yitz’chak; and go to the land of
Moriyah. There you are to offer
him as a burnt offering . . . He
said, “Don’t lay your hand on the boy! Don’t do anything to him! For now I know
that you are a man who fears God, because you have not withheld your son, your
only son, from me.” [The writer depicts God as deceitful and willing for the
boy to be bound and see the father’s knife over him, which seems unseemly and
unreliable writing. Yet I don’t know
God’s justice. The Deuteronomy 18 passage casts blame on Avraham for not
responding to the test “in God’s image” per Genesis 1:26-28.]
3. Hebrew practices, settlement, 3422 YA, to exile,
2746 YA
a.
Judges 11:30-40, quoted above.
b.
1 Kings 16:34 It was during his time that Hi’el of Beit-El rebuilt Yericho.
He laid its foundation at the cost of his firstborn son Aviram and erected its
gates at the cost of his youngest son S’guv. This was in keeping with the word
of Adonai spoken
through Y’hoshua the son of Nun. See
Joshua 6, below.
i.
Joshua 6:26-27 Y’hoshua
then made the people take this oath: “A curse before Adonai on
anyone who rises up and rebuilds this city of Yericho: he will lay its
foundation with the
loss of his firstborn son and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest
son.” So Adonai was with Y’hoshua, and people heard
about him throughout the land.
c. 2 Kings 16:2-3 Achaz was twenty years old when he began to
rule, and he reigned sixteen years in Yerushalayim. But he did not do what was
right from the perspective of Adonai his God, as David his
ancestor had done. Rather, he lived in the manner of the kings of Isra’el;
he even made his son
pass through fire [as a sacrifice], in keeping with the abominable
practices of the pagans, whom Adonai had thrown out ahead of the
people of Isra’el.
d.
2 Kings 17:17-19 [The
people of Isra’el] had their sons and daughters pass through fire [as a
sacrifice]. They used divination and magic spells. And they gave
themselves over to do what was evil from Adonai’s
perspective, thereby provoking him; so that Adonai, by
now very angry with Isra’el, removed them from his sight. None was left except
the tribe of Y’hudah alone. (However, neither did Y’hudah obey the mitzvot [instruction] of Adonai their God; rather they lived
according to the customs of Isra’el.) [This implies that
Isra’el did not observe the Torah. ]
e.
2 Kings 21:1-6 M’nasheh was twelve years old when he began his
reign, and he ruled for fifty-five years in Yerushalayim . . . He did what
was evil from Adonai’s perspective, following the
disgusting practices of the nations whom Adonai had expelled ahead of the
people of Isra’el. For he rebuilt the high places Hizkiyahu his father had
destroyed; he erected altars for Ba‘al and made an asherah, as had
Ach’av king of Isra’el; and he worshipped all the army of heaven and served
them. [As though polytheism applied to
heaven rather than sheer speculation.] He erected altars in the house of Adonai, about which Adonai had said, “In Yerushalayim I
will put my name.” He erected altars for all the army of heaven in the two
courtyards of the house of Adonai. He made his son pass through the fire [as a sacrifice].
He practiced soothsaying and divination and appointed mediums and persons who
used spirit guides. He did much that was evil from Adonai’s perspective, thus provoking him
to anger. [See also 2 Chronicles 33:1, 6, below.]
f.
2 Kings 23:10 [King Yoshiyahu (Josiah, David’s son)] desecrated the Tofet fire pit in the Ben-Hinnom
Valley, so that no one could cause his son or daughter to pass through fire [as a
sacrifice] to Molekh. [The objection seems to Molekh
rather than to child sacrifice.]
g.
2 Chronicles 28:1-4 Achaz was twenty years old when he
began his reign, and he ruled sixteen years in Yerushalayim. But he did not do
what was right from the perspective of Adonai, as David his ancestor had done.
Rather, he lived in the manner of the kings of Isra’el and made cast metal
images for the ba‘alim. Moreover, he made offerings in the
Ben-Hinnom Valley and even burned up his own children as sacrifices, in keeping with the
horrible practices of the pagans, whom Adonai had thrown out ahead of the
people of Isra’el. He also sacrificed and offered on the high places, on the
hills and under any green tree. [Achaz was the 12th
king of Judah and in the genealogy of Yeshua. He died 2751 YA.]
h.
2 Chronicles 33:1,6 M’nasheh was twelve years old when he began his
reign, and he ruled for fifty-five years in Yerushalayim. He made his children pass
through the fire [as a sacrifice] in the Ben-Hinnom Valley. [Reported above.]
i.
Ps 106:37-38, lamenting failures of the people
rescued from exile in Egypt and descendants. “They even sacrificed their sons and their
daughters to demons. Yes, they shed innocent blood, the blood of their own sons
and daughters, whom they sacrificed to Kena‘an’s [Cannan’s] false gods, polluting the land with
blood.” [A theorist beyond JEDP[21] might suggest why this author admits that killing and blood precede
“sacrifice”, usually in the fire.]
j.
Isaiah 57:5 You go into heat among the oak trees, under
every spreading tree. You
kill the children in the valleys under the cracks in the rocks. [Suggests ancient late-term-abortion-on-demand.]
k.
Jeremiah 7:30-31 For the people of Y’hudah have done what is
evil from my perspective,” says Adonai; “they have set up their
detestable things in the house which bears my name, to defile it. They have
built the high places of Tofet in the Ben-Hinnom Valley, to burn their sons and
daughters in the fire, something I never ordered; in fact, such a thing
never even entered my mind! [This
passage laments the Hebrew culture.]
l.
Jeremiah 19:5-7 They have built the high places of Ba‘al, in order to burn up their children in
the fire as burnt offerings to Ba‘al — something I never ordered or
said; it never even entered my mind. “Therefore the time is coming,” says Adonai, “when this place will no longer be called either
Tofet or the Ben-Hinnom Valley, but the Valley of Slaughter. I will
nullify the plans of Y’hudah and Yerushalayim in this place. I will have them
fall by the sword before their enemies and at the hand of those seeking their
lives, and I will give their corpses as food for the birds in the air and the
wild animals.” [Adonai’s objection seems to Ba‘al rather than to child sacrifice.]
m.
Jeremiah 32:35 and
they built the high places for Ba‘al which are in the Ben-Hinnom Valley, to burn alive their sons and
daughters to Molekh — something I did not order them to do, it never
even entered my mind that they would do such an abominable thing — and thus
they caused Y’hudah to sin. [Here, burning is the killing.]
n.
Ezekiel 16:20-21, 36
[Sexual depravity] is how it was,’ says Adonai Elohim. “‘Moreover, your sons and daughters, whom you bore me,
you took and
sacrificed for them to devour. Were these fornications of yours a casual
matter? — killing my children, handing them over and setting them apart
for [these idols]? . . . Adonai Elohim says: ‘Because your filth has been poured out
and your privates exposed through your acts of fornication with your lovers,
and because of all the idols of your disgusting practices, and because of the blood of your children,
which you gave them. [This seems like ancient after-term-abortion-on-demand.
The author claims the children were born for Adonai Elohim, but to
what purpose? Typically, there seems to be no objection to sacrifice thereto.
The author takes no responsibility for any impact on the community –
encouraging the depraved faction to kill then sacrifice unwanted infants.]
o.
Ezekiel 20:26, 31 I also gave them laws which did them no good
and rulings by which they did not live; and I let them become defiled by
their own gifts, in that they
offered up their firstborn sons, so that I could fill them with
revulsion, so that they would [finally] realize that I am Adonai . . . and when offering your gifts, you make your
children pass through the fire and defile yourselves with all your idols — to
this day. So, am I supposed to allow you to consult me, house of Isra’el? As I
live,’ says Adonai Elohim, ‘I swear that I won’t have you consult me. [Diabolically, the author has Adonai manipulating the law in psychological quid pro quo. The God knows that a person cannot go back to before
killing her/his child. Yet we’re in the year 2024 and humankind has accepted
neither the God nor Genesis 1:26-28’s message: rule your adulthood to the good!]
p.
Ezekiel 23:36-39 Then Adonai said to me, “Human being, are
you ready to judge Oholah and Oholivah? Then confront them with their
disgusting practices. For they committed adultery, and their hands are
dripping with blood. They committed adultery with their idols; and they offered their sons,
whom they bore to me, for these idols to eat. Moreover, they have done
this to me as well: they defiled my sanctuary on the same day, and they
profaned my shabbats [Sabbaths]. For after killing their children for their idols,
they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; this they did in my
house. [The writer perhaps unintentionally encourages
infidels to sacrifice their children to Adonai yet is culpable
for ignoring Genesis 1:26-28. The image of an idol eating a child is
disgusting.]
q. Hos 13:2 When
Efrayim spoke, there was trembling; he was a power in Isra’el. But when he
incurred guilt through Ba‘al, he died. So now they keep adding sin
to sin, casting images from their silver; idols they invent for themselves, all
of them the work of craftsmen. ‘Sacrifice to them,’ they say. Men give kisses
to calves! [I don’t perceive human sacrifice here,
but there is much discussion online that “kiss the calves” means infant
sacrifice.]
r.
Micah 6:6-8 With what can I come before Adonai to bow down before God on high?
Should I come before him with burnt offerings? with calves in
their first year? Would Adonai take
delight in thousands of rams with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Could I
give my firstborn to pay for my crimes, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
Human being, you have already been told what is good, what Adonai demands of you — no more than to act justly, love grace and
walk in purity with your God. [It seems Adonai on earth
represents God in heaven. The author suggests that blood sacrifice is no good:
human being (verb) requires justice, humility, and perfection. Thanks to
Kenneth Way for this personal discovery to me.]
4. Canaanite
(Amorite) religions
a.
Deuteronomy 12:31 You must not do this to Adonai your God! For they have done to their
gods all the abominations that Adonai hates! They even burn up their sons and daughters in the fire
for their gods! [Cited above as caution to Israel.]
b.
Deuteronomy 18:12-14 For whoever does these things is detestable
to Adonai, and because of these abominations Adonai your God is driving them out
ahead of you. You must be wholehearted with Adonai your God. (v) For
these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to soothsayers and
diviners; but you, Adonai your God does not allow you
to do this.
i.
2 Kings 17:31 the
‘Avim [Avites of Samaria]
made Nivchaz and Tartak, and the S’farvim burned up their children in the fire as sacrifices
to Adramelekh and ‘Anamelekh the gods of S’farvayim.
c.
Isaiah 66:3 [I don’t perceive human sacrifice herein.]
5. Moabite king Mesha in 2 Kings 3:27
a.
Then he took his firstborn son, who
was to have succeeded him as king, and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall.
Following this, such great anger came upon Isra’el that they left him and went
back to their own land.
i.
Amos 2:1-2 Here is what Adonai says: “For Mo’av’s three crimes,
no, four — I will not reverse it — because he burned the bones
of the king of Edom, turning them into lime; I will send fire on
Mo’av, and it will consume the palaces of K’riot.”
There may
be more Old Testament incidents of human sacrifice. I spent a lot of energy
making up my mind that I would not accept any
challenge to kill an innocent person, let alone my own family member. However,
until now, I had never realized the challenges descendants of Mesopotamia face
respecting the folly of bargaining with the God, let alone killing people as a
negotiating strategy.
Kenneth Way goes on to opine about Yeshua’s love, another writer’s
mystery. I prefer to pursue Yeshua’s civic influence, and may
take up a second study of the New Testament regarding ceremonial human killing
for sacrifice as soon as I have the time. I will
say: The Old Testament’s negative view
of human killing for sacrifice encourages my long held opinion that each
generation keeps Yeshua alive[22] by-together
expanding Yeshua’s influence as time marches forward. While I don’t object to
people pursuing Christ, I don’t recommend it. I doubt Jesus judges me wrong to
commit to Yeshua and civic citizens.
Hebrew
instructions on animal and other non-human sacrifice
The Bible presents instructions
on non-human ceremonial sacrifices.[23] The variations are surprising to me. I never before considered
them. This study informs the distinction that believers killed the victim for
sacrifice in fire, whereas Yeshua was simply executed. The Old Testament
instructions seem essential to New Testament understanding.
1.
Sacrificing in the tabernacle
in the wilderness (3468
YA):
You are to make an
altar on which to burn incense; make
it of acacia-wood. It is to be eighteen inches square and three feet high;
its horns are to be of one piece with it . . . Place it in
front of the curtain by the ark for the testimony, in front of the ark-cover
that is over the testimony, where I will meet with you. Aharon will burn
fragrant incense on it as a pleasing aroma every morning; he is to burn it when
he prepares the lamps. Aharon is also to burn it when he lights the lamps
at dusk; this is the regular burning of incense before Adonai through all your
generations. You are not to offer unauthorized incense on it, or a burnt offering or a grain offering; and you are not to pour
a drink offering on it. Aharon is to
make atonement on its horns once a year — with the blood of the sin offering of atonement he is to make
atonement for it once a year through all your generations; it is especially
holy to Adonai.
2. Further modes of sacrifice
a. Burnt offering: Adonai called to Moshe and spoke to
him from the tent of meeting . . . animal offering . . . must [be] a male
without defect . . . it will be accepted . . . to make atonement for him . . .
slaughter the young bull before Adonai ; and the sons of Aharon, the cohanim,
[of
priesthood] are to present the blood . . . splash the blood against
all sides of the altar, which is by the entrance to the tent of meeting . . .
skin the burnt offering and cut it in pieces . . . arrange the pieces, the head
and the fat on the wood which is on the fire on the altar . . . wash the
entrails and lower parts of the legs with water . . . cause all of it to go up
in smoke on the altar as a burnt offering; it is an offering made by fire, a
fragrant aroma for Adonai.
b.
Grain offering: for the grain offering . . . take from the
grain offering a handful of its fine flour, some of its olive oil and all of
the frankincense which is on the grain offering; and he is to make this
reminder portion of it go up in smoke on the altar as a fragrant aroma
for Adonai. The rest of it Aharon and his sons are
to eat . . . I have given it as their portion of my offerings made by fire;
like the sin offering and the guilt offering, it is especially
holy. Every male descendant of Aharon may eat from it . . . Whatever
touches those offerings will become holy.
c.
Drink offering: Adonai said to Moshe, “Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘When you
have come into the land where you are going to live, which I am giving to
you, and want to make an offering by fire to Adonai — a burnt offering or
sacrifice to fulfill a special vow, or to be a voluntary offering, or at your designated times, to make a fragrant
aroma for Adonai —
then, whether it is comes from the herd or from the flock, the person
bringing the offering is to present Adonai with
a grain offering consisting of two quarts of fine flour mixed with one quart of
olive oil, and one quart of wine for the drink offering. This is what you
are to prepare with the burnt offering or for each lamb sacrificed. For a ram,
prepare one gallon of fine flour mixed with one-and-one-third quarts of olive
oil; while for the drink offering, you are to present one-and-one-third
quarts of wine as a fragrant aroma for Adonai.
d. Dough offering: When you enter the land where I am bringing
you 19 and eat bread produced in the land, you are
to set aside a portion as a gift for Adonai. 20 Set
aside from your first dough a cake as a gift; set it aside as you would set
aside a portion of the grain from the threshing-floor.
e. Sin offering: the sin offering is to be slaughtered
before Adonai in the place where the burnt
offering is slaughtered; it is especially holy. The cohen who
offers it for sin is to eat it — it is to be eaten in a holy place, in the
courtyard of the tent of meeting. Whatever touches its flesh will become
holy; if any of its blood splashes on any item of clothing, you are to wash it
in a holy place . . . Any male from a family of cohanim may
eat the sin offering; it is especially holy. But no sin offering which has
had any of its blood brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement in the
Holy Place is to be eaten; it is to be burned up completely.
f.
Guilt
or trespass offering; See all of Leviticus 5 for variations.
g. Peace offering: When you prepare a bull as a burnt offering, as
a sacrifice to fulfill a special vow or as peace offerings for Adonai, there is to be presented
with the bull a grain offering of one-and-a-half gallons of fine flour mixed
with two quarts of olive oil. For the drink offering, present two quarts of wine for an offering
made by fire, a fragrant aroma for Adonai.
i.
the
fire on the altar will be kept burning and not be allowed to go out. Each
morning, the cohen is to kindle wood on it, arrange the burnt
offering and make the fat of the peace offerings go up in smoke.
h.
Mistake offering: if . . . the community [fails to observe
all these mitzvot] and was not known to them, the whole community
is to offer one young bull for a burnt offering as a fragrant aroma to Adonai,
with its grain and drink offerings, in keeping with the rule, and one male goat
as a sin offering.
i.
If an
individual sins by mistake, he is to offer a female goat in its first year as a
sin offering.
3. Anointing: on the day he is anointed . . . every grain offering of the cohen is to be
entirely made to go up in smoke — it is not to be eaten.
4.
Intentional wrong: But an individual who does something wrong intentionally,
whether a citizen or a foreigner, is blaspheming Adonai. That person will be cut off
from his people. Because he has had contempt for the word of Adonai and has disobeyed his command,
that person will be cut off completely; his offense will remain with him. While
the people of Isra’el were in the desert, they found a man gathering wood
on Shabbat . . . Then Adonai said
to Moshe, “This man must be put to death; the entire community is to stone him
to death outside the camp.”
The
animal, bird, grain, oil, wine, and incense sacrifice system was cumbersome and
expensive. I wonder what event in history suggests that the God responds to
sacrifice.
Certainly, in my life, when I have done all I know to do and still
feel that a loved one might die, I pray. And just this week I prayed that my
wife would be able to open her eyes, and she did, after our daughter had
applied some new healing oils for a couple days. I know all these actions give
hope and comfort in bad circumstances. I pray, in order to express my hopes,
confident that the God knows I don’t doubt best wishes. However, I don’t think
the God wants me to pray and would
not imagine sacrificing something I imagine the God could mysteriously use.
Conclusion
I think universities, especially
law schools, abuse humankind by not developing the phrase “the ineluctable
truth”. Likewise, seminaries and other clergy-licensers fail believers by neither
facilitating, encouraging, or accommodating reform from sacrificial killing. By
representing the choice to kill as egocentric bargaining among competitive gods/religions,
institutions maintain elite-will to choose killing and thus war.
I understand, perhaps wrongly,
that Hebrews transitioned from blood sacrifice -- no longer support even animal
sacrifice. With the 70 CE Roman destruction of the temple, there’s no place for
sacrifices. The Micah 6 passage, cited above (thanks to Kenneth Way for my
awareness), presents the reform. However, the reasoning that sustains war in 2024 is the same as occupied-land hostilities
4000 years ago. Meanwhile, political philosophy (or the God’s will) that
humankind is responsible to provide order on earth, expressed in Genesis
1:26-28, goes substantially unheeded. Religious believers allow this human tyranny
to prevail. It’s self-tyranny, because religion is pretense to know the facts
about a mystery. Let me repeat that: religion is pretense to know the facts about
a mystery. We, the civic faction of generation2024 may and can initiate
and accelerate reform.
This study
suggests at least three themes: the God opposes empire, the good opposes killing
humans, and it seems folly to bargain with or to the God to usurp the duty
expressed in Genesis 1:26-28. The laws of physics are discoverable but thegod remains
a mystery. Of the mysteries presented in the Bible, the advisor for living I
perceive reliable is Yeshua, not the writers about him. The scripture shows
that individuals, primarily elites such as kings, construct personal gods and
competitive religions. But ultimately, a civic people may and can establish
responsibility over empire and killing, in order to pursue thegood. Perhaps the
topic I prefer is Yeshua versus empire.
Acknowledging recent support
Nomads Sunday
school class has led my curiosity since Fall 2021, when I spoke of “the
metaphysical Jesus”. I would never have taken these studies as seriously without
Nomads. The pastors and people at University Baptist Church, beginning with Rev.
George Haile in the late 1970s, help me perceive the priesthood of the believer
-- whatever that may mean to each concerned believer. As for me, I think Yeshua
meant it when he said I am a god facing death (John 10:34 re Psalm 82:6-7) and
may accept that power and authority. My Louisiana-French-Catholic family,
without demand, supports my work, including church participation, perceiving
only my performance with them. Some strangers I meet share enthusiasm.[24]
Current UBC
neither stonewalls nor “agrees to disagree” with my curiosity approaching my 9th
decade. On hearing my topics – the ineluctable truth, then the metaphysical Jesus,
and Genesis 1:26-28, Pastor Andy Hale suggested either Nomads or Courage Sunday
school class. Members Vaughn Crombie (Courage) and Anne Cramer (Nomads) immediately
strengthened my assertion that the U.S. Civil war was caused by southern
Christian minister’s beliefs[25]: abolitionists opposed the Trinity’s millennial plan to redeem
blacks from ancestor’s sins. Kenneth Tipton shares concerns and collaborates to
directions for each person; class members engage the pursuits. Russell Futrell
requested the Baylor unit on the Book of James. Cortney Brown helped
me think I act promptly on perceiving opportunity to the-good. Ron Perritt aided
grounding humankind's power and authority to Genesis 1:26-28, CJB and NIV.
Missionary Keith Holmes asked, “Who most influenced you to Christ?” (Happily,
Dad taught us kids Jesus’ civic influence.) Billy King accepts, for me, my
preference for Jesus, now Yeshua. Pastors
Tanya and Jon Parks[26] and Eric Fulcher continually excite my intentions, for example,
currently presenting conversations 2000 years ago between Yeshua and people “on
the street”.
I expect
people to flock to UBC, because everyone – the founders, sustainers, and each
visitor knows together that unique thoughts, heartfelt concerns, and
intentions-to-institutional-reform matter to ourselves and our posterity (borrowing
words from the preamble). I think Yeshua’s civic influence may spread from UBC
such that everyone understands the God is a mystery. Perhaps in the future few neighbors
will claim that they are atheists. It isn’t easy, but the people, under Yeshua’s
civic influence, make it happen.
Phil Beaver, 3/9/2024, updated 5/1/2024
#USpreambler
Copyright©2024
by Phillip R. Beaver. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted for the
publication of all or portions of this paper as long as this complete copyright
notice is included. Updated, May 1, 2024.
[1]
Ineluctable means the combination “not to be avoided, changed, or resisted”
(Merriam-Webster usage).
[2]
Socrates asked if the gods love the good because it
is the good, or whether the good is good because it is loved by the gods; online at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthyphro_dilemma.
[3]
Online at https://www.wycliffe.net/resources/statistics/:
7.42 billion known users of some or all books of the Bible. Complete Bible or
New Testament translations in 736 or 1658 languages to 5.96 billion and 0.82
billion people, respectively.
[4]
Online at https://www.jpost.com/magazine/features/jesus-for-jews.
[5] I
write the phrase “the God” to express a singularity without denying divinity –
hopefully to express personal humility to whatever entity constrains human
choices. Similarly, “the good” represents the best choice a human could make in
a given challenge, even though the person may err; there are always multiple
bad choices.
[6] I
write “killing humans” to separate from the term “human sacrifice”, which can apply
to lesser issues, such as fasting to improve fitness, or foregoing tradition to
develop the good.
[7] I
once preferred the New International Version but quote the Complete Jewish
Bible (CJB) for immediate insight about Hebrews and to suggest research regarding
the west region of Caanan, via the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Bible and others.
Syrian translations seem important, as some books were written there.
[8] If
we reference the emergence of homo sapiens as the beginning of sufficient
awareness to pursue the ineluctable truth, we’re estimating 200,000 years ago.
At 19 years per generation, that’s 10,526 prior generations. If “the beginning”
is writing with grammar, that’s 10,000 years and 526 generations ago. We’re
perhaps the first generation with developed and accessible Internet: the
opportunity we have is exceptional – if and only if we accept the awesome
responsibility, power, and authority. And we must use the Internet despite
government monopolies.
[9]
The United States preamble authorizes and empowers the civic faction of “We the
People of the United States” to pursue statutory justice “to ourselves and our
Posterity”. The preamble presents no norms, admitting insufficiency of temporal
morality. Only ultimate human being (noun modifying verb) can achieve
standards.
[10] “Ur was a major Sumerian city-state located in Mesopotamia,
marked today by Tell el-Muqayyar in southern Iraq. It was founded circa 3800
BCE, and was recorded in written history from the 26th century BCE. Its patron
god was Nanna, the moon god, and the city’s name literally means “the abode of
Nanna.” Online at https://courses.lumenlearning.com.
[11]
Online at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Ur-Nammu.
[12]
Online at https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-world-history-of-violence/ritual-killing-and-human-sacrifice-in-the-ancient-near-east/15D2059982C482750124293D29EF55BA.
[14] Online at https://carm.org/islam/abraham-and-the-fiery-furnace-the-quran-and-late-jewish-mythology/;
Here’s a fragment of an interesting story: “Thereupon he seized him and delivered him to
Nimrod. ‘Let us worship the fire!’ he [Nimrod] proposed. ‘Let us rather worship
the water, which extinguishes the fire,’ replied he. “let us worship the
water!’ ‘Let us rather worship the clouds which bear the water.’ ‘Let us worship
the clouds!’ ‘Let us rather worship the winds which disperse the clouds.’ ‘Then
let us worship the wind!’ ‘Let us rather worship human beings, who withstand
the wind.’ ‘You are just bandying with words,’ he exclaimed; ‘we will worship
nought but the fire. Behold, I will cast you into it, and let your God whom you
adore come and save you from it.’ Now Haran was standing there undecided. If
Abram is victorious, I will say that I am of Abram’s belief, while if Nimrod is
victorious I will say I am on Nimrod’s side. When Abram descended into the
fiery furnace and was saved, he [Nimrod] asked him, ‘of whose belief are you?’
‘Of Abram’s’ he replied. Thereupon he seized and cast him into the fire; his
inwards were scorched and he died in his father’s presence. Hence it is
written, ‘and Haran died in the presence of his father Terah'” (Midrash Rabbah
38:13)”;
http://archive.org/stream/RabbaGenesis/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n357/mode/2up.
[15] Teppei Kato, Ancient Chronography on
Abraham’s Departure from Haran: Qumran, Josephus, Rabbinic Literature, and
Jerome, 2019, online https://www.jstor.org/stable/26675140.
[16]
Online at https://classicalwisdom.com/politics/places/abraham-boom-bust-ur/.
[17]
Online at https://www.worldhistory.org/hammurabi.
[19] Online at
https://www.biola.edu/blogs/good-book-blog/2012/the-horror-and-splendor-of-human-sacrifice.
[20]
Maybe there’s a better way. However, I am trying to introduce to society the
use of “human being” as a verb rather than the customary noun. In my usage, a
person who works to comprehend and intend the image of God that is expressed in
Genesis 1:26-28 is pursuing the power and authority of a god facing death. His
or her God likeness is a state of human being. I seek to avoid the implication
that “human” modifies “being” like “kind being”. Animals and spirits cannot
pursue human being. With widespread participation, humankind might together
approach the image of the God.
[22]
When my family had adolescent children, I spoke the parts of Catholic liturgy I
believed and at the appointed time said, “Christ has died, Christ is Risen,
Christ has come again”, hoping someone would ask why I changed “will come
again”. No one ever asked.
[23]
Some writers ponder killing animals for clothing as sacrificial. Genesis
3:21: “Adonai, God, made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed
them.”Whatever Adam and Eve donned, discretion was
consistent with Genesis 1:26-28s “rule to the good”.
[24]
Since late April 2024, I have been sharing my joy in discovering Yeshua (by
reading CJB vs NIT). Surprisingly to me, many people are aware. Especially
young people willing to talk are pleased that an old man discovered Yeshua.
[25]
Online comment at https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/nikki-haley-to-end-2024-bid-paving-way-for-trump-to-get-gop-nod-5597025
.
[26]
Pastoring by the Parks, a married couple with their children, is new for me. I
relish the experience, because of their sermons and because it seems consistent
with a civic lesson from Yeshua -- his advocacy for Genesis 1:26-28, even
though Christ is praised. When Yeshua speaks to people on the street, we
glimpse his civic influence. Reading Matthew 19:3-9: Some P’rushim came and tried to trap [Yeshua] by asking, “Is it permitted for a man to divorce his
wife on any ground whatever?” He replied, “Haven’t you read that at the
beginning the Creator made them male and female, and that he
said, ‘For this reason a man should leave his father and mother and be
united with his wife, and the two are to become one flesh’? Thus they are
no longer two, but one. So then, no one should split apart what God has joined
together.” They said
to him, “Then why did Moshe give the commandment that a man should hand
his wife a get and divorce her?” He answered, “Moshe
allowed you to divorce your wives because your hearts are so hardened. But this
is not how it was at the beginning. Now what I say to you is that whoever
divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, and marries
another woman commits adultery!” I think “the
beginning” refers to Genesis 1 and if get to re-live my life, I will ask
Cynthia then “Papa” if I can marry and take the family name: Marionneaux. If
not, it will remain Beaver again.
