The pro-life ethic & child sacrifice

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“You shall not let any of your descendants pass through the fire to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 18:21

The Tragic History of Molech Child Sacrifice provides a horrifying description of what Molech worship could have been like. It hardly seems necessary we would need an injunction against such a thing, or against the sacrifice of human beings at any stage of life, but apparently the disturbing practice was common. Science magazine reports, 

“Researchers are finding that although human sacrifice was not frequent in most cultures, it was pervasive, taking place at one time or another in just about every ancient civilization in which someone had the rank and power to decide who died…. Although human sacrifice was seen as barbaric by classical times, it persisted in Rome, the Americas, and elsewhere until the rise of Judeo-Christian and Islamic religions that condemned it.”  

Israel needed the prohibition because the prior inhabitants of the land God gave them sacrificed  children to Molech. During the period of conquest, Israel failed to completely rid the land of Molech worshipers. In fact, it seems they were guilty of bringing tabernacles for Molech along with them to the Promised Land (Acts 7:41-43)! 

Here are some additional statements in the law concerning child sacrifice:

►Leviticus 20:1-5 laid out the death penalty for child sacrifice to Molech. Even though these verses do not use the term ‘bloodguilt’ as is the case for other sins listed in the chapter, because of the death penalty it fits the category. Not only were parents implicated, but anyone else who witnessed the crime and failed to prevent or report it. The death penalty would apply equally to Jews and nonJews. It wasn’t until the second lawgiving that Moses required the death penalty for idol worship in general (Deuteronomy 8:19-20, 13:6-11, 17:2-7, 18:20, 27:15, 30:17-18). 

►Deuteronomy 12:29-31 prohibits burning sons or daughters in fire to the gods of pagan inhabitants of the land; Molech is not mentioned.

►Deuteronomy 18:9-14 repeats the prohibition against participating with former inhabitants in many practices, including making children pass through fire. Again, Molech is not specified.

Symbolic or actual killing?

Some scholars propose that “passing through fire” was merely a benign dedication ritual that did not involve the death of the child. It’s possible, I suppose, that Molech worshipers could have had “denominational” differences—with some groups requiring death while others treating it symbolically—but the biblical usage of the term renders the latter unlikely. Either practice would be offensive to God. 

Numbers 31:19-24 is helpful. The passage is not about child sacrifice but uses the phrase “pass through fire” to describe a purification ritual. Men who had been in battle were supposed to purify any metallic items they plundered from the enemy by passing them through fire. Otherwise, "whatever cannot stand the fire"—the men themselves, their clothing, and any flammable objects—"you shall pass through the water." The men got two literal baths and spent seven days in quarantine before being considered clean.

God knows that no one can pass through fire and live, barring a miracle (Daniel 3:24-28, Isaiah 43:2). It is not anything that YHWH desires or requires of people made in His image, as we will see in subsequent passages.

Prophetic and poetic voices join Moses in condemning the practice

►Child sacrifice defiles its practitioners and separates them from YHWH. In Ezekiel 20:31, God says He “will not be inquired of” by anyone engaging in the practice. Child sacrifice would break fellowship with Him. 

►Ezekiel 23:37-39 remarks on how unseemly it would be for someone to sacrifice one’s child and then, on the same day, attend the sanctuary of the True God. 

►Jeremiah 32:35 describes child sacrifice as something abominable, a practice never conceived of by YHWH.

►Indeed, God takes child sacrifice personally. In Ezekiel 16:20-21 and 23:37-39, He calls sacrificed children, “My children.” Child sacrifice is abominable because the sons and daughters given to other gods actually belong to Him (see also Exodus 13:2 and Ezekiel 20:26). 

These passages also clearly associate child sacrifice with bloody hands and slaughter, the victims being devoured by the god. 

►Finally, Psalm 106:37-38 links child sacrifice to the “shedding of innocent blood,” a phrase frequently used in scripture to describe illicit killing.

Taken together, these passages confirm that the prohibition was about actual killing. They drive a nail in the coffin of the argument that child sacrifice was merely the symbolic dedication of a child to an idol.

The pro-life ethic is cemented in the prohibition 

Children are made in God’s image. They are innocent of any cause for killing them. They are helpless and wholly dependent, deserving of our protection not destruction. The sanctity of human life is one reason for the prohibition against child sacrifice, but not the sole reason. 

Micah 6:6-8 shows the futility of child sacrifice and brings the main reason for its prohibition into focus. “Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” 

Short of sacrificing ourselves, child sacrifice gives false assurance we can atone for our sins. What offering could be more innocent, more precious, or more an extension of oneself than one’s infant child? We might think, “What a perfect sacrifice! Here is a part of myself. Here is my pride and joy. Here is my best gift. What more could God want?”

But it is not what YHWH wants. Such an extreme offering as human sacrifice exists in opposition to the gift that God gave—His sinless Son. This is how child sacrifice profanes the name of God (Lev 18:21). And this is the reason God stopped Abraham from sacrificing his son Isaac. One’s child is not, in this sense, an adequate gift. 

Instead, He wants us to first acknowledge the perfection of His work of redemption. Then we can offer justice and mercy to brothers, sisters, neighbors, and enemies, and offer ourselves in humility to Him. This brings the pro-life ethic into focus.

Israel’s sad record of child sacrifice

Despite the legal prohibitions against idolatry and child sacrifice, King Solomon reintroduced many of the foreign gods that had been banned... including Molech, the “detestable god of Ammon”  (1 Kings 11:4-8). He built temples for his foreign wives and allowed them to make sacrifices. Were any of Solomon’s children sacrificed to Molech?

2 Kings 17:17-18 explains that one of the reasons the northern kingdom of Israel was sent into Assyrian exile was “they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire.” Two kings of Judah, Ahaz and Manasseh, also sacrificed their sons in fire (2 Kings 16:3, 2 Chronicles 33:6). Josiah, a righteous king of Judah, made reforms that included defiling Topheth, the place of child sacrifice (2 Kings 23:10).

Hope for people who’ve crossed the line

Those who have violated the pro-life ethic can derive comfort from the rest of King Manasseh’s story. It did not end with child sacrifice and exile. 2 Chronicles 33:10-13 records his turn-around: 

“When he was in distress, he entreated the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. When he prayed to Him, He was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.” 

Thus, there is hope for people who’ve sacrificed their children. They can confess their sins and ask God for mercy. This is the kind of prayer that brings restoration of fellowship between God and man.

Next: What about Jephthah's daughter?

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Resources:

Image credit: "The Flight of Moloch" by William Blake, circa 1815, from Illustrations to Milton's "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity," The Butts Set, object 5 (Butlin 542.5) , https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Onthemorningtbutts5.jpg, public domain

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